Youth Equity & Sexuality Lab

I completed my undergraduate degree at Suffolk University and graduated in 2017 with a major in psychology and a minor in sociology. I continued my education at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island completing a master’s program in forensic psychology. I returned to Suffolk University for their new Applied Developmental Psychology Ph.D program to work with Dr. Mimi Arbeit. My current research interests are focused on far-right recruitment of youth by way of social media, and my dissertation project proposes a new theory of anti-oppressive social media literacy. I am also a Graduate Research Assistant at CIRCLE at Tufts University working on curriculum evaluation.

Research Interests

Social media, critical media literacy, anti-oppression

Publications and Presentations

Burnham, S. L. F. & Arbeit, M. R. (2023). Social media literacy to confront far-right content: Saying “no” to neutrality. Human Development, 67(3), 117-134.

Burnham, S. L. F., Arbeit, M. R., & Hilliard, L. J. (2022). The subtle spread of hateful memes: Examining engagement intentions among parents of adolescents. Social Media + Society, 8(2), 1-14. 

Arbeit, M. R., Burnham, S. L. F., de Four, D., & Cronk, H. (2020). Youth practitioners can counter fascism: What we know and what we need. Journal of Youth Development, 15(5), 37-67.

Samantha Jane Benavidez-Walsh is a PhD candidate in the Applied Developmental Psychology program at Suffolk University who started in 2019. She graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from the University of the Philippines and got her M.A. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College. Her work as a Guidance Counselor for middle school students as well as her internship at the Center for Teen Empowerment in Somerville led to her interest in working with youth and studying positive youth development. Her early research project was a mixed-methods project with Families First to evaluate their Power of Parenting program by analyzing visual data. Her dissertation explores the experiences of Filipino American women with colorism, looking at the developmental processes involved, as well as looking at meaning making of these experiences through the lens of colonial mentality and critical consciousness.

Research Interest

Adolescent development, positive youth development, colorism, Filipino psychology

Selected Publications and Presentations

Murry, M.D., Nguyen, V., Benavidez-Walsh, S. J., Kniskern, R., Morson, C., Marks, Amy K. (2021). Addressing school and education COVID disparities. PennState Social Science Research Institute.

Murry, M. D., Benavidez-Walsh, S. J., Browne, R. K., & Marks, A. K. (2021). School Based Interventions for Equitable Learning. Halpern-Felsher, B (Ed). Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health, Elsevier.

Benavidez-Walsh, S. J., Luehrs, R., Duté, K., DiBiase, R., Osborne, K., Speck, A., O'Brien, M., & Marks, A. K. (2021). The Power of ParentingTM Program: parent identity and parenting transformations shown through parents’ self-reflective drawings [Poster session]. Submitted to the 2021 Society for Research in Child Development Virtual Biennial Meeting.

Suzuki, S., Benavidez, S.J., Quinn, S., Gill, S., Fu, Y., Worg, C., Rojas, A.G., Johnson, S., & Lerner, J. (2018, October). Youth contribution: Relations between youth’s activity participation and their life goals. [Poster session] 2018 Society for Research in Child Development special topic meeting, Philadelphia, PA.

Quema, P., Ventosa, A.R., Benavidez, S.J., & Batican, A.A.M. (2013, February). Ina, anak, apo: How prior experience influences a mother’s view of her adolescent daughter’s pregnancy. [Presentation] PSYnergy 7, Manila, Philippines.

Alexandria C. Onuoha, M.S. (she/her) is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Developmental Psychology in the Youth Equity & Sexuality (YES) Lab at Suffolk University. Her work is interdisciplinary at its core using theoretical and methodological frameworks grounded in psychology, Black girlhood studies, education, and critical far-right studies to engage with Black women and girls. Her current scholarship has two main focuses: 1) What are the psychological experiences of Black women and girls when they encounter far-right threats?; and 2) What strategies do Black women and girls use to resist far-right activity, and how are joy and ideas of liberation part of these strategies? She extends this commitment to Black women and girls through art-based education. She uses Afro-Caribbean dance to promote positive development among Black girls and women. Further, she has worked in policy settings to advocate for more legal protections for Black children and adolescents. Her research, expertise, and community engagement have been featured in The Boston Globe, Teen Vogue, Al Jazzera, and other outlets.

