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Roxane Cohen Silver

Roxane Cohen Silver

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I am interested in how individuals cope with stressful life experiences, such as loss of a spouse or child, divorce, childhood sexual abuse, physical disability, war, natural disaster, and immigration to a new country. In my work, I seek to examine cognitive, emotional, social, and physical responses to stressful life events, and to identify factors that facilitate successful adjustment to them. I also explore the long-term effects of traumatic life experiences, and consider how beliefs and expectations of the social network impact the coping process. Finally, my research examines predictors of individual and community resilience, as well as collective responses to disaster.

I was principal investigator of a 3-year national longitudinal study of psychological responses to the September 11th terrorist attacks. My recent interdisciplinary research examined the political impact of the ongoing psychological response to the threat of terrorism and responses to turbulence in our society (e.g., the economic meltdown). I currently oversee two research projects, in collaboration with current and former students and national and international colleagues: a study on resilience and vulnerability following repeated natural disasters in Java, Indonesia (in collaboration with Psychology Beyond Borders, an international nonprofit organization for which I serve on the Board of Directors) and a study of a nationally representative sample of over 2000 adults following the massive 8.8 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in February, 2010 in Chile (with colleagues at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago). I recently oversaw a multidisciplinary project to develop a quantitative index of the psychosocial impacts of natural and human-caused disasters (including health, social functioning, and political attitudes) through the use of vital statistics, archival and administrative information, and other secondary sources of data (in collaboration with colleagues at Dartmouth Medical School).

Psychology Beyond Borders:
http://psychologybeyondborders.com/

Primary Interests:

  • Close Relationships
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Health Psychology
  • Interpersonal Processes

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Roxane Cohen Silver
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior
4336 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California 92697-7085
United States of America

  • Phone: (949) 824-2192
  • Fax: (949) 824-3002

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