Benjamin Oosterhoff, Ph.D.
Last updated: 1/3/2022

Contact Information

Benjamin Oosterhoff, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Montana State University
P O Box 173440
Bozeman, MT 59717-3440

Tel: (406) 994-3809
Office: TRAP 428C 

Email: [email protected]

Office Hours:
By Appointment

Curriculum Vitae

Montana Positive Youth Development Lab Website

Montana Positive Youth Development Lab OSF Page

Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding the developmental antecedents and consequences of adolescent civic and political engagement. Using an interdisciplinary perspective and drawing on a Positive Youth Development framework, I am particularly interested in: (1) identifying early childhood predictors of adolescent civic engagement, (2) elucidating the role of emotion in civic and political development, (3) and understanding the implications of civic engagement for teens' health, well-being, and education.

Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2017), University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston.
  • Ph.D. (2015). Psychology, West VirginiaUniversity 
  • M.S. (2013). Psychology, West Virginia University 
  • B.A. (2011). Psychology, Michigan State University

Editorial Roles

Journal of Adolescence, Assistant Editor (11/2020 - Present)

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Guest Editor  (9/2019 - 11/2020)

Current Funding 

  • Social connectedness and health in American Indians: An investigation of biopsychosocial mediators                Funding Agency: National Institution of Health (NIH) |Role: Co-Investigator
    Duration: 8/2021-8/2024 |Award amount: $2,200,000
  • Development of a trauma-informed measure of sexual health for minoritzed youth
    Funding Agency: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities | Role: Consultant | Duration: 7/2020-7/2021| Award amount: $49,999
  • Becoming political: How kids think about politics                                                                                                Funding Agency: Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity (CAIRHE) | Role: PI| Duration: 12/21-12/2022| Award amount: $4,997

Recent Publications

Forthcoming Books

  • Oosterhoff, B. (under contract). Becoming political: How kids think about politics. Routledge Press.  

Pre-prints 

  • Oosterhoff, B., Wray-Lake, L., & Harden, K.P. (2021). Adolescents provide more complex reasons for lowering the voting age than adults. [PDF]

In press

  • Palmer, C.A., Oosterhoff, B., Massey, A., & Bawden, H. (in press). Daily Associations between Adolescent Sleep and Mental Health during an Ongoing Stressor. Journal of Adolescent Health.
  • Alvis, L., Douglas, R., Shook, N. J., & Oosterhoff, B (in press). Adolescents’ prosocial experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: Associations with mental health and community attachments. Current Psychology.

  • Oosterhoff, B., Poppler, A., & Palmer, C.A. (in press). Early adolescents demonstrate peer network homophily in political attitudes and values. Psychological Science. [PDF] [Data] [Code] [Pre-Registration]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Poppler, A., Hill, R.M., Fitzgerald, H., & Shook, N.J. (in press). Understanding the costs and benefits of politics among adolescents within a sociocultural context. Infant and Child Development: Prenatal, Childhood, Adolescence, Emerging Adulthood.  [PDF]
  • Nisar, F., Sadaf, Z., Oosterhoff, B., & Ahmed, S. (in press). Community Attachments are Associated with COVID-19 Public Health Behaviors among Adolescents in Pakistan. Child & Youth Care Forum.
  • Tyra, A., Cook, T., Young, D., Hurley, P., Oosterhoff, B., John-Henderson, N., & Ginty, A. (in press). Adverse childhood experiences, sex, and cardiovascular habituation to repeated stress. Psychosomatic Medicine. [PDF]
  • Williams, D., Oosterhoff, B., Young, D., & Ginty, A. (in press). Effects of arousal reappraisal on the anxiety responses to stress: Breaking the cycle of negative physiological and arousal interpretation. British Journal of Psychology[PDF]
  • Bilgalke, J., Greenlund, I., Nicevski, J., Oosterhoff, B., John-Henderson, N., & Carter, J (in press). Blunted Cardiac Recovery to Spontaneous Nocturnal Arousals in Short-Sleeping Adults. AJP Heart and Circulatory Physiology. [PDF]
  • Palmer, C.A., *Powell, S., *Deutchman, D., *Tintzman, C., *Poppler, A., & Oosterhoff., B. (in press). Sleepy and secluded: Sleep disturbances are associated with connectedness in early adolescent social networks. Journal of Research on Adolescence. [PDF] [Data] [Code] 
  • John-Henderson, N., Oosterhoff., B… Carter, J. (in press). COVID-19 stress and changes in sleep health in the Blackfeet Community. Sleep Medicine. [PDF]
  • John-Henderson, N., Oosterhoff, B., Koth, K., Kampf., T., Hall, B., Johnson, L., LaFromboise., M., Malatare., M., Salois., E., Adams, A., & Carter., J. (in press). Loneliness and sleep in the American Indian Blackfeet community. Sleep Health. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Alvis, L., Deutchman, D., Poppler, A. & Palmer, C. A. (in press). Civic development within the peer context: Associations between early adolescent social connectedness and civic engagement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. [PDF] [Data] [Code]
  • John-Henderson, N., Oosterhoff, B., Kampf, T., Carter, J., & Adams, A. (in press). Historical loss: Implications for health of American Indians in the Blackfeet community. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Whillock, S., Sanders, C., & Poppler, A. (in press). Temporal  associations between civic action and character strengths: A daily diary study. The Journal of Positive Psychology [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Wray-Lake, L. & Hart., D. (in press). Reconsidering the minimum voting age in the United States. Perspectives on Psychological Science. [PDF]
  • Alvis, L., Dodd, C., Oosterhoff, B., Hill, R., Rolon-Arroyo, B., Logsdon, T., Layne, C., & Kaplow, J. B. (in press). Caregiver behaviors and childhood maladaptive grief: Initial validation of the Grief Facilitation Inventory. Death Studies. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff., B. & Wray-Lake, L. (in press). Advances in adolescent political development: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. [PDF]
  • Bailey, S., Oosterhoff B., Lindow, J., Robecker, B., Bryan., B., & Byerly, M. (in press). Utilizing Cooperative Extension County Agents to Teach Youth Aware of Mental Health: A Universal Mental Health Program. Journal of Rural Mental Health. [PDF]

