Brain neural network

Trauma, Social Processes, and Resilience Lab

The Trauma, Social Processes, and Resilience Lab (TSPR) conducts original research on how people cope with—and successfully adapt to—significant life stressors. These stressors may be acute and outside the range of usual human experience, such as bereavement, traumatic injury, terrorist attack, natural disaster, and military deployment, or more normative experiences that most of us will confront at some time, such as divorce, unemployment, childbirth, romantic break-ups, and academic stress. We’re particularly interested in the different ways that people respond to acute stress, the role of social factors in our adaptation, and individual differences that contribute to successful adaptation, including stress appraisals, emotion regulation, and dispositional coping strategies. We're also interested in the ways that acute stress can stimulate social connection and improve psychological functioning, which we describe as "psychosocial gains from adversity" (PGA). Finally, we examine the way screen use and social media can impede social interaction, alter perceptions of others, and affect broad dimensions of psychological functioning. We address these questions in cross-sectional survey, longitudinal field, and experimental laboratory research, using trauma-exposed, normative, and student samples.

We invite you to learn more about our current research, recent news, lab members, publications, and how to contact us or get involved.

News and Publications

  • October 2020

    Dr. Mancini gave a keynote address on psychosocial gains from adversity at the 6th International Symposium on Resilience at the Leibniz Institute for resilience research at the University of Mainz, Germany (virtually, of course!). It was a fantastic group of speakers, and he highly recommends this conference in the future.

    September 2020

    Dr. Mancini was interviewed by Psychology Today in relation to the impact of the pandemic, specifically its widely-varying effects.

    A network analysis of grief and personality disorder symptoms was published at Frontiers in Psychology, entitled "Understanding complicated grief symptoms and patterns of personality disorder symptoms in a substance users sample: A network analysis approach." Laura Masferrer-Boix, the first author, spent a semester working in the TSPR lab, and we collaborated with her on this paper. We're pleased to see her work come to fruition. Nice job!

    An article examining the role of threat appraisals and neuroticism in generating intrusive memories was also published at Anxiety, Stress, & Coping. All the co-authors on this paper are former members of the TSPR lab.

    May 2020

    Dr. Mancini was asked to be the co-Chief Editor at Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, a Taylor & Francis journal. He had been serving as an Associate Editor, and he's delighted to be working with Patrick Gaudreau as co-editor.

    April 2020

    A commentary by Dr. Mancini on the effects of the pandemic was published in Psychological Trauma, Theory, Research, and Practice, entitled "Heterogeneous Mental Health Effects of COVID-19: Costs and Benefits."

    February 2020

    Lab members had a poster accepted at the Association for Psychological Science (APS) national conference. "Mancini, A.D., Blumberg, A., Iseman, J., & Lynch, R. (2020, May 25-27). Natural Disaster Reduces Attachment Avoidance: A Prospective Quasi-Experimental Study [Conference presentation]. Association for Psychological Science 2020 Convention, Chicago, IL, United States."

    A symposium chaired by Dr. Mancini was also accepted at APS. Alas, COVID-19 resulted in it being cancelled. Mancini, A.D., Westphal, M. & Griffin, P. (2020, May 25-27; accepted but cancelled because of COVID-19 pandemic). Social and psychological gains from natural disaster. In A. Mancini (Chair), New Perspectives on the Social, Psychological, and Behavioral Consequences of Adverse Experiences. Symposium at the Association for Psychological Science Conference, Chicago, IL.

    September 2019

    Dr. Mancini is quoted a number of times in a Mercury News article on the dive boat tragedy in Santa Barbara.

    May 2019

    (May 22). We just posted a preprint of a manuscript on PsyArXiv entitled "Threat appraisals have causal effects on intrusive memories: An experiment with replication." Here we used random assignment and follow up surveys to examine how threat appraisal influences intrusive memory one, three, five, and seven days later. We found that threat appraisal is a crucial factor, a finding that replicated across two samples and outcome measures.

    (May 1). Our PTSD network paper "PTSD Near and Far: Symptom Networks from Two to 12 Months After the Virginia Tech Campus Shootings" was accepted at Clinical Psychological Science! In a collaboration with Heather Littleton, Amie Grills, and Payton Jones, we found that symptom to symptom relationships (i.e., PTSD networks) change over time.

