University of California, Los Angeles (1989)
Professor, Social and Health Psychology
Office Hours: please email Dr. Lobel for current office hours
Phone Number: (631) 632-7651
e-mail: marci.lobel@stonybrook.edu
Areas of Interest: The intersection of social psychology and health, particularly issues concerning stress, coping, and women's reproductive health. Social comparison processes, stress, and coping in general.
Current Research:
Because pregnancy entails life changes which affect the emotions, behaviors, and physical condition of pregnant women, it represents a rich arena for the study of stress, coping, and their effects. My research focuses primarily on prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and its impact on birth outcomes (such as birthweight and gestational age at delivery). As part of a set of federally-funded investigations that I direct known as The Stony Brook Pregnancy Project, my graduate students and I are examining factors that exacerbate or attenuate the impact of PNMS on birth outcomes, including health behaviors, coping, socioeconomic status, ethnicity or race, and optimism. In addition, I work with teams of investigators in Iowa, Virginia, and Florida to examine the impact of domestic violence in pregnancy, and to evaluate interventions for socioeconomically disadvantaged pregnant women. I also conduct basic research on social comparison processes, examining ways that pregnant and non-pregnant individuals use social comparison to cope with stress, and how our self-views influence our selection of social comparison targets.
Representative Publications:
Giscombé, C. W. & Lobel, M. (2005). Explaining disproportionately high rates of adverse birth outcomes among African Americans: The impact of stress, racism, and related factors in pregnancy. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 662-683.
Lobel, M., Dias, L., & Meyer, B. (2005). Distress associated with prenatal screening for fetal abnormality. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28, 65-76.
Stanton, A. L., Lobel, M., Sears, S., & DeLuca, R. S. (2002). Psychosocial aspects of selected issues in women's reproductive health: Current status and future directions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 751-770.
Lobel, M., DeVincent, C. J., Kaminer, A., & Meyer, B. A. (2000). The impact of prenatal maternal stress and optimistic disposition on birth outcomes in medically high risk women. Health Psychology, 19, 544-553.
Research Support:
Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress on Birth Outcomes, National Institutes of Health.
Principal Investigator
Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy and Adverse Birth Outcomes, National Institutes of Health.
Co-Principal Investigator
