Posted August 1, 2022 — Dozens of University of Houston College of Education members will share their research on stress, working poverty, autism spectrum disorder, mindfulness and other timely topics at the 2022 American Psychological Association conference.

The conference takes place August 4 through 6 in Minneapolis as well as virtually, bringing together thousands of scholars at a critical time as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic endures. 

“I’m looking forward to the APA conference to connect with colleagues and continue to build collaborations that can use psychology to effectively address issues related to work, poverty and mental health,” said Blake Allan, director of the College’s counseling psychology Ph.D. program.

Allan also will be honored at the conference with an award from the Committee on Socioeconomic Status. “The committee does important work highlighting how poverty affects human welfare, which aligns with our team’s research on how working poverty erodes mental health,” he said.

At least four students from the College also earned APA awards this year, and several students are presenting as well.

“I am looking forward to speaking about student leadership and using my small platform to educate and encourage other trainees to get involved within their divisions, particularly students from underrepresented training programs and backgrounds,” said Sahar Eshtehardi, a doctoral candidate in the counseling psychology program and student leader within the division of the Society of Pediatric Psychology.

See the College’s APA honorees, and explore a list below of all the APA presentations featuring UH College of Education members this year.

UH College of Education APA Awardees

	Associate Professor Blake Allan will receive an Emerging Leadership in Psychology award from the organization’s Committee on Socioeconomic Status for his contributions to the understanding of socioeconomic status within the areas of counseling and vocational psychology.
	Sahar Eshtehardi, a doctoral student in the counseling psychology program, received the American Psychological Association’s 2022 Committee on Socioeconomic Status Student Award for Student Leadership. She earned a B.S. in psychology from UH in 2013 and an M.Ed. in counseling from the College in 2020. Eshtehardi is currently a pre-doctoral pediatric psychology fellow at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital.
	Emily Jellinek, a student in the school psychology doctoral program, received a 2022 Student Research Award from the American Psychological Association’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities/Autism Spectrum Disorder Division. Her research examined caregiver stress and experiences during a treatment for autistic children. Jellinek earned an M.Ed. in counseling from the College in 2022.
	Andrew Mercer, a doctoral student in the counseling psychology program, has been selected for the 2022 Bisexual Foundation Scholarship award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (Division 44). He conducted a mixed methods analysis on understanding bisexual men’s identities and bodies. Mercer earned an M.Ed. in counseling from the College in 2020.
	Dieu Truong, a doctoral student in the school psychology program, has been awarded the 2021 Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association’s School Psychology Division. She was honored for her contributions to Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander anti-racism in psychology. She was the lead author of the 2021 School Psychology Review journal article, “School Psychology Unified Call for Deeper Understanding, Solidarity, and Action to Eradicate Anti-AAAPI Racism and Violence.” Truong earned a B.S. in human development and family studies from the College and a B.S. in psychology from UH in 2011.

UHCOE APA Presentations

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022

• Socially-Coordinated Gaze Behaviors in Children With Autism and Their Predictivity on the ADOS-2
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 33
  Presenting Authors: Elizabeth Perkovich, Anna Laakman, Seun Lagbenro, Sarah Mire, Georgina Rosenbrock, Urvi Sakhuja, Lichao Sun and Hanako Yoshida
• Career Decision Difficulties Among College Students Who Have Declared a Career Choice
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 17
  Presenting Authors: Consuelo Arbona, Weihua Fan, Marcel de Dios and Norma Olvera
  
