Valerie Simon (ay3100)

• Psychology
• Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Children & Famiies

71 E. Ferry
Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute

One primary focus of our current research is youth exposure to interpersonal violence. Our research questions concern how and for whom violence exposure undermines psychosocial development during adolescence and emerging adulthood We use a multi-method approach that includes questionnaires, interviews, physiological and virtual reality measures

Our research also examines adolescents' romantic and sexual development from a holistic perspective that integrates the risky and rewarding aspects of teens' experiences  We are interested in further elucidating the timing, sequencing, and quality of adolescents' experiences as well as factors the promote or undermine positive development in these key domains of development. Our measurement models include questionnaires as well as novel life history calendar approaches to better understand nuances in age typical and age atpyical experiences

• Assessing the Interpersonal Dynamics of Violence Exposure (NIH HD092956)
• The Interpersonal Dynamics of Violence Exposure and Adolescents' Autonomic Regulation (NIH HD099700)
• “Adolescents’ dissociative responses to age-normative social stress: links with violence exposure and mental health.” Awarded by the WSU Provost's Social & Behavioral Determinants of Health (SBDH) to Nicole Kouri, M.A.

• Mentoring of predoctoral research fellows at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute
• Supervision of undergraduate honors theses in Psychology
• Supervision of undergraduate research experiences (directed study)

Associate Professor of Psychology at the Merrill Palmer Institute and in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Simon's research focuses on investigating the implications of inter-parental conflict and childhood sexual abuse on adolescents' romantic development. Other interest areas include the development of romantic relationships in normative and atypical populations, sexual development and behavior in adolescence, family and peer processes in development and psychopathology, marital relationships and child adjustment, attachment theory, and adolescent depression. Biosketch (PDF)

(313) 664-2500