Research Interests

Adolescent and young adult development, Black feminist theories, critical far-right studies, digital misogynoir, mixed-methods

Selected Publications and Presentations

Leath, S. C., Onuoha, A. C., Mims, L., Quiles, T., Jones, M. K., & Inniss-Thompson, M. N. (2023). A Black feminist study of freedom, community care, and self-definition among Black college women attending predominantly White institutions. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication.

Onuoha, A. C., Arbeit, M. R., & Leath, S. (2023). Far-right misogynoir: A critical thematic analysis of Black college women's experiences with white male supremacist influences. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 47(2), 180-196.

Onuoha, A. C., Mehta, C. (2022). “Book review: Girls’ identities and experiences of oppression in schools: resilience, resistance, and transformation.” Psychology of Women Quarterly. 

Arbeit, M. R., Onuoha, A. C., Burnham, S. L. F., Wanjuki, W., Kozak, K., & de Four, D. (2022). From misogynist incels to “one of the shooters”: What can help college sexual violence prevention confront male supremacism? Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education. 

Onuoha, A. C. (2022). “Book review: Hate in the homeland: The new global far right.” Journal of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. 

Del Col, L., Fowler, A., Mohamed, S., Onuoha, A. C., Raphael, S. R., Tamkin, E., Tolan, C., Cherrysse, U & Wade, S. (2021). Do something!: Forging constellations of curricular, co-curricular, and community opportunities for anti-racist writing pedagogies at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. WPA: Writing Program Administration, 44(3), 106-113. 

Dennis, C., Onuoha, A. C., & Gonzalez, K., (2022, November 12). Psychological experiences of historically underrepresented college students: Implications for institutional support. [poster presentation] Annual Diversity Challenge at Boston College, Boston, MA.

Arbeit, M. R., Onuoha, A. C., Burnham, S. L. F., Wanjuki, W., Kozak, K., & de Four, D. (2022, March 4). Diverting development of misogynist ideologies among college students [poster presentation]. Society for Research on Adolescence. New Orleans, LA, United States.

Onuoha, A. C. & Arbeit, M. R. (2022, March 4). Understanding the developmental implications of far-right misogynoir in education. [data blitz talk] Biennial Meeting of the Society of Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA.

Onuoha, A. C., Stanton, A. G., Rivens, A., Leath, S. (2022, February 26). Community care & critical action: Black feminist methodologies in education & psychology research [conference roundtable]. 39th Annual Teachers College Winter Roundtable 2022: Collective Action & Liberatory Practices in Psychology and Education, virtual.

Onuoha, A. C. (2021, December 4). Black Women’s theorizing of far-right misogynoir [conference student research poster session]. Presented at the Psychology of Black Women, APA Division 35, Section 1, virtual.

Onuoha, A. C. ( 2021). Digital misogynoir and white supremacy: What Black feminist theory can teach us about far right extremism. Global Network on Extremism & Technology. 

Onuoha, A. C. (2021). Support Black girlhood in the face of Black death. The Progressive. 

MacKinnon, P., Onuoha, A.C., Raphael, S., Wade, S. (2021). Black Languages Matter: Code Meshing and Multilingual Poetry as Anti Racist Practices [workshop and presentation]. Maine Council for English Language Arts Annual Conference, virtual.

Onuoha, A. C. (2021). After Trump’s insurrection colleges should stop coddling the radical right. RANTT Media.

Onuoha, A. C. (2021). Attitudes towards Black queer individuals who are gender nonconforming [conference flash talk]. Society for Research in Child Development, virtual.

Onuoha, A.C. ( 2021). Digital misogynoir and white supremacy: What Black feminist theory can teach us about far right extremism. Global Network on Extremism & Technology.

Onuoha, A. C. (2021). For Toni, Audre, and Alice: Black women’s sexuality and spirituality in a shared space. Queen City Writers.

Onuoha, A.C. (2021). Support Black girlhood in the face of Black death. The Progressive.