    March 2019

    Our research was highlighted in an LA Times article on the recent tragic suicides of survivors of school shootings.

    December 2018

    A solo theoretical paper by A. Mancini, which he had been working on for a long time (how long? we'll keep that quiet), was accepted at Psychological Review! It's entitled "When Acute Adversity Improves Psychological Health: A Social-Contextual Framework." The paper outlines a theory called "psychosocial gains from adversity" (PGA).

    May 2018

    Lab members presented a poster at the APS conference in San Francisco entitled "Threat Appraisal Mediates the Effect of an Aversive Video on Intrusive Memories: An Experiment with Replication." Grace John, Serena Veith, Laura Aldrich, and Max Weissman did a great job of presenting it!

    February 2018

    Research from the lab on adaptation to marriage was cited in Stephanie Coontz's Sunday Review article in the New York Times.

    January 2018

    A poster submission went into the hopper for the Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, this time in San Francisco. We'll update as we get the news. This will be the fifth consecutive year that lab members have submitted posters to this conference.

    November 2017

    Julianne DeLorenzo (now PhD) successfully defended her dissertation, "Attachment Style, Rumination, and Romantic Relationship Conflict"! A huge congrats to Dr. DeLorenzo, who managed the lab and produced a really fine study. The main finding was that rumination mediates the impact of anxious (but not avoidant) attachment on subsequent relationship conflict.

    Christy Denckla and Anthony Mancini, along with other researchers, published a paper on antepartum and postpartum depression trajectories. The key finding was that these patterns are separable and have distinct correlates. We also found a group that was depressed before the birth but not after, a unique pattern that is related to other lab research on psychosocial gains from adversity (among others the pattern of improvement after the Virginia Tech Campus shootings).

    October 2017

    Another blog post at Psychology Today by Dr. Mancini, this one about the sources of distress after disaster. He argues that when disaster disrupts and undermines our relationships, the damage is greatest.

  • 2020

    *Masferrer-Boix, L. Mancini, A.D., Campos, B. (2020). Understanding complicated grief and patterns of personality disorders in a substance users’ sample: A network analysis approach. Frontiers in Psychology.

    Mancini, A.D., *Aldrich, L., *Shevorykin, A., *Veith, S., & *John, G. (2020). Threat appraisal, neuroticism, and intrusive memories: A robust mediational approach with replication. Anxiety, Stress & Coping. Online first.

    Mancini, A.D. (2020). Heterogeneous mental health consequences of COVID-19: Costs and benefits (PDF). Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practices, and Policy, 12, S15–S16.

    2019

    Mancini, A.D. (2019). When acute adversity improves psychological health: A social-contextual framework. Psychological Review, 126, 486-505.

    Mancini, A.D., Littleton, H.L., Grills, A.E., & Jones, P. (in press). PTSD near and far: Symptom networks from two to 12 months after the Virginia Tech campus shootings. Clinical Psychological Science.

    Mancini, A.D., Westphal, M., & Griffin, P. (2019). Social and psychological gains from adversity: A prospective controlled study of natural disaster. PsyArXiv (preprint currently under review)

    Mancini, A.D., Aldrich, L., Shevorkykin, A., Veith, S., & John, G. (2019). Do threat appraisals have causal effects on intrusive memories? An Experiment with replication. PsyArXiv (preprint currently under review).

    2018

    Mancini, A.D., John, G.*, Veith, S.*, Bonaviso, L.*, Bloom, R.*, Pitcher, S., Aldrich, L*. & Weisman, M.* (2018, May). Threat Appraisal Mediates the Effect of an Aversive Video on Intrusive Memories: An Experiment with Replication. Poster session presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco.

    2017

    Denckla, C., Mancini. A.D., Consedine, N.S., Milanovic, S.M., Basu, Archana, B., Seedat, S., Spies, G., Henderson, D.C., Bonanno, G.A., Karestan, K.C. (2017). Distinguishing postpartum and antepartum depression trajectories in a large population-based cohort: The impact of exposure to adversity and offspring gender. Psychological Medicine.

    Mancini, A.D., Diamond, B.*, Shevorykin, A.*, John, G.*, Veith, S.*, Bonaviso, L.*, Marino, C.*, Bloom, R.*, Pitcher, S., & Caiola, J*. (2017, May). Cumulative lifetime adversity and memory for aversive stimuli: An experimental investigation. Poster session presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Psychological Science, Boston, MA.

