Joseph P. Allen (psychologist)

Joseph P. Allen is an American psychologist and academic and the Hugh P. Kelly Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia.[1]

Joseph P. Allen
Born1958
Children3
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Virginia
Websitepsychology.as.virginia.edu/people/profile/jpa8r

Early Life

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Allen was born on October 30, 1958, in Washington, DC, and grew up in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Education

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He received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Virginia in May 1980, and then a Ph.D. in Clinical/Community Psychology from Yale University in May 1986. He subsequently worked as a post-doctoral fellow in research at Harvard Medical School from 1986 until 1988.[2]

Achievements and Honors

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Allen's work on The Connection Project has been written up in the New York Times[3] and was recently cited by U. S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy as a promising approach to enhancing connection among youth.[4]

Allen has published three books and more than 200 academic articles, which have been cited more than 30,000 times in total.[5] He is a recipient of awards for Lifetime Achievement in Research from both the Society for Research in Adolescence and the Bowlby/Ainsworth Attachment Society, as well as an NIH MERIT award for his research.[6]

Research

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His research focuses  on the predictors and long-term outcomes of social development processes from adolescence into adulthood and he is currently 25 years into a 30-year study on these topics.   He also develops and examines socially-focused interventions for adolescents designed to improve long-term academic and mental health outcomes.[7][8][9][10][11]

Together with Claudia W. Allen, he is the author of Escaping the Endless Adolescence: How We Can Help Our Teenagers Grow Up Before They Grow Old..[12] In 2016, he founded The Connection Project, a small group intervention for high school and college students that has been documented to reduce loneliness and depressive symptoms and enhance a sense of belonging.[13][10] The program is now being implemented at the high school level by Wyman of St. Louis,[14] and at the college level at the University of Virginia.[15]

In September 2023, successful replication efforts for The Connection Project were begun at Georgetown University and Virginia Tech University. [16]

References

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  1. ^ University of Virginia, Department of Psychology (July 7, 2024). "Joseph P. Allen, Hugh P. Kelly Professor of Psychology". Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  2. ^ "Teen Research". uva.theopenscholar.com. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  3. ^ Zimmerman, Eilene (2022-10-06). "Meeting the Mental Health Challenge in School and at Home". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  4. ^ Haupt, Angela (2024-05-02). "Vivek Murthy". TIME. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  5. ^ "Joseph P. Allen". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  6. ^ "Teen Research". uva.theopenscholar.com. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  7. ^ Spector, Dina (Jun 12, 2014). "Being Cool in High School Is Bad For You". Slate Magazine. Retrieved Sep 28, 2021.
  8. ^ "What happens to 'cool' kids? New study sheds light". ScienceDaily. Retrieved Sep 28, 2021.
  9. ^ Allen, Joseph P.; Uchino, Bert N.; Hafen, Christopher A. (October 2015). "Running With the Pack: Teen Peer-Relationship Qualities as Predictors of Adult Physical Health". Psychological Science. 26 (10): 1574–1583. doi:10.1177/0956797615594118. ISSN 0956-7976. PMC 4698963. PMID 26290522.
  10. ^ a b Costello, Meghan A.; Nagel, Alison G.; Hunt, Gabrielle L.; Rivens, Ariana J.; Hazelwood, Olivia A.; Pettit, Corey; Allen, Joseph P. (2022-05-16). "Facilitating connection to enhance college student well-being: Evaluation of an experiential group program". American Journal of Community Psychology. 70 (3–4): 314–326. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12601. ISSN 0091-0562. PMC 9666641. PMID 35575603.
  11. ^ Allen, Joseph P.; Costello, Meghan; Kansky, Jessica; Loeb, Emily L. (2021-12-06). "When friendships surpass parental relationships as predictors of long-term outcomes: Adolescent relationship qualities and adult psychosocial functioning". Child Development. 93 (3): 760–777. doi:10.1111/cdev.13713. ISSN 0009-3920. PMC 9167890. PMID 34870846.
  12. ^ Allen, Joseph P.; Claudia W. Allen (2009). Escaping the endless adolescence: how we can help our teenagers grow up before they grow old. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-50789-1. OCLC 290464723.
  13. ^ Allen, Joseph P.; Narr, Rachel K.; Nagel, Alison G.; Costello, Meghan A.; Guskin, Karen (May 2021). "The Connection Project: Changing the peer environment to improve outcomes for marginalized adolescents". Development and Psychopathology. 33 (2): 647–657. doi:10.1017/S0954579419001731. ISSN 0954-5794. PMC 9034648. PMID 32124707.
  14. ^ "Teen Connection Project (TCP)". Wyman Center. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  15. ^ "Homepage | Hoos Connected". hoosconnected.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  16. ^ "Georgetown, Virginia Tech Adopt UVA Initiative That Reduces Depression, Loneliness". news.virginia.edu. 2023-09-25. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
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