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Diversity, equity, and inclusion values offer a foundation, guiding principles, and a cultural compass to the S.TR.E.S.S. Lab. We aim to recruit and foster diverse minds who are devoted to the betterment of research, of the field of psychology, and of society overall. We aim to enhance better mental health among diverse, underserved populations. Examples of such endeavors include projects on psychotherapy treatment barriers as well as on disparities in mental healthcare utilization among diverse, underserved populations, including South Asian individuals living in the US. Finally, we attempt to address DEI-counter biases within research; and aspire to challenge any ideas/practices that are exclusionary, discriminatory, or ignorant in nature. This commitment is not solely reserved for the lab; rather, it is an extension of the values we adopt and apply through our own daily lives.

Selective publications addressing diversity are listed below (*/** represents mentored graduate and undergraduate students respectively).

Contractor, A. A., *Rafiuddin, H., Kaur, K., & Asnaani, A. (in press). Asian Indians in the United States and posttraumatic stress disorder interventions: A narrative literature review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221097435

*Jin, L., Sharma, R., Hall, B. J., Natesan Batley, P., Alghraibeh, A. M., Aljomaa, S. S., & Contractor, A. A. (2022). Ethnic cultural value typologies and mental health parameters among Indians. International Journal of Intercultural Relation, 86, 95-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.11.008

Weiss, N. H., Thomas, E. D., Schick, M. R., Reyes, M. E., & Contractor, A. A. (2022). Racial and ethnic differences in emotion regulation: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 78(5), 785-808. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23284

*Dolan, M., *Jin, L., Sharma, R., Weiss, N. H., & Contractor, A. A. (2022). The relationship between number of trauma types, resilience, and psychological symptoms in ex-military personnel from India.# Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 14(3), 437-445. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001050

Almeida, I. M., Slavish, D. C., *Rafiuddin, H. S., & Contractor, A. A. (2022). COVID-19 related distress and sleep among trauma-exposed South Asians: Does generational status matter? Stress & Health. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3184

Contractor, A. A., Mehta, P., Tiamiyu, M. F., Hovey, J. D., Geers, A. L., Charak, R., et al. (2014). Relations between PTSD and distress dimensions in an Indian child/adolescent sample following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42, 925-935. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9846-5

Contractor, A. A., Claycomb, M., Byllesby, B., Layne, C. M., Kaplow, J., Steinberg, A. M., et al. (2015). Hispanic ethnicity and Caucasian race: Relations with PTSD's factor structure in clinic-referred youth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 7, 456-464. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000068

"Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization." - Mahatma Gandhi

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." - Martin Luther King Jr.

"Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day." - Winston Churchill