    2016

    Mancini, A.D., Littleton, H.L., Grills, A.E. (2016). Can people benefit from acute stress? Social support, psychological improvement, and resilience after the Virginia Tech campus shootings. Clinical Psychological Science, 4, 401-417.

    Mancini, A.D., Diamond, B.*, Tirado, A.*, & Delorenzo, J.* (2016, May) Subjective bonding moderates the impact of shared aversive experiences. Poster presented at the 122nd Annual Convention for the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL.

    2015

    Mancini, A.D., Sinan, B. *, & Bonanno, G.A. (2015). Predictors of prolonged grief, resilience, and recovery among bereaved spouses. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71, 1245-1258.

    Mancini, A.D. (2015). Are positive appraisals always adaptive? Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

    Denckla, C.A., Bornstein, R.F., Mancini, A.D., & Bonanno, G.A. (2015). Disambiguating dependency and attachment among conjugally bereaved adults. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 20, 468-483

    Denckla, C.A., Bornstein, R.F., Mancini, A.D., & Bonanno, G.A. (2015). Extending the construct validity of dependency among conjugally bereaved adults. Assessment, 22, 385-393.

    Mancini, A.D. & Bonanno, G.A. (2015). The trouble with averages: The impact of major life events and acute stress may not be what you think. In B.J. Risman (Ed.), Families as They Really Are, New York: W.W. Norton.

    Delorenzo, J.*, Theriault, C.*, Wagner, C.*, & Mancini, A.D. (2015, May) Self-fulfilling prophecy? Attachment pattern predicts who initiates a romantic breakup. Poster presented at the 121st Annual Convention for the Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY.

    2014

    Mancini, A.D., Sinan, B. *, & Bonanno, G.A. (2014). A brief retrospective method for identifying longitudinal trajectories of adjustment following acute stress. Assessment, 1-11.

    Westphal, M., Bonanno, G.A. & Mancini, A.D. (2014). Attachment and attentional biases for facial expressions of disgust. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33, 169-186.

    Mancini, A.D. (2014). Resilience and other reactions to military deployment: The complex task of identifying distinct adjustment trajectories. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 75, e956-e957.

    Bates-Krakoff, J.*, Falcone, G.*, Griffin, P., & Mancini, A.D. (2014, May) Resilience to Hurricane Sandy: Examining the Protective Effects of Positive Affect and Social Support. Poster presented at the 120th Annual Convention for the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA.

    2013

    Manuel, J.I., Appelbaum, P.S., LeMelle, S., Mancini, A.D., Huz, S., Stellato, C., & Finnerty, M. (2013). Use of engagement strategies on ACT teams. Psychiatric Services, 64, 579-585.

    Lewandowski, E.R., Verdeli, H., Wickramaratne, P., Warner, V., Mancini, A.D., Weissman, M., et al. (2013). Predictors of positive outcomes in offspring of depressed parents and non-depressed parents across 20 years. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 1-12.

    Mancini, A.D. (2013). The trouble with averages: The impact of major life events and acute stress may not be what you think. Council on Contemporary Families, Research Brief.

    Denckla, C.D., & Mancini, A.D. (2013). Multi-method assessment of resilience: Integration with an individual differences model. In R. Bornstein & C. Hopwood (eds.) Multimethod Clinical Assessment. New York: Guilford.

    Boerner, K., Mancini, A.D., & Bonanno, G.A. (2013). On the nature and prevalence of uncomplicated and complicated patterns of grief. In M. Stroebe, D., H. Schut, J. van den Bout, P. Boelen (Eds.), Complicated Grief: Scientific Foundations for Health Care Professionals (pp. 55-68). New York: Routledge.

    2012

    Mancini, A.D. (2012). A postwar picture of resilience. (Op-ed article.) The New York Times, February 6, A23.

    Mancini, A.D. & Bonanno, G.A. (2012). The persistence of attachment: Prolonged grief, threat, and mental representations of the deceased. Journal of Affective Disorders, 139, 256-263.

    Bonanno, G.A., Westphal, M., & Mancini, A.D. (2012). Loss, trauma and resilience in adulthood. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 32, 189-211.

