Psychology Alumni and Professor Publish Paper

Psychology graduates Zoe Brown ’24 and James Ambron ’24 completed an internship serving as Research Assistants for John Gunn, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology and known expert on suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The pair assisted Dr. Gunn with a study using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (ADD Health) dataset to examine the differences in suicidal thoughts and behaviors of those experiencing fluidity in their sexual identity. The group found elevated thoughts of suicide amongst those whose fluidity involved their transitioning into marginalized identities (i.e., previously identifying as heterosexual to a sexual minority).

The results of the study have been published in the Archives of Suicide Research with both Ambron and Brown as co-authors on the paper. Ambron and Brown presented the study’s results at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference in Philadelphia, Pa in spring 2024.

"The experience of presenting at the EPA Conference in my home city felt like a dream come true and something I never thought I would do. I know that hard work that James and Dr. Gunn put into this research, and I am lucky that I cold be a part of it," shared Zoe. "Beng able to see the paper published has felt like a great accomplishment to me, espeically post graduaton."