About

Dorothy L. Espelage is the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina. Her academic background includes a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University, an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Radford University, and a B.S. in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her areas of expertise encompass Prevention Science, School-Based Interventions, Social-Emotional Learning Interventions, Bullying Prevention, Teen Dating Violence, Sexual Harassment/Violence, and School-Based Suicide Prevention. Dr. Espelage's research focuses on translating empirical findings into prevention and intervention programming. She has secured over $15 million in external funding and actively advises members of Congress and the Senate on bullying prevention legislation. Additionally, she conducts webinars for organizations such as the CDC, NIH, and NIJ to disseminate research findings. Her contributions to public service and research have been recognized through awards, including the Robert E. Bryan Public Service Award. She is involved in leading significant research projects, such as a $16 million PCORI study aimed at reducing adolescent suicide-related risk.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Political Science
• Social Science
• Medicine
• Pedagogy
• Clinical psychology
• Computer Science
• Medical education
• Public relations
• Psychiatry
• Criminology
• Mathematics education
• Ecology
• Geography
• Law
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• Systems-Level Interventions to Disrupt Structural Racism and Improve Black Adolescent Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review

  Societies · 2026-03-27

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Structural racism and discrimination (SRD) is a fundamental cause of health inequities that emerge during adolescence and persist throughout adulthood. This scoping review systematically synthesizes the evidence on policy and community-level interventions designed to disrupt SRD exposure among Black adolescents and mitigate its impact on their health behaviors and outcomes. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched five databases for peer-reviewed intervention studies published through October 2025. Of 3417 abstracts screened, 9 studies met inclusion criteria. We examined the study characteristics, theoretical frameworks, implementation strategies, and effectiveness of interventions targeting three primary mechanisms of SRD exposure for adolescents. The majority focused on neighborhood and social integration interventions, with limited representation of resource-based and school-based approaches. Culturally grounded, community-engaged interventions buffered SRD’s negative effects on mental health, empowered youth as change agents, and removed structural barriers to health-promotive resources. The review identified several gaps in the research, including methodological and theoretical rigor, geographic contexts, and follow-up. Findings underscore the potential of culturally grounded, multilevel interventions to reduce inequities across mental health, physical health, and social outcomes for Black youth. This review highlights the need to expand systems-level interventions that address the root causes of the persistent racial health inequities experienced by Black youth.

  PublisherDOI

• Systems-Level Interventions to Disrupt Structural Racism and Improve Black Adolescent Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review

  UNC Libraries · 2026-04-03

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Structural racism and discrimination (SRD) is a fundamental cause of health inequities that emerge during adolescence and persist throughout adulthood. This scoping review systematically synthesizes the evidence on policy and community-level interventions designed to disrupt SRD exposure among Black adolescents and mitigate its impact on their health behaviors and outcomes. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched five databases for peer-reviewed intervention studies published through October 2025. Of 3417 abstracts screened, 9 studies met inclusion criteria. We examined the study characteristics, theoretical frameworks, implementation strategies, and effectiveness of interventions targeting three primary mechanisms of SRD exposure for adolescents. The majority focused on neighborhood and social integration interventions, with limited representation of resource-based and school-based approaches. Culturally grounded, community-engaged interventions buffered SRD’s negative effects on mental health, empowered youth as change agents, and removed structural barriers to health-promotive resources. The review identified several gaps in the research, including methodological and theoretical rigor, geographic contexts, and follow-up. Findings underscore the potential of culturally grounded, multilevel interventions to reduce inequities across mental health, physical health, and social outcomes for Black youth. This review highlights the need to expand systems-level interventions that address the root causes of the persistent racial health inequities experienced by Black youth.

  PublisherDOI

• Disparities in the association between bullying victimization and risky sexual behaviors by sexual identity

  Sexual & Relationship Therapy · 2026-01-05

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Harmful masculinities among younger men in three countries: Psychometric study of the Man Box Scale

  UNC Libraries · 2025-06-28

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Measuring the spatial scale of structural racism and discrimination: Consequences for estimated life expectancy

  Social Science & Medicine · 2025-11-21 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• RCT testing Sources of Strength impact on suicide attempts and moderation by sexual violence

  UNC Libraries · 2025-11-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Male Adolescents’ Gender Attitudes and Violence: Implications for Youth Violence Prevention

  UNC Libraries · 2025-07-18

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Restorative justice: a qualitative analysis of school security perspectives

  UNC Libraries · 2025-06-10

  articleOpen access

  Grounded in Restorative Justice theory, the current study examines the perspectives of School Resource Officers (SROs) and other School Security Personnel (SSPs) during a professional development training on restorative-problem solving. Specifically, focusing on how school security staff are currently using restorative justice in their work, how they can use these practices in the future, and any variations in perspectives towards restorative justice based on their job title. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to analyze qualitative responses to training logs from SROs and SSPs (n = 99). Throughout the module, participants were asked to reflect on five different situations and provide examples of how they would address these issues using restorative justice. Codes and memos were used to summarize the themes across participants. Both SROs and SSPs are aware of restorative practices and use them to some capacity in their roles. However, additional training is needed to ensure that practices are used consistently and effectively across positions and schools. To abolish the U.S. school-to-prison pipeline, all school staff including security should receive mandatory, ongoing, evidence-based professional development for school-wide implementation of restorative justice as an alternative to punitive disciplinary strategies that disproportionately harm students of color and their families.

  PublisherDOI

• Do Teachers Feel Active Shooter Drills Work? A Study of Effectiveness, Safety, and Decisions to Transfer or Quit

  School Psychology Review · 2025-06-04

  article
  PublisherDOI

• <i>CATAcode</i> : A Principled Approach for Coding Check-All-That-Apply Demographic Items

  Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science · 2025-10-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Accurately measuring, reporting, interpreting, and evaluating identity categories in social-science research is essential; however, check-all-that-apply (CATA) responses present methodological challenges because of the large permutations of categories and the fluctuating salience of intersecting identities across time and contexts. These challenges can hinder the validity of quantitative studies, particularly those examining racial, ethnic, and other social-identity differences. Although quantitative-critical-race-theory scholars have proposed principles for handling racial and ethnic categories in quantitative research, their application in statistical analyses remains limited. In this article, we introduce CATAcode , an R package designed to assist researchers in exploring and preparing CATA demographic items for statistical modeling. By applying this tool to cross-sectional and longitudinal data, in the tutorial, we demonstrate how CATAcode can enhance the generalizability, transparency, and reproducibility of social-science research. Improving the rigor of demographic measurement is essential for identifying and addressing social inequalities, allocating resources, and understanding broader patterns of marginalization.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Multi-site Evaluation of Second Step: Student Success Through Prevention (Second

  NIH · $1.2M · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Jun Sung Hong

  129 shared

• Alberto Valido

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  88 shared

• Luz E. Robinson

  54 shared

• Katherine M. Ingram

  43 shared

• Gabriel J. Merrin

  41 shared

• Alex R. Piquero

  University of Miami

  40 shared

• Paul Mazerolle

  University of New Brunswick

  39 shared

• Lisa Broidy

  University of New Mexico

  39 shared

Awards & honors

• William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education