Onuoha, A. C., Miller, A. N., Ramanayake, N.P., Mathew, L., Sawdy, M., Escobar, K. I. (2021). Social justice in the ivory tower: Is academia antithetical to activism? [conference roundtable]. 38th Annual Teachers College Winter Roundtable 2021: A Pandemic of Racism, virtual.

Anne joined the Applied Developmental Psychology program and the YES Lab in 2021. Her research examines how sexual violence prevention efforts can address power and oppression, and how using a power-conscious lens in sexual violence prevention can promote positive development for young people who show warning signs they may cause harm, who are engaged in preventing harm, and who are survivors of sexual violence.

Anne’s work is shaped by a decade as a sexual violence prevention educator with the company Catharsis Productions, where she traveled the U.S. educating college students and U.S. military service members, and trained new educators how to facilitate interactive and engaging conversations about sexual violence. Prior to her doctoral studies, Anne completed a Masters in Instructional Leadership: Educational Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was a member of the DREAM (Developing Racial Equity for and with Adolescents and in Mentoring) Research Group, under the direction of Dr. Bernadette Sánchez. Anne is also a graduate of Skidmore College, with a B.S. in Theater.

Anne is an affiliated researcher with the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention Research & Education and a Gender-Based Violence content expert with Our Bodies Ourselves Today.

Research Interests

Sexual violence prevention, critical consciousness, critical pedagogy, social justice youth development, college student development, gender and sexuality development

Publications and Presentations

Arbeit, M. R., Negrete, A., Berger, N. P., Dufault, A. E., Onuoha, A. C., & Burnham, S. L. F. (2024). Antifascist praxis in developmental science: Possibilities for collective resistance to fascism. Child Development Perspectives. 

Dufault, A. E., Arbeit, & M. R. (April 13, 2023). Promoting prosocial behavior against male supremacy among college peers [poster blitz talk].Society for Research on Adolescence.San Diego, CA, United States.

Arbeit, M. R., Dufault, A. E., Burnham, S. L. F., Onuoha, A. C., Wanjuki, W., & de Four, D. (April 14, 2023). Male supremacism among youth: Intervention options and critical considerations [constructed paper symposium]. Society for Research on Adolescence. San Diego, CA, United States.

Natasha joined the YES lab and entered Suffolk’s Applied Developmental Psychology PhD Program in the fall of 2022. She graduated summa cum laude with high honors in psychology from Hunter College at the City University of New York in the spring of 2022. Her research interests include the influences of religion on one’s sense of self and on adolescent sexual identity development. She is also interested in the development of sexual orientation and gender identity expression (SOGIE) in the context of cultural collectivism and social conformity.

Previously, Natasha worked at the Hunter Alliance for Research and Translation (HART) under the mentorship of Dr. Sarit Golub. She helped with projects that aimed to make pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and STI testing more accessible and serviceable to gender and ethnic minority populations that have been historically underserved in the fight against HIV. Currently, Natasha is working on a project with Dr. Mimi Arbeit that explores how LGBTQ+ youth raised in Christian religious contexts appraise and cope with religiously-tinged anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments from the Christian Right.

Research Interests

Adolescent sexual and gender identity development, positive youth development, conservative religious ideologies and LGBTQ+ identity suppression, cultural collectivism, social conformity, unpacking the monolithic Asian category in research samples

Berger, N. F. P. (2023, February 24-25). Ambivalent Sexism: How Gender, Religiosity, and Political Ideology Affect Undergraduates’ Scores [Poster presentation]. 2023 Annual Society for Social and Personality Psychology Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Berger, N. F. P., Golub, S.A., Fikslin, R. A., & Goldberg, A. (2022, May 7). Ambivalent Sexism: How Gender, Religiosity, and Political Ideology Affect Undergraduates’ Scores [Symposium talk]. Hunter College 50th Annual Psychology Convention, New York, New York, United States.

Price, D., Berger, N. F. P., Capen, S., & Reinka, M. (2022, February 17). A qualitative analysis exploring vaccine concerns among vaccinated and unvaccinated U.S. adults [Data blitz talk]. 2022 Society for Social and Personality Psychology Preconference, San Francisco, California, United States.