    Lam, W.T., Li, W.W., Bonanno, G.A., Mancini, A.D., Ho, S., Chan, M., Or, A., & Fielding, R. (2012). Trajectories of body image and sexuality in the year following diagnosis of breast cancer and their relationship to 6 years psychosocial outcomes. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 131, 957-967.

    Mancini, A.D. (2012). Are you traumatized? Not necessarily, thanks to the magic of human resilience. Zocalo Public Square, February 1.

    Lam, W.T., Shing. Y.T., Bonanno, G.A., Mancini, A.D., & Fielding, R. (2012). Distress trajectories at the first year diagnosis of breast cancer in relation to 6-years survivorship. Psycho-oncology, 21, 90-99.

    Bonanno, G.A., Mancini, A.D., Horton, J.L., Powell, T.M., LeardMann, C.A., Boyko, E.J., Wells, T.S., Hooper, T.I., Gackstetter, G.G., &Smith, T.C.; for the Millennium Cohort Study Team (2012). Trajectories of trauma symptoms and resilience in deployed U.S. Military service members: A prospective cohort study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 200, 1-7.

    Bonanno, G.A. & Mancini, A.D. (2012). Beyond resilience and PTSD: Mapping the heterogeneity of responses to potential trauma. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 4, 74-83.

    Mancini, A.D., & Bonanno, G. A. (2012). Differential pathways to resilience after loss and trauma. In B. McMackin, T. Keane, E. Newman, & J, Fogler (Eds.), Toward an Integrated Approach to Trauma Focused Therapy: Placing Evidence-Based Interventions in an Expanded Psychological Context (pp. 79-98). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    2011

    Mancini, A.D. (2011). Resilience. In. D. Dunn (Ed.) Oxford University Bibliographies Online: Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press, December 1, 2011.

    Denckla, C.A., Mancini, A.D., Bornstein, R.F., & Bonanno, G.A. (2011) Adaptive and maladaptive dependency in bereavement: Distinguishing prolonged and resolved grief trajectories. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 1012-1017.

    Mancini, A.D., Griffin, P., & Bonanno, G.A., (2011). Recent trends in the treatment of prolonged grief. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 25, 46-51.

    Hobfoll, S.E., Mancini, A.D., Hall, B.J., Canetti, D., & Bonanno, G.A. (2011). The limits of resilience: Distress following chronic political violence in the Palestinian Authority. Social Science and Medicine, 72, 1400-1408.

    Galatzer-Levy, I., Mazursky, H., Mancini, A.D., & Bonanno,G.A. (2011). What we don’t expect when expecting: Subjective well-being in response to parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 384-392.

    Mancini, A.D., Bonanno, G.A., & Clark, A. (2011). Stepping off the hedonic treadmill: Individual differences in response to major life events. Journal of Individual Differences, 32, 144-152.

    Bonanno, G.A., Westphal, M., & Mancini, A.D. (2011). Resilience to loss and potential trauma. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 7, 511-535.

    Shear, M.K., Simon, N., Wall, M., Zisook, S., Neimeyer, R., Naihua, D., Reynolds, C., Lebowitz, B., Sung, S., Ghesquiere, A., Gorscak, B., Ito, M., Nakajima, S., Konishi, T., Melhem, N., Meert, K., Schiff, M., O’Conner, M., First, M., Sareen, J., Bolton, J., Skritskaya, N., Mancini, A.D., & Keshaviah, A. (2011). Complicated grief and related bereavement issues for DSM-5. Depression and Anxiety, 28, 103-117.

    Mancini, A.D., Prati, G., & Black, S. (2011). Self-worth mediates the effects of violent loss on PTSD symptoms. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24, 116-120.

    Mancini, A.D., & Prati, G., & Bonanno, G.A. (2011). Do shattered worldviews lead to complicated grief? Prospective and longitudinal analyses. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30, 184-215.

    Bonanno, G. A., & Mancini, A. D. (2011). Toward a lifespan approach to resilience and trauma. In S. Southwick, D. Charney, M. Freedman, B.Litz (Eds.), Resilience and mental health: Responding to challenges across the lifespan (pp. 120-134). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Mancini, A. D., & Bonanno, G. A. (2011). Loss and grief: The role of individual differences. In S. Southwick, D. Charney, M. Freedman, B.Litz (Eds.), Resilience and mental health: Responding to challenges across the lifespan (pp.189-199). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    2010

    Horton, J.L., Powell, T.M., Bonanno, G.A., Mancini, A.D., LeardMann, C.A., Boyko, E.J., Wells, T.S., Hooper, T.I., Gackstetter, G.G., &Smith, T.C.; for the Millennium Cohort Study Team (2010). Mental health trajectories and their predictors: Application of latent growth mixture modeling in the Millenium Cohort Study. Annals of Epidemiology, 20, 714-715.

