ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT &
DELINQUENCY LABORATORY

Samantha Saucedo was recognized as the Outstanding Senior with a BS in Psychology for academic excellence and commitment to the study of psychology as reflected in their outstanding GPA.

Third-year graduate student, Claudia Cota, gave a fantastic presentation about generational status, psychosocial maturity, and risky and illegal behaviors among adolescents at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference 2024 in Los Angeles, CA.

Spanish lead and research assistant Carlos Chavez has been accepted into the Master's program at UTEP in Mental Health Counseling, to start Fall 2023.

Website manager and research assistant Erika Miranda has been accepted into the PsyD program at Widener University, to start Fall 2023.

Doctoral candidate and AD&D Lab member, Anna Drozdova Ziencina, was awarded $3,000 toward her dissertation, “Adolescent Social Media and Substance Use” study from the UTEP Dodson Research Grant. Congratulations Anna!

Erin plans to go to Alabama starting in January 2023 to be a space camp counselor with kids at the NASA affiliated US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Erin will go to UT Arlington in the fall to pursue a Master’s of Social Work. Erin completed a year in the lab and we are so proud of her!

Isabelle Clough presented data from her thesis at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference 2022. She presented on how jurors view information on defendant age, gender, and psychosocial maturity when making decisions about guilt and forming attitudes about sentencing.

Undergraduate RA Jackie Vargas has been accepted into Simmons University's Behavior Analysis Master of Science program, to start Fall 2021.

Dr. April Thomas was awarded funds from the UTEP Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences Development (U-CURED) Program to help integrate research and scholarly inquiry into her Psychology and the Law course in the Fall 2021 semester. The U-CURED program aims to promote undergraduate involvement in research and places an emphasis on the enhancement of students’ engagement in university activities, critical thinking, teamwork, academic self-efficacy, and preparation for and entry into advanced degrees.

Undergraduate students Mayra Solis and Ashley Lindquist presented their honors thesis research projects to UTEP's Psychology Department during the final departmental colloquium of Fall 2021.

Graduate student, Isabelle Clough, was selected as the Communications Focus Member-at-Large for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Graduate Student Committee (GSC). Isabelle will be conducting targeted outreach to SPSSI student members and reviewing and editing submissions for the GSC section of SPSSI's newsletter.

Graduate student, Anna Drozdova, received a $475 Dodson Grant award, allowing her to attend a three day statistics workshop on mixture modeling and latent class analysis.

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Mayra Solis, has been awarded entry into UTEP's RISE Scholars Research Training Program. The program features training for underrepresented minority undergraduates, and is intended for students pursuing graduate school and a research career.

Lab alumna, Daisy Guzman, was invited to speak in a podcast about her academic journey and her ongoing experience in the field of social work. Find the podcast by searching for La Mesa Latina Episode 20 on your preferred podcast streaming app.

Graduate student, Isabelle Clough, was awarded a $1,330 Dodson Research Grant by the University of Texas at El Paso's Graduate School. Isabelle will be using these funds to study how a juvenile defendant's age, gender, and psychosocial maturity influence mock jurors' perceptions of the defendant's culpability, guilt, and appropriateness of sentencing severity.

Undergraduate researcher Arielle Marquez was awarded the Access Path to Psychology and Law Fellowship through the American Psychology-Law Society. This award, established to support underrepresented students, will fund Arielle's work on a mentored research project. Results from the project will be submitted to the AP-LS annual conference.

Doctoral student, Isabelle Clough, successfully proposed her Master's thesis on December 11. Her research study will explore how jurors' perceptions of defendants' psychosocial maturity, age, and gender influence their sentencing decisions. Congratulations Isabelle!

Congratulations to Elizabeth Purser for receiving the 2019 Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques Diversity Fellowship at the University of Michigan! She will be joining Tiffany and Adria on this two and a half week survey methodology program.

Doctoral student, Isabelle Clough, presented her work on adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of legal fairness last night at the American Psychology-Law Society conference in Portland, Oregon.

Congratulations to undergraduate Research Assistant, Elizabeth Purser, for being awarded the AP-LS Access Path to Psychology and Law Award! This award is presented to students underrepresented in the field to increase diversity within the psychology and law community.

Dr. Thomas was interviewed by ABC News regarding the developmental consequences for children as a result of the family separations taking place at the border. Dr. Thomas stated, "Especially for young children, being separated can damage the attachment relationship that they have with their parents. Attachment has consistently been found to be one of the best predictors of child outcomes.".

Undergraduate Research Assistants Tiffany Vasquez and Joseph Reyes presented their research titled "What are my legal rights? Parents' and adolescents' knowledge of legal rights" (co-authors Britney Perez, Roberto Moran, and Kiran Misra) at UTEP's COURI Symposium. Their study reveals the limited knowledge of adolescents' legal rights among both youth and parents. This research also finds that adolescents' knowledge of legal rights is correlated with parental knowledge, suggesting that parents may be one means through which adolescents become socialized in their understanding of their legal rights.

