Dr. Darlene Kertes

About

Dr. Darlene Kertes is a Principal Investigator whose research program focuses on risk and protective factors in the social environment and how these factors shape behavioral, neurobiological, and epigenetic outcomes from prenatal life through early adulthood. Her work investigates the complex interactions between environmental influences and developmental trajectories, emphasizing the impact of early life experiences on long-term health and behavior. Dr. Kertes leads a lab that mentors graduate and undergraduate students engaged in research related to maternal stress, trauma, developmental neuroscience, epigenetics, and mental health. Her research program includes examining the effects of maltreatment in infancy and early childhood on behavioral development, biological stress markers such as hair cortisol concentrations, telomere length, and DNA methylation profiles associated with depression trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood. Dr. Kertes has also contributed to the training and development of numerous students who have advanced to academic, medical, and industry positions, reflecting her commitment to fostering the next generation of researchers in psychology and neuroscience.

Research topics

• Demography
• Psychology
• Biology
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Environmental health

Selected publications

• Protective Factors Buffer Life Stress and Behavioral Health Outcomes among High-Risk Youth

  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · 2019-02-22 · 96 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study investigated internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and polydrug use among African-American youth residing in high-poverty neighborhoods, and tested the potential protective effects of religiosity, parental monitoring, and neighborhood collective efficacy on life stress and behavioral health outcomes (N = 576; 307 females; Mage = 16 years, SD = 1.44 years). A cumulative risk index reflected the combined effects of past year exposure to stressful life events, racial discrimina…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Children’s Relationship With Their Pet Dogs and OXTR Genotype Predict Child–Pet Interaction in an Experimental Setting

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2018-09-05 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Human-animal interaction (HAI) research has increasingly documented the important role of pet dogs in children’s lives. The quality of interaction between children and their pet dogs, however, is likely influenced by individual differences among children as well as their perceived relationship with their pet dog. Ninety-seven children aged 7-12 years and their pet dogs participated in a laboratory protocol during which the child solicited interaction with their dog, from which time petting and g…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Everyday perceptions of safety and racial disparities in hair cortisol concentration

  Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023-03-20 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Short-term cortisol adaption to discrimination and Mexican-origin adolescents’ mental and sleep health

  Development and Psychopathology · 2023-10-04 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Discrimination experiences are a salient contributor to the health disparities facing Latina/x/o youth. The biopsychosocial model of minority health posits that discrimination influences health through wear and tear on the biological stress responses, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is a primary stress response system in the body. Emerging evidence suggests that discrimination alters the secretion of cortisol, the end product of the HPA axis, yet, whether…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Discrimination and Health: Fostering Better Health for Black American Youth

  Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences · 2022-02-23 · 9 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  The Black Lives Matter movement has heightened US cultural awareness of the disproportionate burden of racial discrimination for Black Americans. With a special emphasis on Black youth, this review describes the health consequences of discrimination, including depression, anxiety, suicide, stress biology, immune system dysfunction, and cellular aging. However, as evidence documents, ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) reduces the mental, academic, and physical impacts of racial discrimination. A s…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03HD071288

  NIH · $135k · 2014

• Epigenetic mechanisms of emotional/behavioral health among impoverished African American youth

  NIH · $1.9M · 2017–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Kenneth S. Kendler

  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  26 shared

• Gursharan Kalsi

  King's College London

  26 shared

• Jake Tarrence

  Florida State University

  26 shared

• Brien P. Riley

  26 shared

• Diana G. Patterson

  25 shared

• Carol A. Prescott

  University of Southern California

  25 shared

• Po‐Hsiu Kuo

  National Taiwan University

  25 shared

• Christopher R. Browning

  The Ohio State University

  25 shared

Labs

• Dr. Darlene Kertes LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., child psychology

  University of Minnesota

• Other

  Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University

Awards & honors

• Awards from the National Science Foundation
• Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NICHD and NIM…
• Awards from the National Center for Advancing Clinical and T…
• Fulbright Foundation
• Woodruff Fund

Similar researchers at University of Florida

• Dr. Ryan Duffyh-27
• Dr. Darragh Devineh-26
• Dr. Shari Schwartzh-14