    Galatzer-Levy, I., Bonanno, G.A., & Mancini, A.D. (2010). From Marianthal to latent growth mixture modeling: A return to the exploration of individual differences in response to unemployment. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 3, 116-125.

    Lam, W.T., Bonanno, G.A., Mancini, A.D., Ho, S., Chan, M., Ka Hung, W., Or, A., Fielding, R. (2010). Trajectories of psychological distress among Chinese women diagnosed with breast cancer. Psycho-oncology, 19, 1044-1051.

    de-Roon-Cassini, T.A., Mancini, A.D., Rusch, M., & Bonanno, G.A. (2010). Psychopathology and resilience following traumatic injury: A latent growth mixture model analysis. Rehabilitation Psychology, 55, 1-11. (Awarded the Harold Yuker Award for Research Excellence, APA Division 22, as the best paper published in the journal in 2011.)

    Mancini, A.D., & Bonanno, G.A., (2010). Resilience to potential trauma: Toward a lifespan approach. In J.W. Reich, A.J. Zautra, & J. Hall (eds.) Handbook of Adult Resilience: Concepts, Methods, and Applications (pp. 258-282). New York: Guilford.

    2009

    Mancini, A.D. & Bonanno, G.A. (2009). Predictors and parameters of resilience to loss: Toward an individual differences model. Journal of Personality, 77, 1805-1832.

    Mancini, A.D., Robinaugh, D.*, Shear, M.K., & Bonanno, G.A. (2009). Does attachment avoidance help people cope with loss? The moderating effects of relationship quality. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 1-10.

    2008

    Gupta, S., Rosenthal, M.Z, Mancini, A.D., & Cheavens, J.S. & Lynch, T.R. (2008). Emotion regulation skills mediate the effects of shame on eating disorder symptoms in women. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 16, 405-417.

    Mancini, A.D. (2008). Self-determination theory: A framework for the recovery paradigm. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 14, 358-365.

    Bonanno, G.A., & Mancini A.D. (2008). The human capacity to thrive in the face of potential trauma. Pediatrics, 121, 369-375.

    Mancini, A. D., & Bonanno, G. A. (2008). Resilience. In Reyes, G., Elhai, J., & Ford, J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Psychological Trauma (pp. 584-585). New York: Wiley.

    2005 - 2007

    Bonanno, G.A., Nerial, Y., Mancini, A.D., Coifman, K.G., & Litz, B. (2007). Is there more to grief than depression and PTSD? A test of incremental validity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 342-351.

    Mancini, A.D. & Bonanno, G.A. (2006). Marital closeness, functional disability, and adjustment in late life. Psychology and Aging, 21, 600-610.

    Mancini, A.D. & Bonanno, G.A. (2006). Resilience in the face of potential trauma: Clinical practices and illustrations. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 62, 971-985.

    Mancini, A.D., Pressman, D.L., & Bonanno, G.A. (2006). Clinical interventions with the bereaved: What clinicians and counselors can learn from the CLOC study. In D. Carr, R.M. Nesse, & C.B. Wortman (Eds.), Spousal Bereavement in Late Life (pp. 255-278). New York: Springer Publishing Company.

    Mancini, A.D., Bonanno, G.A. (2006).Bereavement. In J. E. Fisher & W. O’Donohue (Eds.), Practitioner’s Guide to Evidence-based Psychotherapy (pp. 122-130). New York: Springer Academic.

    Bonanno, G.A., & Mancini A.D. (2005). Evaluating interventions for bereavement-related depression and PTSD. In L. Barbanel, & R.J. Sternberg (Eds.), Psychological Interventions for Victims of Disaster and Trauma. New York: Singer.

Location

Marks Hall, Pace University
861 Bedford Road
Pleasantville, New York 10570

Contact

Associate Professor
Dyson College of Arts and Sciences
Psychology - PLV
Westchester