2020

  • Shook, N. J., Sevi, B., Lee, J., Oosterhoff, B., & Fitzgerald, H. N. (2020). Disease avoidance in the time of COVID-19: The behavioral immune system is associated with concern and preventative health behaviors. PloS One, 15, e0238015. [PDF]
  • Metzger, A., Alvis, L., & Oosterhoff, B. (2020). Adolescent views of civic responsibility and civic efficacy: Differences by rurality and socioeconomic status. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 70, 101183. [PDF]
  • Shook, N. J., & Oosterhoff, B. (2020). Testing the effects of pathogen threat and sexual strategies on political ideology. Politics and the Life Sciences, 39, 187-199. [PDF] [Data] [Code] [Pre-registration]
  • Wilson, J. M., Lee, J., Fitzgerald, H. N., Oosterhoff, B., Sevi, B., & Shook, N. J. (2020). Job insecurity and financial concern during the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with worse mental health. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62, 686-691. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Hill, R.M., & *Slonaker, N. J. (2020). Longitudinal associations between civic engagement and interpersonal needs among college students during the 2018 midterm elections. Applied Developmental Science, 1-13. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Palmer, C.A., *Wilson, J., & Shook, N.J. (2020). Adolescents’ motivations to engage in social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Associations with mental and social health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67, 179-185. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., & Palmer, C. A. (2020). Attitudes and psychological factors associated with news monitoring, social distancing, disinfecting, and hoarding behaviors among US adolescents during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. JAMA Pediatrics, 174, 1184-1190. [PDF]
  • Palmer, C. A., Oosterhoff, B., & Gentzler, A. L. (2020). Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Associations Between Worry and Positive Emotion Regulation. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 1-19. [PDF]
  • Hill, R. M., Dodd, C., Oosterhoff, B., Layne, C. M., Pynoos, R. S., Staine, M. B., & Kaplow, J. B. (2020). Measurement invariance of the persistent complex bereavement disorder checklist with respect to youth gender, race, ethnicity, and age. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33, 850-856. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Metzger, A., & Alvis, L. (2020). Similarities and differences in adolescents’ organized and civic activity networks across rural and non-rural communities. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 1464-1480. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., & Wray‐Lake, L. (2020). Risky politics? Associations between adolescent risk preference and political engagement. Child Development, 91, e743-e761. [PDF]
  • Rolon-Arroyo, B., Oosterhoff, B., Layne, C.M., Steinberg, A.M., Pynoos, R.S., & Kaplow, J.B. (2020). The UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5 Short Form: A brief screening tool for youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59, 434-443. [PDF]
  • Rooney, E., Oosterhoff, B., & Kaplow, J.B. (2020). Associations between dimensions of religiosity and adjustment among bereaved youth. Death Studies, 44, 440-449. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Wray-Lake, L., Palmer, C.A., & Kaplow, J.B. (2020). Historical trends in concerns about social issues across four decades among U.S. Adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 30, 485-498. [PDF]
  • Kaplow, J.B., Rolon-Arroyo, B., Layne, C.M., Rooney, E. Oosterhoff, B., Hill, R., Steinberg, A., & Pynoos, R. (2020). Validation of the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5 (RI-5): A Developmentally-Informed Assessment Tool for Trauma-Exposed Youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59, 186-194. [PDF]

