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Sarah Schwartz, PhD

Associate Professor, Psychology

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Director of Undergraduate Studies and Curriculum

Education

  • PhD, University of Massachusetts Boston
  • MEd, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • BA, Brown University

Internship: Riverbend Community Mental Health
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School

Specialty Areas

Adolescent risk and resilience; school- and community-based intervention and prevention programs; youth mentoring; positive youth development; transition to adulthood; youth community organizing; climate anxiety and climate activism.

The goal of my research is to identify, develop, and evaluate effective strategies to foster healthy developmental outcomes during adolescence and the transition to adulthood, with the goal of advancing social, economic, and environmental justice. My research focuses on the need for relationships and contexts that both allow youth to feel supported by adults and make space for youth to take the lead in advocating for themselves and their communities. Some current areas of study include: mentoring relationships and social capital; help-seeking; mental health stigma; youth community organizing; and climate anxiety and climate activism.

Selected Publications

Austin, L.*, Parnes, M.*, Jarjoura, R., Keller, T., Herrera, C., Tanyu, M., & Schwartz, S. E. O. (2020). The role of mentoring approach in youth connectedness outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49(12), 2409-2428.

Parnes, M.*, Kanchewa, S., Marks, A., & Schwartz, S. E. O. (2020). Closing the college achievement gap: Impacts and processes of a help-seeking intervention. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 67, 101121.

Schwartz, S. E. O., Kanchewa, S., Rhodes, J., Gowdy, G., Stark, A., Horn, J. P., Parnes, M., Spencer, R. (2018). "I'm having a little struggle with this, can you help me out?": Examining impacts and processes of a social capital intervention for first-generation college students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 61(1-2), 166-178. DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12206

Schwartz, S., Rhodes, J. (2016). From treatment to empowerment: New approaches to youth mentoring. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58, 150-157.

Schwartz, S. E. O., & Suyemoto, K. L. (2013). Participant impacts and processes of change within a youth community organizing program. Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 341-358. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.21541

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Courses Taught

  • PSYCH 249 - Introduction to Lifespan Development
  • PSYCH 321 - Introduction to Counseling Skills
  • PSYCH 336 - Developmental Psychopathology
  • PSYCH 749 - Lifespan Development
  • PSYCH 741 - Practicum IIB