Post-bacc research assistant Paulina Porras and undergraduate research assistant Melissa Hoffman presented their poster "Examining the Associations between Maternal Hostility and Adolescent Offending in a Latino Sample: The Moderating Role of Ethnic Identity" at the 2024 American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Los Angeles, California.

Alumni Alyssa Inguanzo has been accepted into graduate school at the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

Isabelle Clough will be recognized as the Outstanding Graduate Student. Isabelle’s success is reflected across a number of domains including, but not limited to, peer reviewed publications, conference presentations, awards and honors and citizenship at the departmental and professional level.  Amongst her activities, Isabelle is the Graduate Student Council Chairperson of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, which is an international psychological organization. Congratulations Isabelle!

Former research assistant Cassie Toulet-Crump has been accepted into the PsyD program at Indiana State University, to start Fall 2023.

Erika Miranda plans to attend graduate school in the near future and earn her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology for youth and adolescents. Congrats Erika!

Anna Drozdova is one of nine scholars to receive the 14th Annual
Student and Early Career Council Dissertation Research Funding Awards. She was awarded $2000 to fund her dissertation study on youth social media usage and substance use. Congratulations!

Isabelle Clough recently received a $3000 Dodson Research Grant to fund her dissertation research on the effects of pretrial detention on juvenile plea bargaining decisions.

Claudia Cota has joined the AD&D Lab as a first-year doctoral student starting Summer 2021. Claudia was additionally awarded funds through UTEP's Summer Bridge to the Doctorate Program--a fellowship designed to prepare incoming doctoral students for the rigors of a Ph.D. program. This 8-week full-time program is focused on jumpstarting the first-year research project, attending professional development workshops, and developing other research skills necessary to succeed in graduate school and beyond. 

UTEP's College of Liberal Arts has recognized Dr. April Thomas with a $5,000 Career Enhancement Award for Summer 2021. This award promotes peer reviewed projects that are designed to enhance the careers of UTEP scholars, as well as the intellectual environment at UTEP. Awardees are recognized for their important roles within their respective disciplines and are expected to present the work they have completed during the funding period to a broad audience interested in learning more about the scholarship going on in UTEP’s College of Liberal Arts.

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Ashley Lindquist, was accepted into the Clinical Psychology MA program at the University of Texas at El Paso. Ashley will start her first year of graduate study in the Fall 2021 semester.

Research Assistant, Mayra Solis, was accepted to attend the Human Development and Family Studies doctoral program at Pennsylvania State University for her graduate study, starting in the 2021-2022 academic year.

Graduate student, Isabelle Clough, successfully defended her Master's thesis November 3, 2020. Isabelle's thesis focused on how juvenile defendants' developmental characteristics influence mock jurors' perspectives about criminal responsibility, guilt, and sentencing.

Graduate student, Anna Drozdova, presented her First-Year project to UTEP's Psychology Department on Thursday, September 17. Anna's project examined maternal attachment as a moderator for parental solicitation and adolescent risk behavior.

Dr. Caitlin Cavanagh, a collaborator on the ongoing Daily Experiences during COVID-19 Study, was featured in a Michigan State University article written June 3, 2020. The article highlights the recent National Science Foundation RAPID Grant award through which the study is being funded, as well as the study's many potential implications.

Graduate student, Anna Drozdova, was awarded $350 in UTEP Dodson Travel Funds and $350 in appropriations from the UTEP Student Government Association to attend a Network Analysis workshop by Curran-Bauer Analytics. Anna will be utilizing skills gained through this workshop to study how characteristics of incarcerated juveniles' social networks impact their institutional offending and recidivism patterns.

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Arielle Marquez, was awarded $4800 for completion of an independent project through UTEP's MERITUS program. Arielle's project, titled "Examining the association between adolescent gang membership, exposure to violence and stress", was completed over the course of the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters.

Congratulations to undergraduate Research Assistant, Elizabeth Purser, for receiving the 2019 Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques Diversity Fellowship at the University of Michigan! She will be joining Tiffany and Adria on this two and a half week survey methodology program.

Join us at UTEP’s COURI symposium today to see outstanding undergraduate research, such as this presentation by MERITUS award recipient and AD&D Lab member, Mariana Cardenas Dominguez. Her work suggests Hispanic adolescents may develop their legal attitudes from a process of parental legal socialization, whereas non-Hispanic adolescents develop their attitudes via alternate sources.

Undergraduate researchers Adria Corral, Elizabeth Purser, and Joseph Reyes presented their poster "Association with Delinquent Peers: Influence on Adolescents' Perception of the Law" at the 2019 American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Drs. April Gile Thomas and Caitlin Cavanagh received the 2018 Visionary Grant from the American Psychological Foundation to fund their research examining the effects of incarceration on adolescent sleep.