2019

  • Hill, R. M., Kaplow, J. B., Oosterhoff, B. & Layne, C. M. (2019). Understanding grief reactions, thwarted belongingness, and suicide ideation in bereaved adolescents: Toward a unifying theory. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 75, 780-793. [PDF]
  • Metzger, A., Ferris, K.A., & Oosterhoff, B. (2019). Adolescents’ civic engagement: Concordant and longitudinal associations among social domain beliefs and involvement. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29, 879-896. [PDF]
  • Hill, R. M., Oosterhoff, B., Layne, C.M., Rooney, E., Yudovich, S., Pynoos, R.S., & Kaplow, J.B. (2019). Multidimensional Grief Therapy: Open trial of a novel intervention for bereaved children and adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies. 28, 3062-3074. [PDF
  • Hill, R. M., Oosterhoff, B., & Do, C. (2019). Using machine learning to identify suicide risk: A classification tree approach to prospectively identify adolescent suicide attempters. Archives of Suicide Research, 1-18. [PDF]

  • Dodd, C., Hill, R. M., Oosterhoff, B., Layne, C.M., & Kaplow, J.B. (2019). Examining Exposure-Related Risk Factors among Youth in the Aftermath of Hurricane Harvey: The Hurricane Exposure, Adversity, and Recovery Tool (HEART). Journal of Family Strengths, 19, 1-6. [PDF]
  • Rooney, E., Hill, R.M., Oosterhoff B., & Kaplow, J. B. (2019). Violent victimization and perpetration as distinct risk factors for adolescent suicide attempts. Children’s Health Care, 48, 410-427. [PDF]
  • Hill, R. M., Hunt, Q. A., Oosterhoff, B., Yeguez, C. E., & Pettit, J. W. (2019). Perceived burdensomeness among adolescents: a mixed-methods analysis of the contexts in which perceptions of burdensomeness occur. Journal of Social and Cinical Psychology, 38, 585-604. [PDF

2018 

  • Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N.J., & Iyer, R. (2018). Disease avoidance and personality: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 77, 47-56. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Kaplow, J.B., & Layne, C.M. (2018). Links between bereavement due to sudden death and academic functioning: Results from a national survey of adolescents. School Psychology Quarterly, 33, 372-380. [PDF]
  • Metzger, A., Alvis, L., Oosterhoff, B., Babskie, E., Syversten, A., & Wray-Lake, L. (2018). The intersection of emotional and sociocognitive competencies with civic engagement in middle childhood and adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47, 1663-1683. [PDF]
  • Kaplow, J.B., Layne, C.M., Oosterhoff B., …. Pynoos, R.S. (2018). Validation of the Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (PCBD) Checklist: A developmentally-informed assessment tool for bereaved youth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 31, 244-254. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Kaplow, J. B., Layne, C. M., & Pynoos, R. (2018). Civilization and its discontented: Links between youth victimization, beliefs about government, and political participation across seven American presidencies. American Psychologist, 73, 230-242. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N. J., & Metzger, A. (2018). A matter of fact? Adolescents’ informational assumptions about crime, laws, and authority and their domain-specific beliefs about punishment. Journal of Adolescence,62, 87-95. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N.J., & Ford, C. (2018). Is that disgust I see? Political ideology and biased visual attention. Behavioural Brain Research, 336, 227-235. [PDF]
  • Palmer, C. A., Oosterhoff, B., Bower, J. L., Kaplow, J. B., & Alfano, C. A. (2018). Associations among adolescent sleep problems, emotion regulation, and affective disorders: Findings from a nationally representative sample. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 96, 1-8. [PDF]

