Christina McDonnell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Clinical Psychology

**Dr. McDonnell is accepting graduate students for the 2025-2026 year.

PhD, University of Notre Dame
Clinical Internship, Charleston Consortium
M.A. University of Notre Dame
B.A. University of Notre Dame

christina.mcdonnell@uwyo.edu - Biological Sciences Building 110 - Lab twitter: @UWcareslab

Research Interests:

• Autism
• Traumatic stress
• Developmental psychopathology and emotion socialization
• Cognitive-behavioral interventions

Lab Website:

https://christinagmcdonnel.wixsite.com/careslab

Academic Positions:

Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming, 2021-Present
Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech, 2019-2021
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Western Ontario, 2018-2019

Teaching:

• Clinical Practicum
• Developmental Psychopathology

Current Graduate Students:

Theresa Andrzejewski, BA
Kate Breitenfeldt
Saily Gomez Batista, MA
Alison Tassone, M.Ed.

Representative Publications:

See Google Scholar for full list of publications: https://tinyurl.com/7mbcdw42

Traumatic Stress, Intergenerational Trauma, and Mental Health

McDonnell, C.G., Boan, A.D., Bradley, C.C., Seay, K.D., Charles, J., & Carpenter, L.A. (2019). Child maltreatment in autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability: Results from a population-based sample. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(5), 576-584. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12993 

McDonnell, C.G., & Valentino, K. (2016). Intergenerational effects of childhood trauma:  Evaluating pathways among maternal ACES, perinatal depressive symptoms, and infant outcomes. Child (Maltreatment, 21(4), 317-326. doi:10.1177/1077559516659556

McDonnell, C.G., DeLucia, E.A.**, Hayden, E.P., Anagnostou, E., Nicolson, R., … Stevenson, R.A. (2020). An exploratory analysis of predictors of youth suicide-related behaviors in autism spectrum disorder:  Implications for prevention science. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50, 3531-3544. doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04320-6

Diagnosis and Assessment

McDonnell, C.G., Bradley, C.C., Kanne, S.M., Lajonchere, C., Warren, Z., & Carpenter, L.A. (2019). When are we sure? Predictors of clinician certainty in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(4), 1391-1401. doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3831-3

McDonnell, C.G., DeLucia, E.A.**, Hayden, E.P., Penner, M., Curcin, K.++, Anagnostou, E., … Stevenson, R.A. (2020). Sex differences in age of diagnosis and first concern among children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2020.1823850 

Emotion Socialization and Parenting

McDonnell, C.G., & DeLucia, E.A.** (2021). Pregnancy and parenthood among autistic adults: Implications for advancing maternal health and parental well-being. Autism in Adulthood. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1089/aut.2020.0046

McDonnell, C.G., Speidel, R., Lawson, M., & Valentino, K. (2020). Reminiscing and autobiographical memory in ASD: Mother-child conversations about emotional events and how preschool-aged children recall the past. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04770-3

McDonnell, C.G., Fondren, K., Speidel, R., & Valentino, K. (2020). Emotion socialization and developmental risk:  Interactive effects of receptive language and maltreatment on reminiscing. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29, 1236-1248. doi: 10.1007/s10826-019-01592-5

McDonnell, C.G., Valentino, K., & Diehl, J.J. (2017). A developmental psychopathology perspective on autobiographical memory in autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Review, 44, 59-81. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2017.01.001

 

** Mentored graduate student author

++ Mentored undergraduate student author