Christopher Beam

About

Christopher Beam is an associate professor of psychology and gerontology at USC Dornsife. He is a clinical psychologist specializing in life-span development, behavioral genetics, and advanced quantitative methods. His research encompasses various areas of life-span development, with a current focus on collecting midlife data on twins aged 40 and older in the Louisville Twin Study. His work aims to investigate genetic and environmental processes that explain how early psychosocial and cognitive development predict midlife cognitive functioning and markers of preclinical Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, he examines how perceived social isolation, or loneliness, changes in the second half of the lifespan and how these changes relate to dementia risk. Clinically, Dr. Beam focuses on geropsychological interventions, primarily group-based interventions for complicated grief in older adults. He is also a faculty member in the Gerontological Workforce Enhancement Program at the USC Keck School of Medicine. His research addresses the biological and environmental mechanisms that explain differences in cognitive and psychological development across the lifespan, guided by broad questions about how social experiences earlier in life contribute to age-related cognitive changes, personality development, and the onset of psychopathology.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical psychology
• Gerontology
• Social psychology
• Internal medicine
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Psychological sequelae of social isolation and loneliness might be a larger problem in young adults than older adults.

  Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy · 2020-06-11 · 168 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  As the spread of COVID-19 has led to global efforts to social distance, concerns about the negative psychological effects of social isolation and loneliness have grown. The purpose of this commentary is to draw attention to 2 populations across the life span at risk for the psychological sequelae of social isolation and loneliness: young adults and old-old adults. We present data from three population-based longitudinal studies from two nations (United States and Sweden) to support this view. We…

  PublisherDOI

• Trajectories of Big Five Personality Traits: A Coordinated Analysis of 16 Longitudinal Samples

  European Journal of Personality · 2020 · 157 citations

  This study assessed change in self-reported Big Five personality traits. We conducted a coordinated integrative data analysis using data from 16 longitudinal samples, comprising a total sample of over 60 000 participants. We coordinated models across multiple datasets and fit identical multi-level growth models to assess and compare the extent of trait change over time. Quadratic change was assessed in a subset of samples with four or more measurement occasions. Across studies, the linear trajec…

  DOI

• Is Stress an Overlooked Risk Factor for Dementia? A Systematic Review from a Lifespan Developmental Perspective

  Prevention Science · 2022-05-27 · 64 citations

  review
  PublisherDOI

• Health Factors as Potential Mediators of the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability

  American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · 2020 · 25 citations

  PublisherDOI

• Associations of personality trait level and change with mortality risk in 11 longitudinal studies.

  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2025-01-13 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  = 32,348), we used multilevel growth curve models to estimate personality trait level and personality trait change across three to 11 measurement occasions spanning 6-43 years. Next, we used Cox proportional hazards models to test whether personality trait level and personality trait change were associated with mortality risk. Higher conscientiousness (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.83), extraversion (HR = 0.93), and agreeableness (HR = 0.88) were associated with longer survival while higher neuroticism…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant F31AG044047

  NIH · $20k · 2014

• Contribution of child development, biological aging, and beta-amyloid to cognitive function of the Louisville twins at midlife

  NIH · $5.7M · 2019–2026

Frequent coauthors

• April D. Thames

  49 shared

• Elissa C. McIntosh

  University of Southern California

  49 shared

• George M. Slavich

  Neurobehavioral Systems

  49 shared

• Chandler M. Spahr

  University of California, Riverside

  49 shared

• Eric Turkheimer

  30 shared

• Deborah Winders Davis

  University of Louisville

  23 shared

• Margaret Gatz

  University of Southern California

  22 shared

• Deborah Finkel

  University of Southern California

  21 shared

Labs

• Beam LabPI

Education

• PhD, Psychology

  University of Virginia

  2015

• Predoctoral Psychology Resident, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

  University of Washington

  2015

• MA, Psychology

  University of Virginia

  2011

• MA, Psychology

  New York University

  2008

• BA, Psychology

  Seattle Pacific University

  2002

Awards & honors

• Association for Psychological Science 2020 Rising Star
• Fellow, International Max Planck Research School on the Life…

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