Kelly O'Connor, PhD

Asst Professor @VCU_IVPP ✧ Clinical Psychologist ✧ Violence prevention, trauma, & resilience ✧ Views are mine ✧ @drkellyoc.bsky.social

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

I am guest editing a special issue of Behavioral Sciences focused on "#Violence and #Trauma #Prevention Among #Adolescents Living in Urban Settings"! Super excited to see this issue come together.

Submissions are due this Fall. Find more info here:
https://t.co/Pdvf2K81gH

[Tracy Vaillancourt, PhD FRSC @vaillancourt_dr]

This is one of the most important papers to come out of my lab. We show, in a sample of 42K students, that school level pronoun affirmation is associated with higher well-being for ALL students.

Turns out, woke works.

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Stanford researchers scanned teenagers listening to their mothers, having already shown that in young children her voice lights up half the brain. Something had switched.

In children under about twelve, the reward circuitry fires harder for their mother's voice than for a stranger's. In adolescents it flips. The reward regions respond more strongly to unfamiliar voices, and her voice stops being the sound the system reaches for.

The crossover happens somewhere between thirteen and fourteen. Nothing has gone wrong. The circuitry has not broken and she has not been demoted. It is being retuned deliberately, because a person who is going to leave home needs to start finding other people interesting, and the brain arranges that by making everyone outside the house more rewarding to listen to.

Which means the thing every mother of a teenager describes has a mechanism. He is not ignoring her out of contempt. Her voice is no longer arriving at the part of him that used to light up for it.

Two things worth holding onto here. The first is that the hearing and processing regions are still there and still working. He hears her perfectly. What changed is what his reward system does with the sound.

The second is that this is temporary, and there is a whole literature on adult children and their mothers to say so. The circuitry is being repointed outward for the years he needs to build a life away from her. It is not being deleted.

So a woman finds herself talking to somebody who used to run toward her voice across a car park, and who now barely registers it. That is her son's brain doing exactly what it is supposed to do, on schedule, and it is a horrible thing to be on the receiving end of.

https://t.co/WLvIZQm2l3

[James Booth @DrJamesBooth]

How U.S. Funding Restrictions Endanger the Future of Psychology: Consequences for Research, Training, and Clinical Care https://t.co/v6BkIJj1sc

[Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz]

Here is our updated database of grants for early careers researchers in all fields.

It goes way beyond traditional NIH and NSF funding opportunities. We list 428 types of grants.

Download it here: https://t.co/RGXGrdp2uf

[VCU @VCU]

VCU has been ranked #46 among public universities in research and innovation by the National Science Foundation’s HERD Survey! 💛🖤

Visit https://t.co/JPILhP9Wz3 to read the full story. 🐏✨

[NJ Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers SPH @NJGVRC]

Article out from the @teamtrace
"Another study by researchers at #NJGVRC showed that over 90 percent of Americans who owned a firearm had never used their guns defensively, suggesting that the political debates about defensive gun use may..."
📖 ➡️➡️https://t.co/x7lPMqol0y

[NJ Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers SPH @NJGVRC]

🔒 #NJGVRC grant awardee Dr. Raymond Tucker shares insights from his research focused on increasing the use of secure firearm storage. His work aims to identify ways to make secure storage devices more accessible.
📢 Stay tuned for more from our funded researchers!

[Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut 🟧 @jschildkraut80]

Hanging out at the National Firearms Research Conference? Stop on by and check out our latest study on the Parkland mass shooting and the perpetrator’s social network. This highlights important opportunities for intervention and prevention for policymakers and the public.

[The Gun Violence Archive @GunDeaths]

Ten months of U.S. gun violence in 2025, as of November 3rd:

•12,422 gun deaths
•22,708 gun injuries
•367 mass shootings
•14 mass murders
•603 children shot
•3,259 teenagers shot
•986 incidents of defensive gun use
•1,117 unintentional shootings
•570 murder-suicides

[Mudia Uzzi @MudiaUzzi]

🚨 New Publication Alert 🚨 In our paper in @SocSciMed we present a new theoretical framework based on #RacialCapitalism to examine the relationship between structural racism and gun violence.

Check out the link and infographics below to learn more: https://t.co/RDrOHhUQPx

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

@annafagre @wagley_neelima I did!!! 🎉🎉🎉

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

Is anyone else having issues accessing the @NIH Loan Repayment Award (LRP) submission portal? My rec letter writers also got an error when they tried to submit my letters.

#AcademicTwitter #researchtwitter #nihlrp #lrp #loanrepaymentaward

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

@wagley_neelima @NIH Wanted to add- I’m endlessly grateful for all @NIH does! I know it takes time to get back to ppl. Hoping for extended deadline to allow them time to get back to folks & resolve issues. I’d hate to miss out on an LRP renewal just because of the shutdown

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

@wagley_neelima @NIH Good to know. I was hoping I’d get a response to my emails with the govt reopen or that they would have made an announcement about extending the deadline but nothing but I’m sure it will take a few days for them to catch up 😅

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

@SiaraRouzer @NIH I was able to log in but when I tried to start to app I got an error saying I was not eligible which makes no sense. I will try again in an incognito browser!

[Kelly O'Connor, PhD @_KellyOC]

@DrGalboThomma @NIH This is super helpful to know thank you! I’m assuming you haven’t been able to reach anyone at NIH? I’ve tried with no luck. I’m really hoping at this point they’ll extend the deadline to give sufficient time to resolve issues like this

[Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU @childrensatvcu]

This Fire Prevention Week learn what to do in the event of a grease fire in your kitchen. Liz Bowers, burn outreach coordinator at the Evans-Haynes Burn Center, has a few kitchen fire tips to keep you and your family safe. #firepreventionweek #CHoR

[American Psychological Association @APA]

It's normal to experience a variety of emotions after a mass shooting. You may find that you have trouble sleeping, concentrating, eating, or remembering even simple tasks.

APA's resources can help you cope with stress and anxiety in the aftermath. https://t.co/VqmpwwoBE9

[VCU @VCU]

Richmond’s youth violence risk overlaps with historic redlining, new VCU research finds
Read more: https://t.co/O0QrICB3rD