Dr. April Gile Thomas presented her research titled "Adolescents' Susceptibility To Maternal & Peer Influence: Effects on Risk Behavior" at the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting April 14 in Minneapolis, MN. This research is the first experimental study to directly compare whether adolescents are more influenced by their mothers or friends.

Post-bacc research assistant Alicia Rivas presented her poster "Exploring Associations between Callous-Unemotional Traits, Psychosocial Maturity and Offending in a Sample of Justice-Involved and Community Adolescents" at the 2024 American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Los Angeles, California.

Alumni Amanda Contreras has been accepted into medical school at the John Sealy School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. 

Anna Ziencina will be recognized for the Graduate Productivity award, which recognizes the publication of rigorously conducted research that makes a meaningful contribution to the field of study. Congratulations Anna!

Former lab manager and research assistant Myca Nguyen has been accepted into the New Mexico State University Psychology Master’s Program, to start Summer 2023.

Anasofia plans on applying for a doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy. She is working at El Paso Physical Therapy and plans to continue studying criminal psychology. Anasofia completed one year of service in the lab. Congratulations, Anasofia!

First-year graduate student, Claudia Cota, presented her research on the future success beliefs of community and justice-involved adolescents at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference 2022 in Denver, CO.

Anna Drozdova presented her research at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference 2022 in Denver, CO. Anna received the Outstanding Presentation Award from APLS for her presentation! Way to go, Anna!

Doctoral student Anna Drozdova has been elected as the Student Awards Officer (SAO) for the Association for Psychological Science Student Caucus Executive Board. Anna will be coordinating the awards process for the RISE and Student Research Awards during the 2021-22 academic year.

Graduate student, Anna Drozdova, successfully defended her Master's thesis Friday, May 7th. Anna's thesis focused on the associations between juvenile offenders' friendship characteristics--specifically, stability and homophily--and juveniles' re-offending and substance use.

Graduate student, Anna Drozdova, has been selected as the Associate Editor for the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) online blog process. Anna will be reviewing and editing incoming blogs for the SRA website, as well as writing blogs to be posted to the website.

Doctoral student, Anna Drozdova, successfully proposed her Master's thesis on December 4. Her study will explore how the stability and homophily of juvenile offenders' close friendships impact re-offending and substance use.

Doctoral student, Isabelle Clough, was awarded the American Psychology-Law Society's Grant in Aid for students. This $1,000 award will help fund continued assessments for the Daily Experiences during COVID-19 Study.

Ph.D. students Isabelle Clough and Anna Drozdova led an Introduction to Statistics Workshop for the lab's undergraduate Research Assistants (RAs) Friday, September 4. RAs interested in presenting at future conferences attended the workshop to hone their statistics skills and learn how to apply statistics techniques to their research questions of interest

Dr. April Thomas was recognized by the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects during UTEP's May Research Forum for her National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates award. This award has allowed her to financially support two undergraduate student researchers in the Adolescent Development and Delinquency Lab.

As a panelist for the virtual forum, Dr. Thomas also presented preliminary findings from the Daily Experiences during COVID-19 Study, which explores how at-risk teens and their parents are affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Science Foundation has awarded RAPID Grant to Dr. April Thomas, which will allow her to conduct research on the impacts of COVID-19 on adolescents and their parents. This research will examine how at-risk youth (specifically incarcerated and justice-involved juveniles) may be particularly impacted by the global pandemic.

Dr. Thomas presented the chords and medallions to the graduating members of the Adolescent Development & Delinquency Lab at today's ceremony. Congratulations to Genevieve, Jhairo, and Elizabeth on graduating!

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Daisy Guzman, has been chosen for a travel award to attend the Behavioral Health Graduate Recruitment Fair at the University of Texas, Austin and a fully funded graduate school tour at Arizona State University in May. 

Dr. April G. Thomas presented her research titled "Understanding deterrence: Considering the role of adolescents' legal knowledge & perception of fairness" at the 2019 American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Undergraduate Research Assistants Joseph Reyes, Desiree Pimentel, Tiffany Vasquez, and Roberto Moran presented their poster titled "What Are My Legal Rights? Parents' and Adolescents' Knowledge of Legal Rights" at the 2019 American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Drs. April Gile Thomas (University of Texas at El Paso) and Caitlin Cavanagh (Michigan State University) have received a grant from the National Science Foundation in the area of Law and Social Sciences to fund their research investigating the effects of incarceration on adolescent social functioning and mental health.

Undergraduate Research Assistants, Joseph A. Reyes and Elizabeth Purser, presented their research "Association with delinquent peers: Influence on Adolescents' rule orientation" (co-authors Vanessa Hernandez and Amri Viruet) at the UTEP Campus Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives (COURI) Symposium on April 14, 2018. This research team found that adolescents who associate with a greater number of delinquent friends tend to be less oriented to obeying rules and laws.