Hannah Schacter (gx7719)

Psychology, Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute

5057 Woodward Avenue, Room 8306.2

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• Developmental psychology
• Adolescent development
• Peer relationships

Dr. Schacter is an Assistant Professor of Psychology, Affiliate Faculty at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, and Director of the Adolescent Relationships in Context (ARC) Lab. Her research examines how peer relationships shape adolescent development, with a particular focus on the effects of bullying and friendship dynamics on youth health, social-emotional adjustment, and academic outcomes. She employs longitudinal surveys, ecological momentary assessment, and physiological methods to investigate the underlying mechanisms linking peer experiences to mental and physical well-being, as well as the contextual factors that shape these processes. Currently, she is developing and evaluating a digital intervention aimed at improving teen friendships by teaching evidence-based strategies for fostering positive peer relationships.

Dr. Schacter's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, American Psychological Foundation, Mental Research Institute, and Society for Research in Child Development. She received the 2023 Alberti Center Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Bullying Prevention and was selected as a 2024 Association for Psychological Science Rising Star. In 2022, she also received a General Education Teaching Award and a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Award from Wayne State in recognition of teaching excellence. Dr. Schacter is an Associate Editor for the Merrill Palmer Quarterly and serves on the Editorial Boards for Applied Developmental Science, Journal of Research on Adolescence, and Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

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

• Enhancing Adolescent Friendships Through Digital Education 
  • Funding mechanism: Mental Research Institute General Grant
  • Role: Principal Investigator with Dr. Julie Wargo Aikis
  • Funding period: 02/2025-1/2026
• 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. (2024). Longitudinal effects of peer victimization on adolescents’ future educational and work expectations: Depressive symptoms as a mechanism. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 34(4), 1445-1455. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://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. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000016
• All publications

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Dr. Schacter is an Assistant Professor of Psychology, Affiliate Faculty at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, and Director of the Adolescent Relationships in Context (ARC) Lab. Her research examines how peer relationships shape adolescent development, with a particular focus on the effects of bullying and friendship dynamics on youth health, social-emotional adjustment, and academic outcomes. She employs longitudinal surveys, ecological momentary assessment, and physiological methods to investigate the underlying mechanisms linking peer experiences to mental and physical well-being, as well as the contextual factors that shape these processes. Currently, she is developing and evaluating a digital intervention aimed at improving teen friendships by teaching evidence-based strategies for fostering positive peer relationships.

Dr. Schacter's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, American Psychological Foundation, Mental Research Institute, and Society for Research in Child Development. She received the 2023 Alberti Center Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Bullying Prevention and was selected as a 2024 Association for Psychological Science Rising Star. In 2022, she also received a General Education Teaching Award and a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Award from Wayne State in recognition of teaching excellence. Dr. Schacter is an Associate Editor for the Merrill Palmer Quarterly and serves on the Editorial Boards for Applied Developmental Science, Journal of Research on Adolescence, and Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

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