Stress Lab: Study of Trauma, Risk-taking, Emotions, and Stress Symptoms

Stress Lab: Study of Trauma, Risk-taking, Emotions, and Stress Symptoms The STRESS Lab is directed by Dr. Nicole H. Weiss in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rhode Island.

Serving people with lived experiences of trauma and substance use through research, practice, and advocacy.

12/04/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab Director, Nicole!

Contractor, A. A., Messman, B. A., Dicker-Oren, S. D., Weiss, N. H., Sznitman, S., & Greene, T. (in press). Positive autobiographical memories in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms: An exploratory intervention study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.

We examined if there were changes in self-reported positive autobiographical memory characteristics (vividness, coherence, accessibility, sensory details, visual perspective, emotional intensity, sharing, valence, and psychological distance) among participants receiving four sessions of Processing of Positive Memories Technique (PPMT), and if and how these changes related to changes in PTSD symptom severity across treatment. Results suggest that participants receiving PPMT may improve in PTSD symptoms if they get better at accessing positive AMs and at constructing a coherent narrative of that event.

11/19/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab Director, Nicole!

Wang, K., Girard, R., Manning, R. B., & Weiss, N. H. (in press). Expressive flexibility as a buffer in the association between substance use stigma and drug use problems among substance-using individuals with depression. Stigma and Health.

The current study examined expressive flexibility as a buffer in the relation between substance use stigma and drug use problems among individuals with depressionr. Moderation analyses showed that substance use stigma was significantly associated with drug use problems, but the association was attenuated for participants with high levels of expressive flexibility. These findings underscored the potential utility of fostering expressive flexibility as a stigma coping resource in substance use interventions.

10/15/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab members, Silvi (clinical PhD alum) and Nicole (Director)!

Goldstein, S. C., Weiss, N. H., Yang, M., Feldstein Ewing, S. W., & Collins, S. E. (in press). Combined harm reduction treatment and extended-release naltrexone for alcohol use disorder: Differential efficacy across race, ethnicity, and s*x assigned at birth. Addiction.

The present study assessed the efficacy of Harm Reduction Treatment with Pharmacotherapy (HaRP) in reducing alcohol use and related harm and improving quality of life across racial, ethnic, and s*x assigned at birth groups. Growth curve modeling indicated that, compared to the treatment as usual control group, the HaRP treatment showed equitable treatment effects across race, ethnicity, and s*x assigned at birth on study outcomes of alcohol frequency, alcohol quantity, alcohol-related harm, and physical-related quality of life. Results provide evidence for the efficacy of harm reduction treatment for AUD across race, ethnicity, and s*x assigned at birth groups. These findings underscore the potential utility of harm reduction interventions across racial, ethnic, and s*x assigned at birth populations.

10/07/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab Director, Nicole!

Messman, B. A., Wang, S., Batley, P., Weiss, N. H., Newberry, J. A., & Contractor, A. A. (in press). Psychometric evaluation of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 in daily surveys: An Item Response Theory and longitudinal measurement invariance analysis. Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5) has demonstrated excellent psychometric qualities across cross-sectional studies, yet the scale’s performance in repeated-measures study designs is less known. Using data from the PCL-5 administered for 9 days, we (a) conducted item analysis of the PCL-5 using the graded response model to examine item characteristics (thresholds and discrimination parameters) and (b) examined differential item functioning (DIF) to evaluate whether the PCL-5 measured the PTSD latent trait identically across daily surveys (i.e., longitudinal invariance). Across days, results indicated lower but acceptable discrimination for PCL-5 items 8 (traumatic amnesia), 16 (reckless or self-destructive behaviors), and 17 (hypervigilance). DIF analysis indicated that Item 2 (disturbing dreams about trauma) exhibited DIF across days indicating potential bias. In conclusion, results broadly provide psychometric support for using the 20-item PCL-5 in repeated-measure study designs.

09/30/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab members, Nicole (Director), Melissa (clinical PhD alum), Alexa (clinical PhD alum), and Reina (sixth year clinical student)!

Weiss, N. H., Schick, M. R., Scheer, J. R., Stamates, A. L., Raudales, A. M., Kiefer, R., Contractor, A. A., & Sullivan, T. P. (in press). Emotion dysregulation modulates the relation between emotional intensity and biological stress dysregulation among community women experiencing intimate partner violence. Psychoneuroendocrinology.

The current study utilized an experience sampling methodology design was used to examine whether emotion dysregulation moderated the association between negative emotional intensity and HPA-axis dysfunction derived from hair cortisol. We found that the relation between negative emotional intensity and hair cortisol levels was significant among women who reported high (but not low) emotion dysregulation. These findings suggest an important role of emotion dysregulation in attenuating the effects of stress among women experiencing IPV, highlighting the potential utility of improving emotion dysregulation in this population to prevent stress-related disease and disability.

09/20/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab members, Jewels (third year clinical PhD student), Emmanuel (clinical PhD student alum), Silvi (clinical PhD student alum), Noam (fourth year clinical PhD student), Diana (fifth year clinical PhD student), and Nicole (Director)!

Ferguson, J. J., Thomas, E. D., Goldstein, S. C., Newberger, N. G., Ho, D., & Weiss, N. H. Posttraumatic stress and drug use-related harm: Ethnic-racial identity as a moderator for Women of Color enduring partner violence. Journal of Dual Diagnosis.

