Professor of Psychological Science and Nursing Science
Ph.D. University of California, Davis
(949) 824-7693
jquas@uci.edu
4328 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway
Department:
Psychological Science
Specializations:
effects of trauma and maltreatment on children, memory development, children’s involvement in the legal system
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MY RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Memory development in early childhood, effects of stress and trauma on children’s development, and children’s involvement in the legal system. Specific interests include strategies to improve children’s narrative productivity and accuracy; the effects of stress on children’s memory; emotional regulation and physiological reactivity as predictors of children’s coping with and memory for stressful events; jurors’ perceptions of child witnesses; and consequences of legal involvement on child witnesses and victims.
SAMPLES OF OUR WORK AND COLLABORATIONS:
1. What are the links between maltreatment exposure and children’s emotional competence, especially their ability to regulate their emotions and understand emotions in others, and how do these links change with development?
Research Team: Kelli Dickerson, M.A., & Stacy Metcalf, M.A. (doctoral student)
Collaborators: Helen Milojevich, Ph.D. (Oklahoma State University), Jennifer Skeem, Ph.D. (UC Berkeley)
2. How do stress and development affect children’s and adolescents’ memory and reporting tendencies, and what specific interviewing techniques facilitate their reporting?
Research Team: Rachel Dianiska, Ph.D., Emma Simpson, B.A.
3. What questioning tactics are effective at eliciting complete and accurate disclosures from suspected youth victims of trafficking, and how knowledgeable are law enforcement and first responders about these tactics?
Research Team: Rachel Dianiska, Ph.D., Shreya Mukhopadhyay, M.A., Kaitlin Hardin, M.A., Diane Brown, B.A., and Alex Marlow, M.A.
Collaborators: Thomas Lyon, JD, Ph.D. USC), Allison Redlich, Ph.D. (George Mason University), Corey Rood, M.D. (UC Irvine), Allison Redlich, Ph.D.(George Mason University)
4. How much do vulnerable populations of witnesses and defendants involved in the justice system understand about their experiences, and how does that understanding affect their functioning and case outcomes?
Research Team: Kirsten Domagalski, M.A., Emma Simposon, B.A.
Collaborators: Allison Redlich, Ph.D., (George Mason University), Kyndra Cleveland, Ph.D. (UC Berkeley), Gail Goodman, Ph.D. (UC Davis)