Hannah Schacter (gx7719)

Psychology, Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute

5057 Woodward Avenue, Room 8306.2

• Developmental psychology
• Adolescent development
• Peer relationships

I am an assistant professor in the Wayne State Department of Psychology (developmental science area) and an adjunct assistant professor in the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for child and family development. My research examines adolescent social-emotional development and health across diverse contexts. I am especially interested in understanding when and how youth adjust when faced with interpersonal stressors, such as bullying, unhealthy friendships, and dating violence.

In my research, I use a range of different methods, including but not limited to school-based surveys, daily diaries and ambulatory physiological monitoring, to understand short- and long-term links between adolescents' social experiences and well-being. Most of my research takes place outside of the lab and in youth's everyday environments in order to capture adolescent "life as it's lived." The ultimate goal of this research is to shed light on potential intervention approaches and social policies that can promote healthy relationships and positive adjustment among youth.

Learn more about Wayne State's developmental science Ph.D. program. More information about our lab and current research is available at arclabwsu.com.

Active grants

• Improving Health Outcomes among Adolescents with Asthma: Examining the Real-Time Effects of Peer Support
  • Funding mechanism: American Psychological Foundation Visionary Grant
  • Role: Principal Investigator
  • Funding period: 05/2023-11/2024
• Effects of Peer Victimization on Physiological Markers of Threat Sensitivity in Adolescents
  • Funding mechanism: NICHD R21
  • Role: Principal Investigator with Dr. Hilary Marusak
  • Funding period: 09/2022-08/2025

Recent awards

• Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award, 2024
• Alberti Center Early Career Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Bullying Abuse Prevention, 2023
• CLAS Teaching Award, Wayne State University, 2023
• General Education Teaching Award, Wayne State University, 2022

• MI Study: Relational bullying harms teens' view of career prospects
• When and why do girls start forming cliques?
• Being bullied in high school can make teens less optimistic about the future
• Bullying is having longer-lasting impacts on teenagers
• Friendship red flags
• Warriors in the Community, Episode 39: Researching bullying
• For some teens, as masks come off, anxiety sets in
• How the pandemic is changing children’s friendships
• Why the teenage brain pushes young people to ignore virus restrictions
• Kids, teens could be feeling pandemic-related stress. Here's how parents can help
• COVID-19's impact on education
• An Instagram with no 'likes' could have a big impact on mental health
• The psychology behind why some college students break COVID-19 rules
• Hey, Melania Trump, here's how you could actually help stop cyberbullying

• Schacter, H.L., Bakth, F.N., Johnson, J., & Hoffman, A.J. (in press). Longitudinal effects of peer victimization on adolescents’ future educational and work expectations: Depressive symptoms as a mechanism. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi.org/10.1111/jora.13012
• Schacter, H.L., Ehrhardt, A.D., & Hoffman, A.J. (2024). Daily fluctuations in adolescents’ perceived friend dominance and friendship clout: Associations with mood and the moderating role of anxiety. Journal of Youth & Adolescence. doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01906-3
• Schacter, H.L., Marusak, H.A., Borg, B.A., & Jovanovic, T. (2024). Facing ambiguity: Social threat sensitivity mediates the association between peer victimization and adolescent anxiety. Development and Psychopathology. doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422001018
• Schacter, H. L., Hoffman, A. J., & Ehrhardt, A. D. (2023). The power dynamics of friendship: between-and within-person associations among friend dominance, self-esteem, and adolescent internalizing symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52(6), 1206-1218. doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01763-0
• Schacter, H.L., Hoffman, A.J., Ehrhardt, A., & Bakth, F. (2023). Peer victimization, schooling format, and adolescent internalizing symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: Between- and within-person associations across ninth grade. Development and Psychopathology. doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422000074
• Schacter, H.L., Slatcher, R.B., Rodriguez-Stanley, J., Houpt, R., & Zilioli, S. (2022). Effects of daily peer problems on sleep and the severity of pediatric asthma symptoms. Health Psychology, 41(6), 409-416. doi.org/10.1037/hea0001177
• Schacter, H.L. (2021). Effects of peer victimization on child and adolescent physical health: A state-of-the-art review. Pediatrics, 147. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-003434
• Schacter, H.L., Pettit, C., Kim, Y., Sichko, S., Timmons, A.C., Chaspari, T., Han, S.C., & Margolin, G. (2021). A matter of the heart: Daytime relationship functioning and overnight heart rate in young dating couples. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 54, 794-803. doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaaa019
• Schacter, H.L., Lessard, L., & Juvonen, J. (2019). Peer rejection as a precursor of romantic dysfunction in adolescence: Can friendships protect? Journal of Adolescence, 77, 70-80. doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.10.004
• Schacter, H.L., & Margolin, G. (2019). When it feels good to give: Depressive symptoms, daily prosocial behavior, and adolescent mood. Emotion, 19, 923-927. doi.org/10.1037/emo0000494
• Schacter, H.L., & Juvonen, J. (2018). Dynamic changes in peer victimization and adjustment across middle school: Does friends’ victimization alleviate distress? Child Development, 90, 1738-1753. doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13038
• Schacter, H.L. & Juvonen, J. (2015). The effects of school-level victimization on self-blame: Evidence for contextualized social cognitions. Developmental Psychology, 51, 841-847. doi.org/10.1037/dev0000016
• Schacter, H.L., White, S.J., Chang, V.Y., & Juvonen, J. (2015). “Why me?”: Characterological self-blame and continued victimization in the first year of middle school. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 44, 446-456. doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2013.865194
• All publications

• Google Scholar

Please click here for my full faculty profile and click here to view our lab website.

I am an Assistant Professor in the Wayne State Department of Psychology (Developmental Science area) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child & Family Development. My research examines adolescent social-emotional development and health across diverse contexts. I am especially interested in understanding when and how youth adjust when faced with interpersonal stressors, such as bullying, discrimination, and dating violence. In my research, I use a range of different methods, including but not limited to school-based surveys, daily diaries, and ambulatory physiological monitoring, to understand short- and long-term links between adolescents' social experiences and well-being. Most of my research takes place outside of the lab and in youth's everyday environments in order to capture adolescent "life as it's lived." The ultimate goal of this research is to shed light on potential intervention approaches and social policies that can promote healthy relationships and positive adjustment among youth.

Postdoctoral Training, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, 2017-2019

Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 2017

B.A., Psychology, Hamilton College, 2012

 5057 Woodward Avenue, Room 8306.2