This study investigated the role of ethnic-racial identity as a moderator in the relation between PTSD symptoms and drug use-related harm. The affirmation component of ethnic-racial identity moderated the relation between PTSD symptoms and drug use- related harm such that PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with drug use-related harm at higher, but not lower, levels of ethnic-racial identity affirmation. Results of this study suggest that bolstering the ethnic-racial identity facet of affirmation among women of color who experience IPV may attenuate the relation between PTSD symptoms and drug use- related harm.

09/17/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab Director, Nicole!

Dora, J., Shinn, M., Copeland, A., Neilson, E. C., Weiss, N. H., Witkiewitz, K., Murphy, J. G., Field, M., George, W. H., & King, K. M. (in press). How people decide to consume (more) alcohol when feeling stressed. Addiction.

We developed a novel value-based decision-making paradigm testing whether acute stress causes individuals to choose alcohol over appealing non-alcoholic alternatives. Stress moderately increased choices for alcohol, but only in sober participants. These findings provide compelling experimental support for the tension reduction hypothesis and advance our mechanistic understanding of how stress shapes alcohol choice behavior.

08/04/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab Director, Nicole!

Günsoy, C., Feroz, S., Kandalaft, K., & Weiss, N. H. (in press). Stigma against cannabis and to***co users by nonusers: The role of culture and honor values. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology.

We examined whether honor values were associated with stigma against cannabis and to***co users, as the use of stigmatized substances can damage one’s reputation. Among South Asian American nonusers, cannabis stigma was positively associated with personal and family honor values and religiosity. Among European American nonusers, to***co stigma was positively associated with family honor values. These findings show that honor values can play different roles in substance use stigma depending on people’s cultural background. Understanding the cultural factors behind substance use stigma is necessary to facilitate help seeking, especially in diverse societies.

07/16/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab Director, Nicole!

Günsoy, C., Feroz, S., Kandalaft, K., & Weiss, N. H. (in press). The role of culture and masculine honor ideology in substance use and outcome expectancies. Substance Use and Misuse.

Analyses showed that masculine honor was positively associated with positive outcome expectancies from to***co and alcohol use and with the frequency of alcohol and cannabis use among South Asian individuals. These associations were not significant among European American individuals. These findings have implications for the development of culture-specific interventions to reduce substance use in diverse societies.

07/15/2025

Congrats to Alexa (clinical psychology PhD alum), Reina (sixth year clinical PhD student), and Nicole (Director)!

Raudales, A. M., Wallace, G. T., Kiefer, R., Brick, L. A., Schatten, H. T., & Weiss, N. H. (in press). Momentary dynamics of intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress symptoms among women: The influence of positive emotion dysregulation. Journal of Affective Disorders.

The objective of the current study was to clarify the temporal dynamics between IPV types (psychological, physical, s*xual) and PTSS as well as the influence of positive emotion dysregulation. At the within-person level, significant cross-lagged effects were found for IPV predicting next-interval PTSS for psychological and physical IPV, but not s*xual IPV. At the between-person level, baseline positive emotion dysregulation was significantly associated with the random cross-lagged effect for IPV and next-interval PTSS for s*xual IPV,but not psychological or physical IPV. Findings shed light on how IPV across types perpetuates PTSS in the daily lived experiences of women who experience IPV and underscore a significant influence of positive emotion dysregulation.

06/20/2025

Congrats to STRESS Lab members Reina (sixth year clinical PhD student) and Nicole (Director)!

Bhuptani, P. H., Srinagesh, A., Kiefer, R., & Weiss, N. H. (in press). Sexual assault and alcohol use: The roles of shame and emotional avoidance. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

We examined whether a history of s*xual assault related to alcohol use and related harm indirectly through heightened shame and greater emotional avoidance. A history of s*xual assault was indirectly associated with increased alcohol use and related harm via heightened shame and greater emotional avoidance. Findings suggest that interventions targeting alcohol use and related harm may benefit from reducing shame and decreasing emotional avoidance among individuals with a history of s*xual assault.

05/31/2025

Congrats to soon-to-be STRESS Lab postdoc Ben Katz as well as Noam (fourth year clinical PhD student), Stephen (undergradute RA alum), and Nicole (Director)!

Katz, B. W., Newberger, N. G., Coutu, S., Feinstein, B. A., & Weiss, N. H. (in press). Sexual orientation-related victimization and posttrauma reckless and self-destructive behaviors in trauma-exposed s*xual minority adults. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.

Sexual minority adults report disproportionately higher rates of trauma exposure (including exposure to s*xual minority-specific traumatic events) and frequent engagement in posttrauma reckless and self-destructive behaviors (RSDBs). The current study examined the roles of discrimination-related trauma symptoms and emotion dysregulation in the association between s*xual orientation-related victimization and posttrauma RSDBs. More frequent lifetime occurrences of s*xual orientation-related victimization were associated with greater past-month posttrauma RSDBs. Greater discrimination-related trauma symptoms and emotion dysregulation were found to underlie this association. Discrimination-related trauma symptoms and emotion dysregulation may have utility as targets in prevention and intervention efforts with trauma-exposed s*xual minority adults.

Address

80 Washington Street
Providence, RI
02903

Telephone

(401)2775456

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Stress Lab: Study of Trauma, Risk-taking, Emotions, and Stress Symptoms posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to Stress Lab: Study of Trauma, Risk-taking, Emotions, and Stress Symptoms:

Shortcuts

Share

Category