SMU Department of Psychology

FACULTY

LECTURERS

ADJUNCT FACULTY

GRADUATE STUDENTS

STAFF

Renee McDonald
Associate Professor of Psychology
Ph.D., University of Houston

TEL 214.768.1128
EMAIL rmcdonal (add @smu.edu to all email addresses)
OFFICE Expressway Tower 1100M
LAB WEBSITE click to view

RESEARCH SUMMARY

My research interests have focused on understanding how specific child adjustment problems, such as aggression and antisocial behavior, are associated with exposure to family conflict and violence. Understanding how violence exerts its detrimental effects on children is central to developing effective interventions, which is a second emphasis of my research. Much of this research has been conducted in collaboration with my colleague and co-faculty member at SMU, Dr. Ernest Jouriles. Finally, and more recently, given that children’s perceptions of events are often as important as the events themselves, I am interested in the role of children’s subjective experiences of interparent conflict and violence as determinants of child adjustment.

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Kullowatz, A., Rosenfield, D., Gomez, G. S., Cuevas, A. (in press). Can virtual reality increase the realism of role plays used to teach college women sexual coercion and rape resistance skills? Behavior Therapy.

Jouriles, E. N., Platt, C., & McDonald, R. (in press). Violence in adolescent dating relationships. The Prevention Researcher.

McDonald, R. Jouriles, E. N., Tart, C. D. & Minze, L. C. (in press) Children’s adjustment problems in families characterized by men’s severe violence toward women: Does other family violence matter? Child Abuse & Neglect.

Jouriles, E. N., Garrido, E., Rosenfield, D., McDonald, R. (in press). Experiences of psychological and physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships: Links to psychological distress. Child Abuse & Neglect.

McDonald, R. M., & Skopp, N. A. (2008). Cultural diversity and children exposed to family violence: Issues in adapting interventions. Protecting Children, 22, 32-44.

Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Slep, A. M. S., Heyman, R. E., & Garrido, E. (2008). Child abuse in the context of domestic violence: Prevalence, explanations and practice implications. Violence and Victims, 23, 221-235.

Jouriles, E. N., Brown, A. S., McDonald, R., Rosenfield, D., Leahy, M. M., & Silver, C. (2008). Intimate partner violence and preschoolers’ explicit memory functioning. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 420-428.