• Mindfulness as a Treatment for ADHD Symptoms: Is the Research Conclusive?
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 16
  Presenting Authors: Catherine Urso, Nataly Uribe and Bradley Smith
• Basic Psychological Needs, College Stress, and Achievement-Related Behaviors: A Mediation Analysis
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 15
  Presenting Authors: Minh-Hao Tran, Shaila Sharmin and Weihua Fan
• Perceptions of Same-Sex Male Intimate Partner Violence Among Male College Students
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 51
  Presenting Authors: Zongqi Li and Nathan G. Smith
• Reducing Racial Inequities in Classrooms: School Psychologists’ Role Supporting Teachers
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session: Showcasing Graduate Student Research
  Presenting Authors: Jelisa Scott, Sarah Mire, Weihua Fan and Julie Dunsmore
• Career Decision Difficulties and Anxiety Among Asian and Hispanic Career Decided College Students
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 45
  Presenting Authors: Consuelo Arbona, Weihua Fan, Marcel de Dios and Norma Olvera
• Measurement of State Affects in Experience Sampling Methods: Use of a Single Item
  8 a.m., Virtual Poster Session, Div 05
  Presenting Authors: Kahyun Lee and Hanjoe Kim
• Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions on the Kindergarten Transition for Children on the Autism Spectrum
  10 a.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Emily Jellinek, Amy Izuno-Garcia, Amanda Hut, Weihua Fan, Milena Keller-Margulis and Sarah Mire
• Diagnosed and Unreported Sports-Related Concussion Among School-Aged Children
  1 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Author: Michael Matta
• The Use of Automated Scores of Writing Quality: What Are the Implications for Fairness and Equity?
  1 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Michael Matta and Milena Keller-Margulis
• Exploring Positive Psychology: Secular and Islamic Worldviews
  3 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level Two, Room 205C
  Presenting Author: Syed Rizvi

Friday, Aug. 5, 2022

• Characteristics of Pregnant Veterans: A Descriptive Retrospective Medical Record Study
  9 a.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Tracey Ledoux, Ashley Taylor, Evan Sattem and Danielle Llaneza 
• Advancing Social Justice as Graduate Students: Our Experiences and Challenges
  10 a.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level Two, Room 205B
  Co-Chairs: Samantha Tan and Mariana Vazquez
• Mental Health and Offending Over 10 Years: A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model
  12 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Margit Wiesner and Weiwei Wu
• Psychometric Evaluations of Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale: A Second-Order CFA Analysis
  1 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Shaila Sharmin, Minh-Hao Tran and Weihua Fan
• Gender Differences in the Measurement of Mathematics Motivation Among Latinx Students
  1 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Author: Taylor Alexander
• Decent Work Among Women Workers: An Intersectional Approach
  2 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level Two, Room 211A
  Presenting Author: Blake Allan
• Profiles of Underemployment and Mental Health
  2 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level Two, Room 211A
  Presenting Author: Blake Allan
• Causal Attributions and Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents of Children With Autism in the SPARK Cohort
  2 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Scarlett Gardner, Sarah Mire and Mycah Ayala-Brittain
• Examining Caregiver Stress and Experiences During Function-Based Treatment for Children With Autism
  2 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Mycah Ayala-Brittain, Stacey Grebe, Hanjoe Kim, My-Linh Luu, Morgan McNeel and Sarah Mire
• Leading the Way: Gaining Student Leadership Experience in APA Division 54
  5 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Room 101I
  Presenting Author: Sahar Eshtehardi

Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022

• Development and Validation of the Privileged Social Class Attitudes Scale
  11 a.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Author: Blake Allan
• Development and Validation of the Subjective Work Capital Scale
  11 a.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Blake Allan and Taewon Kim
• Pediatric Feeding Outcomes in a Community Mental Health Clinic
  12 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Georgina Sakyi and Stacey Grebe
• Curriculum-Based Measurement in Spanish: A Systematic Review
  1 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Mariana Vazquez, Elías Loría Garro, Samantha Tan, Anna Laakman and Milena Keller-Margulis
• The Indirect Effects of Discrimination on Substance Use in Bisexual Adults Through Three Mediators
  3 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, Level One, Exhibit Halls BCD
  Presenting Authors: Tarik Goulbourne, Nathan G. Smith, Lorraine Reitzel and Ezemenari Obasi

— Compiled by Kathy Patnaude

— Photo of Minneapolis from Unsplash; other photos courtesy of award winners