Our research is...
DevelopmentalOur work considers the contexts and trajectories of children & youth development.
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Trauma-InformedWe recognize the long-lasting and wide-ranging impacts of trauma and aim to promote empowerment by focusing on survivor-defined outcomes.
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IntersectionalOur research examines power, privilege, and oppression, centering those with multiple intersecting identities.
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Active Projects
Creating Protective Environments Through School Policy Development
(PIs: Smith-Darden & Kernsmith; Co-I: McCauley; Funding: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention)
This study -- known as P3 -- comprises the evaluation of existing school policy in Michigan K-12 school districts to prevent and respond to sexual violence, and provision of technical assistance to promote full implementation based on best practices. Further, we are using a delayed treatment, mixed methods design to assess the effects of policy on school climate, and prevalence and incidence of sexual violence and harassment, teen dating violence, and bullying in Michigan schools.
Evaluation of the “Step Up Step In’’ Sexual Bullying Prevention Program
(PI: Reidy; Co-Is: McCauley, Smith-Darden, & Orchowski; Funding: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention)
This project is an evaluation of the Georgia-based RPE-funded social marketing campaign to promote community-level norms that protect against sexual bullying. The team will focus on assessing the campaign’s impact on sexual violence among high-school students, with Drs. Smith-Darden and McCauley focusing on the impact of the program among sexual and gender minority youth specifically.
Measure Development to Advance the Scientific Study of Minority Stress in Transgender Individuals
(PIs: Puckett, McCauley, & Anderson-Carpenter; Funding: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities & National Cancer Institute)
Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people experience a range of health disparities in the face of social marginalization and minority stress. This is a mixed methods R21 study to develop and refine novel measures that assess for minority stressors in the lives of TGD people, strengthening research on TGD health and wellbeing.
Sexual Violence Prevention in Central Ohio: Interrupting Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking on Campus
(PI: McCray; Consulting Evaluators: McCauley & Smith-Darden; Funding: U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women)
This project -- led by Dr. McCray from Otterbein University -- involves the evaluation of the Fair Play intervention program in college athletic programs. Fair Play teaches athletes to understand sexual assault, consent, and rape culture in sports, and gives them tools and skills to intervene and stop sexual violence before it happens. The SPARK lab is collaborating with researchers from University of Wisconsin and Temple University to assess the implementation and effectiveness of this program among Division III student-athletes.
Public Will Campaign to End Child Sexual Abuse
(Research Director: McCauley; Co-I: Smith-Darden; Funding: Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center)
We are employing the systems change model of the public will approach to mobilize individual behaviors, social norms, and systemic structures to create sustained change to end child sexual abuse. In Phase I, The Public Will Campaign designed and implemented a Child Safety Survey for the six county region served by the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center. In Phase II, we are designing and implementing a social norms campaign informed by local data collected in Phase I.
Athletic Trainers as Leaders in Sexual Violence Prevention
(PI: McCauley; Funding: RALIANCE)
This project is a partnership with RALIANCE, the NCAA, and the B1G Conference focused on the role of sports medicine professionals as leaders in sexual violence prevention. We hosted an invitation-only listening session for athletic trainers from Division I, Division II and Division III colleges and universities; approximately 20 athletic trainers, sexual violence researchers, and representatives from the NCAA gathered at the B1G Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois to develop recommendations for the profession.
Expanding Capacity for Structural Interventions to Address Gender-Based Violence
(PIs: McCauley & Smith-Darden; Funding: MSU Center for Gender in Global Context)
This is a strategic global partnership between faculty in Michigan State University’s School of Social Work and the Zürich University of Applied Sciences, in Zürich, Switzerland. We aim to document the history of structural interventions to reduce harm for marginalized groups in this European setting and inform the adaptation of structural approaches to gender-based violence prevention & intervention in the United States.
Youth Empowerment Solutions for Healthy Relationships (YES-HR)
(PIs: Smith-Darden & Kernsmith; Funding: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
YES-HR is a longitudinal implementation study to understand how experiences in adolescence impact behavior over time. Embedded in the 8th grade social studies curriculum, YES-HR early adolescents learn about identity, consent, gender equity, bystander intervention, bullying and harassment, appropriate use of technology, and healthy relationship behaviors, culminating in collaboration of funded community projects that are led by the youth.
Recently Completed Projects
Measuring Resilience Among Trans and Nonbinary Survivors of Sexual Violence
(PI: McCauley; Funding: Center for Victim Research)
This was an early-stage research-to-practice fellowship to develop a tool for FORGE to launch as their next national survey of transgender and gender diverse survivors of sexual violence. The MSU and FORGE team conducted cognitive interviews with transgender and gender diverse survivors to inform the development of this survey assessing resilience and wellness, including (survivor-defined) healing after trauma, sense of community, and social support. Strengths-based measures of sexuality were included to understand the unique experiences of transgender and nonbinary individuals in their sexual relationships after trauma, including desire and desirability, intimacy, sexual confidence, and embodiment.
Strengthening Supports for Healthy Adolescent Relationships and Environments (SHARE)
(PIs: Smith-Darden & Kernsmith; Funding: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
This was a longitudinal, etiologic study of youth to examine the individual, relational, community, and social risk and protective factors associated with perpetration of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and stalking in intimate relationships through a gender-sensitive, developmental perspective.