Bio:
Gianna LaMena joined the WELL Center as a research coordinator for Adrienne Juarascio, PhD after graduating from Lehigh University in May 2024 with a B.A. in psychology. In her time at Lehigh, she took an interest in adolescent and emerging adult mental health. During her senior year, she coordinated recruitment for a study on adolescent friendship quality and coded data on social media in the context of adolescent peer relations. Her senior honors thesis investigated the reasons why parents avoid discussing consent with their emerging adult children, as well as how these reasons relate to parent-child relationship quality, endorsement of traditional gender norms, and intentions to communicate about consent. She hopes to pursue a master’s degree and become a therapist specializing in adolescent eating disorder recovery.