Justin Parent

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Psychology; Clinical Psychology
  • Phone: 401.874.5571
  • Email: justin.parent@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Chafee 414
  • Website
  • Accepting Students: Not at this time

Biography

Dr. Parent is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at URI. Dr. Parent received his Ph.D. in Clinical and Developmental Psychology at the University of Vermont and completed his clinical psychology internship at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Parent is the Director of the Kids Development and Stress (KiDS) Lab at URI. He is the author of over 80 articles, and his research is currently supported by grants from NIMHD, NIMH, NIGMS, and NICHD and has been recognized through several awards (e.g., NIH/OBSSR’s Early Stage Investigator Award, APS Rising Star).

Learn more about the KiDSLab.

Research

PLEASE NOTE: Dr. Parent will not be accepting new graduate students for the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Dr. Parent’s program of research explores mechanisms through which families influence child adaptive and maladaptive development with the goal of optimizing intervention and prevention outcomes. A particular emphasis of his research program has been on understanding how enhancing family well-being (e.g., parenting, parental psychopathology, coparenting) or youth sleep health alters stress-related physiological systems among at-risk youth and potentially ameliorates the biological embedding of stress and adversity. The goal of this research is to develop biological-informed, personalized approaches for risk identification and prevention/intervention, together resulting in the reduction of health disparities. Dr. Parent’s lab is currently focused on the following projects:           

  • NIMHD R01 MD015401, PI. Epigenomic mechanisms of risk and resilience: The role of parenting
  • NIGMS P20GM103430, Pilot project PI (Project Mentor: John McGeary; INBRE PI: Cho). The impact of changes in peripubertal sleep disturbances on child DNA methylation and internalizing psychopathology.

Education

  • Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium, Clinical Residency, 2017
  • University of Vermont, Ph.D. in Clinical and Developmental Psychology, 2017
  • University of Vermont, B.A. in Psychology, 2011

Selected Publications

 

Merrill, S., Hogan, C., Bozak, A., Cardenas, A., Comer, J., Bagner, D., Highlander, A., & Parent, J. (2024). Telehealth parenting program and salivary epigenetic biomarkers in preschool children with developmental delay. JAMA Open Network. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24815

Hogan, C., Merrill, S., Hernandez Valencia, E., McHayle, A., Sisistsky, M., & Parent, J. (in press). The impact of early childhood adversity on peripubertal accelerated epigenetic aging and psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Sullivan, A. D.W., Bozak, A., Cardenas, A., Comer, J., Bagner, D., Forehand, R., & Parent, J. (2023). Parenting practices may buffer the impact of adversity on epigenetic age acceleration among young children with developmental delay. Psychological Science, 34, 1173-1185. doi: 10.1177/09567976231194221

Sisitsky, M., Hare, M., DiMarzio, K., Gallat, A., Magariño, L., & Parent, J. (2023). Associations between early life adversity and youth psychobiological outcomes: Dimensional and person-centered approaches. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 51, 1789–1800. doi: 10.1007/s10802-023-01064-x

Acosta, J., Parent, J., & Hare, M., DiMarzio, K., Sisitsky, M., McMakin, D. (2023). Developing the Nighttime Parenting Scale: Differentiating nighttime versus general parenting practices and their impact on youth sleep health. Sleep Health, 9, 489-496. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2023.05.007

Rojo-Wissar, D. M., Acosta, J., DiMarzio, K., Hare, M., Dale, C., Sanders, W., & Parent, J. (2024). The role of sleep in the longitudinal association between screen media activity and youth behavioral health. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 29, 33-42. doi:10.1111/camh.12665

Parent, J., Highlander, Loiselle, R., Yang, Y., McKee, L. G., Forehand, R., & Jones, D. J. (2024). Technology-enhanced BPT for early-onset behavior disorders: Improved outcomes for children with co-occurring internalizing symptoms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2023.2222391

Parent, J., Anton, M., Loiselle, R., Highlander, A., Breslend, N., Forehand, R., Hare, M., Youngstrom, J., A., & Jones, D. J. (2022). A randomized controlled trial of technology-enhanced behavioral parent training: Sustained parent skill use and child outcomes at follow-up. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63, 992-1001. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13554

See the complete list of publications.

Honors and Awards

  • 2020 Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award
  • 2018 NIH/OBSSR’s Early Stage Investigator Award
  • 2016 APA Division 43 Student Research Award
  • 2014 APA Division 53 Student Achievement Award
  • 2011 Heinz L. Ansbacher Award, University of Vermont
  • 2010 McNair Scholar

Selected Student Honors and Awards

  • The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (F31)
    • Juliana Acosta (Co-Sponsor)
    • Karissa DiMarzio (Sponsor)
  • The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31)
    • Jessica Smith (Co-Sponsor)
    • Alexandra Sullivan (Project Mentor)
  • Leonard Krasner Student Dissertation Award, ABCT
    • Chelsea Dale
  • APA Council of Representatives’ Child and Family Caucus Student Research Award
    • Geraldine Cadet
  • The Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program
    • Emoni McGregor

       

More Information

Download Curriculum Vitae (PDF)