About / May08 / Faculty present at the Society for Prevention Reseach annual meeting

May 27, 2008
For immediate release

Three faculty members from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School present at the Society for Prevention Research 16th Annual Meeting

Brett Kia-Keating, Maryam Kia-Keating, and Karen Nylund-Gibson of UC Santa Barbara’s The Gevirtz School will give presentations at the Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting in San Francisco from May 27-30. The meeting seeks to present the latest in prevention science from across international regions in the areas of epidemiology, etiology, preventive intervention trials, demonstration projects, policy research, natural experiments, program evaluations, clinical trials, prevention-related basic research, pre-intervention studies, efficacy and effectiveness trials, population trials, and studies of the diffusion/dissemination of science-based prevention.

Brett Kia-Keating will present the poster “The Importance of Family and Community Context in Understanding the Influence of Peer Groups on Future Violent Behavior.” Maryam Kia-Keating, along with Guadalupe Bacio, Sandra Brown, will present the paper “Immigrant Generation, Adolescent Alcohol Use, and Depression.” Karen Nylund-Gibson will present the papers “Classroom Context and Student’s Victimization: An Application of Multilevel Latent, a Transition Analysis” and “Covariates and Mixture Modeling: Results of a Simulation Study Exploring the Impact of Misspecified Covariate Effects” with Katherine Masyn, plus chair a symposium on Latent Markov Chain Models.

The Society for Prevention Research is an international organization focused upon the advancement of science-based prevention programs and policies through empirical research. The membership of the organization includes scientists, practitioners, advocates, administrators, and policy makers who are concerned with the prevention of social, physical and mental health problems and the promotion of health, safety, and well-being.

Brett Kia-Keating is an Assistant Researcher in the Department of Education at the Gevirtz School. His research is focused on elucidating the course of both healthy and maladaptive development through longitudinal research designs that identify risk and protective factors, mediators and moderators, and gene-by-environment interactions at different ecological levels. He is interested in how various factors within the individual, the family, the peer group, the school, and the community interact to put children at greater or lesser risk of unhealthy psychosocial development. Brett Kia-Keating’s findings are intended to inform treatment and prevention efforts in school, community, and clinical settings, with his primary interest being the understanding and prevention of violent behavior and aggression.

Maryam Kia-Keating is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the Gevirtz School. Her research is focused on risk and resilience among school-aged children and adolescents, identifying key ecological factors and processes impacting both healthy development and psychopathology, and ultimately, informing the development of novel and efficacious prevention and treatment strategies. She has a particular interest in examining the role of culture on psychosocial functioning and the impact of stressful events and adversity on developmental trajectories, among a variety of diverse populations and contexts.

Karen Nylund-Gibson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at the Gevirtz School. She develops new methods for analyzing education data, mostly longitudinal research designs, and creates best practices that can be used by researchers applying statistical methods in their work. Nylund-Gibson is currently working on analysis that explores the long term effects of students’ exposure to community violence as well as a longitudinal study of middle-school student’s victimization experiences.

[Brett Kia-Keating, Maryam Kia-Keating, and Karen Nylund-Gibson are available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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Three faculty members from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School present at the Society for Prevention Research 16th Annual Meeting