 2017

  • Layne, C. M., Kaplow, J. B., Oosterhoff, B., Hill, R., & Pynoos, R. S. (2017). The interplay between posttraumatic stress and grief reactions in traumatically bereaved adolescents: When trauma, bereavement, and adolescence converge. Adolescent Psychiatry, 7, 266-285. [PDF]
  • Shook, N. J., Oosterhoff, B., Terrizzi Jr, J. A., & Brady, K. M. (2017). “Dirty politics”: The role of disgust sensitivity in voting. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3, 284-297. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Kaplow, J. B., Wray-Lake, L., & Gallagher, K. (2017). Activity-specific pathways among duration of organized activity involvement, social support, and adolescent well-being: Findings from a nationally representative sample. Journal of Adolescence, 60, 83-93. [PDF]
  • Hill, R., Oosterhoff, B., & Kaplow, J. B. (2017). Predicting adolescent suicide ideation using classification tree analysis: Models for clinical decision-making. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85, 702-711[PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N. J., Clay, R., & Metzger, A. (2017). Differential and domain-specific associations among right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and adolescent delinquency. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 1296-1310. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., & Shook, N. J. (2017). From drug laws to recreational substance use: The adaptationist role of disgust sensitivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 544-553. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Ferris, K. A., Palmer, C. A., & Metzger, A. (2017). Longitudinal associations among adolescents’ organized activity participation and sociopolitical values. Social Development, 26, 1-14. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., & Metzger, A. (2017). Domain specificity in adolescents’ concepts of laws: Associations among beliefs and behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 27, 139-154. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Ferris, K. A., & Metzger, A. (2017). Adolescents’ sociopolitical values in the context of organized activities. Youth & Society, 49, 947-967. [PDF]

2016

  • Oosterhoff, B., Kaplow, J. B., & Layne, C. M. (2016). Trajectories of binge drinking differentially mediate associations between adolescent violence exposure and subsequent adjustment in young adulthood. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2, 371-381. [PDF]
  • Morris, T., & Oosterhoff, B. (2016). An observational study of family interaction: Associations with child social anxiety, general anxiety, and depression. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 2904-2914. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., & Metzger, A. (2016). Mothers’ civic behavior and observed civic messages: Associations with adolescent civic behavior and civic judgments. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 43, 62-70. [PDF]
  • Metzger, A., Syversten, A., Oosterhoff, B., Wray-Lake, L., & Babskie, E. (2016). Children’s understanding of the intersection between character strengths and civic involvement: A Q-methodology approach. Journal of Adolescent Research, 31, 507-535. [PDF]

2013-2015

  • Shook, N.J., Terrizzi, J., Clay, R., & Oosterhoff, B. (2015). In defense of pathogen disgust and disease avoidance: A response to Tybur et al. (2015). Evolution and Human Behavior, 36, 498-502. [PDF]
  • Oosterhoff, B., Metzger, A., & Babskie, E. (2015). What do citizens have to do? Parents’ and adolescents’ messages about civic duty. Journal of Adolescent Research, 30, 365-389. [PDF]
  • Metzger, A., Oosterhoff, B., Palmer, C. A., & Ferris, K. A. (2014). Dimensions of citizenship: Associations among adolescents’ sociopolitical values and civic judgments. PS: Political Science & Politics, 47, 443-448. [PDF]
  • Ferris, K. A., Oosterhoff, B., & Metzger, A. (2013). Organized activity involvement among rural youth: Gender differences in associations between activity type and developmental outcomes. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 28, 1-16. [PDF]

Courses Taught

  • Psychology 503: Structural Equation Modeling (Graduate-Level)
  • Psychology 502: Advanced Research Design and Analysis I (Graduate-Level)
  • Psychology 402: Advanced Research Design and Analysis I (Undergraduate-Level)
  • Psychology 361: The Science of Psychological Well-being

Frequent Collaborators

Dr. Laura Wray-Lake, University of California Los Angeles 

https://luskin.ucla.edu/person/laura-wray-lake

Dr. Natalie J. Shook, University of Connecticut

https://nursing.uconn.edu/faculty-directory/natalie-shook/

Dr. Cara A. Palmer, Montana State University

https://www.montana.edu/psychology/directory/2114779/cara-palmer

Dr. Neha John-Henderson,Montana State Univesity 

http://www.montana.edu/psychology/directory/1941036/neha-john-henderson