Groups: Current Honor's, MA, and PHD Students
My research focuses on understanding how social relationships in face-to-face and digital settings shape adolescent health and well-being using social network analysis methods. Adolescents navigate friendships in both face-to-face and online spaces, yet we only have a limited understanding of how these environments jointly shape peer dynamics, transmission and amelioration of stress, and psychological adjustment. I employ social network analysis (SNA) and multi-level modeling (MLM) methods to help advance these questions. Specifically, I examine how digital behaviors and experiences (i.e., addiction-like social media behavior, digital status seeking, and digital distress) contribute to network selection and how these behaviors and experiences interact with the quality and structure of personal networks to contribute to the psychological adjustment of late adolescents. This work seeks to generate knowledge about how adolescent well-being is embedded in and shaped by social networks that cross the boundaries between the in-person and digital contexts that are becoming increasingly fused.
Caroline completed M.A. in Applied Developmental Psychology at George Mason University in 2024 and B.S. in Psychology and Minor in Data Sciences at the College of William and Mary in 2021.
Peer-Reviewed Papers
Toth, C., Kornienko, O., Perez-Brena, N., & Ha, T. (in preparation). Digital stress and mental health among friends: A longitudinal examination of interpersonal spillover.
Kornienko, O., Toth, C., Brinberg, M., Ha, T., Perez-Brena, N., & Safa, M.D. (revise and resubmit). Social media emotional responses and communication modality preferences are associated with quality of adolescent friend and romantic relationships over time. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.
Safa, M. D., Perez-Brena, N. J., Gámez Hernández, P., Wantchekon, K., Kornienko, O., Burson, E., Ha, T., Hernández, M. M., Gutierrez, V. C., Toth, C., Álvarez, R. L. (revise and resubmit). Family Bicultural Socialization and Daily Positive Emotions in Immigrant and Ethnoracially Minoritized Adolescents During the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Journal of Research on Adolescence.
Safa, D. M., Kornienko, O.,Toth, C., Alvarez Rios, L., Boaheng, P., Hernández, M.M., & Ha, T. (revise and resubmit). Peer network composition and position correlates of adolescent dual-cultural orientation.
Burson, E., Perez-Brena, N. J., Ha, T., Gámez Hernández, P., Hernández, M. M., Kornienko, O., Wantchekon, K. A., Gross, N., Toth, C., Safa, M. D., Figueroa, J. (accepted). Family warmth moderates the association between adolescents’ critical consciousness and emotions: A daily diary study of youth in a border community. American Psychologist.
Toth, C., Kornienko, O., Quiroz, S., Maras, O., Hernández, M., & Ha, T. (2026). Problematic social media use, availability distress, and digital status seeking: Links to friendship network structure in adolescence. Journal of Children and Social Media. doi: 10.1080/17482798.2025.2601084
Hernández, M. M., Wantchekon, K. A., Kornienko, O., Toth, C., Burson, E., Gutierrez, V. C., Gámez Hernández, P., Perez-Brena, N. J., Safa, M. D., Mustafaa, F. N., & Ha, T. (2026). Culturally relevant school support profiles are associated with academic achievement trajectories post-COVID dual pandemic onset. Child Development. Special Section: Children’s Developmental Trajectories in the Long Shadow of COVID-19.
Hernández, M. M., Kornienko, O., Figueroa, J. M., Coker, M., Paredes, K. A., Carrillo, J. P., Toth, C., Rogers, A. A., & Ha, T. (2024). Identifying culturally relevant school support profiles and links to academic functioning in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-024-02098-0
Peer-Reviewed Conference Presentations and Posters
Gutierrez, V. C., Hernández, M. M., Kornienko, O., Toth, C., Perez-Brena, N. J., & Ha, T. (2026, April). Friends who take pride in family: Peer familism and academic engagement in adolescence [Poster presentation]. Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
Gross, N., Figueroa, J.M., Maras, O., Toth, C., Brinberg, M., Kornienko, O., & Ha, T. Adolescent Use of AI Chatbots for Romantic Relationship Support: Frequency, Context, and Associations. Poster submitted to the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
Toth, C., Kornienko, O., Perez-Brena, N., & Ha, T. Digital Stress and Mental Health among Friends: A Longitudinal Examination of Interpersonal Spillover. In Toth, C., & Kornienko, O. (co-chairs), Digital Life and Adolescent Mental Health: Understanding the Role of Peers across Contexts. Symposium conducted at the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
Toth, C., Kornienko, O., Ha, T. (2025, May). Social spillover: How friends’ digital stress shapes adolescents’ mental health. Poster presented to the Society for Research on Child Development Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN
Toth, C., Kornienko, O., Ha, T., Hernández M. M., Rogers, A., Quiroz, S., & Maras, O. (2024, April). Friendship network homophily of adolescent digital distress. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Toth, C., Kornienko, O., Quiroz, S., Maras, O., Hernández M. M., & Ha, T. (2023, April). Friend homophily regarding social media addiction and digital status seeking in adolescence. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, San Diego, CA.