February 22, 2022
Dr. Williamson has been named a Rising Star of the Association for Psychological Science. The Rising Star designation recognizes outstanding psychological scientists in the earliest stages of their research careers after getting their PhDs whose innovative work has already advanced the field of psychology and signal great potential for their continued contributions.
February 20, 2022
This weekend graduate student Nick Chen presented his research about cross-cultural differences in the transformation of motivation process in close relationships at the SPSP 2022 conference. Check out his poster!
November 5, 2021
This in press paper has now officially come out in JSPR. See the final version here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02654075211053849
October 25, 2021
A new article from the Williamson Lab was published in Psychological Science this week. Past research has reached mixed conclusions about whether natural disasters draw intimate partners together or push them apart. In a longitudinal study of married couples who lived through Hurricane Harvey, which hit Houston, Texas, in August 2017, we discovered that spouses experienced a temporary increase in relationship satisfaction immediately after the hurricane but then declined in satisfaction over the following year. Although natural disasters may lead partners to team up and value their relationships more than usual, at least initially, those gains typically subside as time passes.
September 30, 2021
A comprehensive review paper examining the demographics of participants in the relationships science literature that we completed and posted as a preprint a few months ago has now been accepted for publication in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. You can download the preprint of the manuscript here.
June 24, 2021
Dr. Williamson, along with graduate student Yunzhi Zheng and colleague Dr. Neff, recently published an article in the National Council on Family Relations Report, in the special section Family Focus: Recovering from COVID-19. This research brief summarizes the results of her previous research on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on couples’ relationships and discusses the clinical implications of this research for therapists and family life educators. You can read the new article here.
June 14, 2021
The Williamson Lab has recently received two new grants from the Administration for Children and Families to study relationship interventions in adults and adolescents. We are looking for undergraduate research assistants to work on these and other ongoing projects. See a description of the projects here, and get information on how to apply for an RA position here.
May 18, 2021
The Williamson Lab recently completed a large-scale review of the relationship science literature to determine the extent to which samples used in this area of research are diverse and inclusive of under-represented groups. Across 750 studies, we found that the modal participant in a study of romantic relationships is 30 years old, White, American, middle-class, college educated, and involved in a different-sex, same-race relationship. Additionally, only 68 studies (9%) focused on traditionally underrepresented groups (i.e., non-White, low-income, and/or sexual and gender minorities). These findings underscore the need for greater inclusion of underrepresented groups to ensure the validity and credibility of relationship science. In the manuscript we provide general recommendations for the field to improve diversity and inclusion in our research.
You can download the preprint here: https://psyarxiv.com/c6qfy/
April 14, 2021
Undergraduate research assistant Yukta Sunkara will be presenting the results of her research at the UT College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Forum this Friday. The event will be held virtually at https://cns.utexas.edu/tides/undergraduate/undergraduate-research-forum. You can view the video of her talk by clicking here, or on the URF website, then drop in to chat with Yukta on zoom about her work from 12:30-2:00pm on 4/16/21.
March 1, 2021
Last month Dr. Williamson gave an invited talk at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Close Relationships Preconference entitled “Meta-Research on Relationship Science: A Focus on Diversity and Inclusion.” The talk presented results from a systematic literature review that assesses the diversity and inclusion of under-represented groups in the research being conducted in our field. You can view a recording of the talk here.
