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Professional Bio

Photo Credit: William Atkins/George Washington University

I am an Associate Professor in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the George Washington University (GWU).  I earned my Bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University. I earned my Ph.D. in Clinical/Community Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed my clinical internship at the Charleston Consortium/Medical University of South Carolina. 

My lab, The Diverse Family Relationships Lab, studies the influence of romantic and family relationships across stressful life transitions and within a cultural context. Collaborations with my graduate students have led to publications in the areas of interracial romantic relationships, intimate partner violence among young mothers, and predictors of father involvement in low-income families, and professional help-seeking in emerging adults.

My previous NIMH-funded research, the Young Parents Study, focused on African American and Latina adolescent mothers’ relationships with their children’s biological fathers during the transition to parenthood. I have continued this research with low-income parents with older children. The Unified Parenting Project seeks to understand how father involvement and coparenting continue to evolve as children develop. We pilot tested a brief coparenting intervention called the Coparenting Check-up and are currently working on an online coparenting intervention for parents of adolescents, which is an adaptation of Feinberg's Family Foundations.  Other more recent research endeavors include a study examining mental health help-seeking behavior in Asian and Asian American college students and emerging adults, and social support and social strain for college students, co-parenting during COVID-19, and college students adjustment to returning to campus following distance learning during COVID-19.

To hear more about my professional journey, listen to my podcast interview with Bradley Schumacher on the Master's in Psychology Podcast: https://www.mastersinpsychology.com/podcast/christina-b-gee/.

My research has led to a number of publications including (* indicates student co-authors):

Gee, C. B., & *Hwang, S. Y., & *Kim, B. (2023). Preliminary Validation of the Multidimensional Father Involvement Scale for Low-Income Fathers. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 69(2), 188-214.

* Hoffman, R. K., Cook, M. N., Balaguer, M. T., & Gee, C. B. (2022). Exploring the Interaction Between Social Strain and Support and its Association with College Students’ Psychological Well-Being. Emerging Adulthood, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968221128342

*Kolsky, R. M., & Gee, C.B. (2021). Intimate Partner Violence, Coparenting, and Child Behavior Problems in Low-income, Racial and Ethnic Minority Families. Journal of Child and Family Studies. 30:2129–2140 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02001-6

Gee, C.B., Khera, M., *Poblete, A. T., *Kim, B., & *Buchwach, S. (2020). Barriers to mental healthcare service use in European American and Asian American college students. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 11 (2) 98-107. DOI: 10.1037/aap0000178

*Mack, R.A., & Gee, C.B. (2018). Coparenting, Child Gender, and behavior in young children of African American and Latina Adolescent Mothers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(8), 2507-2518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1103-7. https://rdcu.be/NTYn

*Poblete, A. T., & Gee, C.B. (2018). Partner Support and Grandparent Support as Predictors of Change in Coparenting Quality, Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27, 2295-2304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1056-x.

*Varga, C. M., & Gee, C. B. (2017). Coparenting, Relationship Quality, and Father Involvement in African American and Latino Adolescents. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 63, 2, 210-236. DOI: 10.13110/merrpalmquar1982.63.2.0210

*Varga, C. M., Gee, C. B., Rivera, L., Reyes, C.X. (2017).  Coparenting Mediates the Association between Relationship Quality and Father Involvement. Youth and Society, 49(5), 588–609. DOI: 10.1177/0044118X14548529

*Leaman, S. C., & Gee, C. B. (2011). Religious coping and risk factors for psychological distress among African torture survivors. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 4(5), 457-465. doi:10.1037/a0026622

*Varga, C. M., Gee, C. B., & Munro, G. (2011). The Effects of Sample Characteristics and Experience with Infidelity on Romantic Jealousy.  Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 65, 854-866.

*Varga, C., & Gee, C. B. (2010).  Racial Identity, Father Involvement, and Coparenting in Adolescent African American Mothers and Fathers.  New School Psychology Bulletin, 8, 29-40.

*Leaman, S. C., & Gee, C. B. (2008).  Intimate partner violence among adolescent and young adult mothers. Journal of Family Violence, 23, 519-528.

*Reiter, M. J., & Gee, C. B. (2008).  Open communication and partner support in intercultural and interfaith romantic relationships: A relational maintenance approach.  Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 25, 539-559.

Gee, C. B., & Rhodes, J. E. (2008). A social support and social strain measure for minority adolescent mothers: A confirmatory factor analytic study. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 34, 87–97.

Gee, C. B., *McNerney, C. M., *Reiter, M. J., & *Leaman, S. C. (2007).  Adolescent and young adult mothers' relationship quality during the transition to parenthood: Associations with father involvement in fragile families.  Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 213-224.

Gee, C. B., & Howe, G. W., & Kimmel, P. L. (2005).  Couples coping in response to kidney disease: A developmental perspective.  Seminars in Dialysis, 18, 103-108.

Cordova, J. V., Gee, C. B., & Warren, L. Z. (2005). Emotional skillfulness in marriage: Intimacy as a mediator of the relationship between emotional skillfulness and marital satisfaction. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 218-235.

Gee, C. B.  (2004). Assessment of anxiety and depression in Asian American youth.  Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 269-271.

Gee, C. B., & Rhodes, J. E.  (2003). Adolescent mothers’ relationship with their children’s biological fathers: Social support, social strain, and relationship continuity.  Journal of Family Psychology, 17, 370–383.

Gee, C. B., Nicholson, M. J., Osborne, L. N., & Rhodes, J. E.  (2003). Support and strain in pregnant and parenting adolescents' sibling relationships.  Journal of Adolescent Research, 18, 25-35.

Gee, C. B., Scott, R., Castellani, A. M., & Cordova, J. V.  (2002). Observed motivation to change: Predicting 2-year marital satisfaction from partners’ discussion of their Marriage Checkup.  Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28, 399-408.

Cordova, J. V., Warren, L. Z., & Gee, C. B.  (2001). Motivational interviewing as an intervention for at-risk couples.  Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 27, 315-326.

Gee, C. B., & Rhodes, J. E. (1999).  Postpartum transitions in adolescent mothers' romantic and maternal relationships. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 45, 512-532.