Groups: Previous MA, PHD, and Honor’s Thesis Students
Marissa’s research interests include examining associations between adolescent peer relationships and internalizing behaviors (social anxiety, depressive symptoms) and externalizing behaviors (aggression, risk-taking behaviors, and substance use); associations between discrimination and ethnic-racial identity development and peer relationships; using social network analysis methods to understand how adolescent development is shaped by peer network position, structure, and dynamics, friendships, and antipathies in racially diverse settings.
Marissa completed her B.A. in Psychology at Wesleyan University in 2014, M.A. in Psychology at American University in 2016, and her PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology at GMU in 2022. In 2022, she started a position of Postdoctoral Associate at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University.
Peer-Reviewed Papers
Kornienko, O., Santos, C.E.,Seaton, E.K.., Davila, M., & Garner, P. W. (2023).Racial discrimination experiences and friendship network dynamics among Black and Latinx Youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52, 685–700. http://doi : 10.1007/s10964-023-01746-1
Kornienko, O., Riis, J., Davila, M., White, N., & Garner, P.W. (2022). Preliminary insights into associations between C-reactive protein and social network dynamics. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 139, 105690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105690
Davila, M., & Kornienko, O. (2022). Making, maintaining, and influencing friends: Examining the role of fear of negative evaluation and gender in adolescent networks. School Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000481
Kornienko, O., Davila, M., & Santos, C. E. (2019). Friendship network dynamics of aggressive and rule-breaking antisocial behaviors in adolescence. Journal of Youth &Adolescence, 48, 2065-2078. doi: 10.1007/s10964-019-01109-9
Peer-Reviewed Posters and Presentations
Kornienko, O., White, N.S., & Davila, M. (2022, May). Peers and discrimination: A systematic review and next steps with social network analysis. Paper presented at the SRCD 2022 Special Topic Meeting: Construction of the ‘Other’: Development, Consequences, and Applied Implications of Racism, Prejudice and Discrimination.
Davila, M., Kornienko, O., Clary, L. K., & Ha, T. (2022, March). Adolescent relational aggression and internalizing symptoms in adulthood: The protective role of network centrality. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting.
Davila, M., & Kornienko, O. (2021, July). Making, maintaining, and influencing friends: Examining the role of fear of negative evaluation and gender in adolescent networks. Paper presented at the Networks 2021 Conference. Virtual/ Washington, D.C.
Norman E.M., Kornienko, O., Davila, M., & Ha, T. (2021, April). The associations among aspects of ethnic-racial identity development and peer network integration in adolescence. Poster presented at the virtual biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development
Whitmore, S., Kornienko, O., Davila, M., & Ha, T. (2021, April). Individual differences in appraisals of social relationships predict loneliness among ethno-racially diverse adolescents. Poster presented at the virtual biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development
Davila, M., & Kornienko, O. (2020, March). Peer influence on social anxiety in adolescent friendship networks. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Diego, CA.
Davila, M., & Kornienko, O. (2019, May). Social anxiety predicts declines in best friendships’ intimacy for adolescent girls, but not boys. Poster presented at the American Psychological Science Association Meeting, Washington, DC.
Kornienko, O., Davila, M., & Santos, C. E. (2019, March). Dynamic pathways between depressive symptoms and risk-taking behavior in adolescent peer networks. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.