Professional Address

55 College Road Pettee Hall Durham, NH 03824

Visit Website  

Why I Joined Relevate

In both my personal life and professional work, I have seen that romantic life is defined by the big choice of a partner (or to live happily in single life) and then a million small choices that we make throughout our daily lives to be thoughtful, curious, and connected. MyRelevate is a place where I hope to share what I know about those big and small choices and how to make the most of them.

Bio

My interest in romantic relationships started to take shape when I was a psychology student at Miami University in Ohio. I wrote a senior thesis about how young women used romantic narratives in media to guide their beliefs about relationships. This led me to graduate school at the University of Missouri where I studied divorce, remarriage, and stepfamilies. At Mizzou I learned the power of interviews to tell the stories of romantic love and loss that mean so much to our lives. During that time, I also fell in love and started a family. We moved to New England for me to take my dream job at the University of New Hampshire where I have continued to study relationships with colleagues spread all over the US.

Degrees

PhD, University of Missouri MS, University of Missouri BA, Miami University

Professional Interests, Experience, and Expertise.

My research focuses on romantic development - the process individuals go through as they gain skills to build the kinds of romantic relationships they need and want. Romantic development happens through self-discovery and our experiences in relationships with peers, parents, and romantic partners. Using mostly interviews with young adults, my research explores how we learn from relationship experiences as we move toward the romantic lives we want for ourselves. I am also interested in how we learn from breakups and spending time being single. All of these experiences come together to help us form positive relationships with romantic partners and others.

Organizational Affiliations

National Council on Family Relations International Association of Relationship Researchers Council on Contemporary Families Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood

Relationship Type Expertise

• Romantic

Areas Of Expertise

• Breaking Up
• Cohabitating/ Living Together
• Connection & Intimacy
• Courtship & Dating
• Ex-relationships
• Life Transitions
• Love
• Marriage
• Mate Selection
• Personal Growth & Development
• Relationship Development
• Relationship Quality & Satisfaction
• Re-Partnering & Remarriage
• Sex & Sexuality