Sarah J. Beal, PhD

I’m a developmental psychologist interested in factors that shape the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults. While conducting my research, I include how maltreatment and interactions with healthcare and child welfare systems impact adolescent and young adult health and health risk behaviors.

I began my career studying adolescent development and transition to adulthood. I wanted to understand what experiences in adolescence were most important for shaping adult outcomes. As a graduate research assistant, I was introduced to the child welfare system and became curious about how child welfare policies impacted adolescent development. My research combines these two interests.

Adolescents and young adults involved with the child welfare system as a result of maltreatment have worse health and psychosocial outcomes overall than their peers. These outcomes occur even though they use more health services than others in their peer group. In my lab, we explore factors that influence these differences in health and how we can deliver more effective care and interventions to help young people achieve better health and psychosocial outcomes.

Our lab uses child welfare administrative data linked with electronic health records to understand the health needs of fostered youth. We developed technology to share health information with caseworkers and clinicians through a platform called IDENTITY. We found that youth in protective custody receive more healthcare services after a placement change than they do once they are in a stable placement. We identify health behaviors that help explain why adolescents in foster care use more healthcare services than their peers.

Our lab also conducts prospective, longitudinal studies with maltreated youth, youth in protective custody and their caregivers. Through these studies, we have investigated how to support young people preparing for emancipation to better engage with the healthcare system, studied the link between maltreatment, mental health, and the emergence of pain and other health conditions and investigated the onset of health risk behaviors among older teens in custody.

If you’re interested in learning more about our work or joining our lab, please contact me via email.