About

Joseph P. Allen is the Hugh Kelly Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on adolescent social development, family and peer relationships, problematic behaviors such as delinquency, teen pregnancy, depression, and anxiety, as well as long-term outcomes into adulthood. His work investigates what about adolescence predicts development into adulthood, including adolescent social relationship predictors of long-term health and epigenetic aging. Allen also studies the development of peer influence and peer pressure in adolescence, as well as group interventions to leverage the positive potential of teen-peer relationships. Additionally, his research explores the development of autonomy and relatedness in adolescent and young adult social interactions with parents, peers, and romantic partners.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Medicine
• Neuroscience
• Biology
• Sociology
• Nursing
• Pedagogy
• Psychiatry
• Genetics
• Environmental health
• Psychotherapist
• Cognitive psychology

Selected publications

• Adolescent empathy predicts reduced neural responses to social rejection in adulthood

  Development and Psychopathology · 2026-03-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Objective: Adolescence is a sensitive period for social and neural development. Empathic growth during adolescence has been linked to improved prosocial behavior in adulthood. This study examined how adolescent empathy relates to adulthood neural responses to rejection. Method: Participants ( N = 77; 42 females, 52% White) were drawn from a demographically diverse community sample and assessed annually from ages 13 to 21. Each year, participants’ empathic support provision toward a close friend was evaluated during an observationally coded support task. At approximately age 24, participants completed the Cyberball social exclusion paradigm while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results: Whole-brain exploratory analyses revealed that greater empathic support provision during adolescence was associated with reduced activation in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC) during social exclusion in early adulthood (Cohen’s d = 0.12), suggesting a contribution of empathy provision to rejection-related neural responses later in life. The effect was not driven by felt distress during social exclusion, indicating that adolescent empathic support provision is potentially associated with neural responses to social exclusion independent of subjective distress. Conclusion: These findings underscore the long-term links of empathy to adult social processes and may inform interventions aimed at enhancing interpersonal functioning and resilience.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Predictions from early adolescent interpersonal aggression to accelerated aging in adulthood: Relational and biological mechanisms of linkage.

  Health Psychology · 2026-03-05 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: This study examined early adolescent interpersonal aggression, subsequent conflict with parents, and aggression toward close peers as predictors of accelerated biological aging by age 30. METHOD: = 123; 46 males and 75 females) were assessed repeatedly, along with parents and close friends, ages from 13 to 30. RESULTS: Early adolescent interpersonal aggression was found to predict later accelerated aging even after accounting for adolescent gender, family income, prior health difficulties, and body shape ratings in adolescence. Path analyses suggested that the effects of early interpersonal aggression were potentially mediated via higher levels of father-adolescent conflict reported by fathers in adolescence and by aggressive behavior toward close peers as reported by those peers in early adulthood. Follow-up analyses suggested that these same factors also predicted adult body mass index scores after accounting for body shape in adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Results are interpreted as evidence that social difficulties with lifelong health implications may be identified beginning in early adolescence, thus highlighting the potential importance of early interventions to address these difficulties. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Autonomy and Relatedness in Mother‐Adolescent Interactions: An Investigation Using Exploratory Graph Analysis

  Family Process · 2026-01-21

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Mother‐adolescent interactions are important contexts for teens to develop essential autonomy and relatedness skills. The Autonomy and Relatedness Coding System was designed to measure these behaviors and is based on four a priori theoretical categories, including behaviors promoting autonomy, behaviors undermining autonomy, behaviors promoting relatedness, and behaviors undermining relatedness. The current study used Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) to examine the underlying dimensional structure of autonomy and relatedness behaviors in mother‐adolescent interactions and compare this structure to the theoretical categories. Participants were 184 mother‐adolescent dyads participating in a larger longitudinal study of adolescent social development. Mothers and adolescents ( M age = 13.35, SD = 0.64) discussed an area of disagreement. These interactions were coded for nine different autonomy and relatedness behaviors displayed by mothers and adolescents. EGA results revealed a three‐dimensional structure for both adolescents' behaviors toward mothers and mothers' behaviors toward adolescents. These three‐dimensional models fit the data significantly better than the theoretical four‐dimensional model. Bootstrap EGA results further replicated the three‐dimensional structure. These findings suggest that EGA is a useful tool for examining the dimensional structure of autonomy and relatedness behaviors in mother‐adolescent interactions and provide more nuanced insights into the developmental differences of these behaviors in mothers versus teens.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Calling home: Adolescent–family roots of adult resilience during the COVID pandemic

  Development and Psychopathology · 2026-04-24

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study examined adolescent-family relationship predictors of adult-era resilience in the face of the COVID pandemic, considering both mental and physical health outcomes. Adolescents (99 female, 85 male; 107 White, 53 African American, 15 mixed race/ethnicity, 9 from other minority groups) were followed from age 18 to 38 utilizing both observational and self-report assessments. After accounting for levels of functioning pre-COVID, adolescents who demonstrated a capacity to handle disagreements without becoming engaged in relatedness-undermining hostile behavior in mother-adolescent dyads went on as adults to experience relatively fewer depressive symptoms and better physical health quality post-COVID onset (Direct β's = 0.28 and -0.17, respectively). Follow-up analyses suggested these effects were potentially mediated by maternal reports of adult-era quality of the mother-participant relationship, by level of ongoing maternal contact, and by lower levels of loneliness. Evidence was also found that maintaining contact with fathers in adulthood predicted better health outcomes post-pandemic. Results are taken as supporting a systems approach to understanding resilience, as Luthar has suggested, and identifying the mother-adolescent relationship as a potential long-term protective factor well into mid-adulthood.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dual peer processes in adolescent smoking initiation and frequency: Close-friend modeling and anti-smoking influence

  Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · 2026-04-16

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multivitamins After Myocardial Infarction in Patients With Diabetes

  JAMA Internal Medicine · 2025-03-03 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: In 2013, the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) reported that in 1708 patients with stable coronary disease and prior myocardial infarction (MI), oral multivitamins and multiminerals (OMVMs), in a factorial design with edetate disodium (EDTA) chelation therapy, did not reduce cardiovascular events relative to placebo OMVMs, but active EDTA combined with active OMVMs was superior to placebo OMVM/placebo EDTA. Objective: To compare OMVM vs placebo in terms of efficacy for reducing major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes and prior MI. Design, Setting, and Participants: The TACT2 randomized, multicenter double-masked 2 × 2 factorial clinical trial took place across 88 sites in the US and Canada. Participants were 50 years or older, had diabetes, and had an MI 6 weeks ago or more. TACT2 participants were enrolled between September 2016 and December 2020. Data were collected between October 2016 and June 2023. Interventions: Six caplets daily of a 28 component OMVM or matching OMVM placebo, and 40 weekly infusions of an EDTA-based chelation solution or matching placebo, in a 1:1:1:1 allocation ratio. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was the composite of all-cause mortality, MI, stroke, coronary revascularization, or hospitalization for unstable angina. Results: A total of 1000 participants were randomized (500 in the active OMVM group and 500 in the placebo group). The median (IQR) age was 67 (60-72) years, and 730 (73%) were male. Median (IQR) follow-up was 48 (34-58) months. The primary end point occurred in 175 participants (35%) in the active OMVM group and 175 (35%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.99 [95% CI, 0.80-1.22]; P = .92). The 5-year event rate for the primary end point in the EDTA chelation + active OMVM group was 34.0%; in the EDTA chelation + placebo OMVM group, 35.7%; in the placebo infusion + active OMVM group, 36.0%; and in the placebo infusion + placebo OMVM group, 34.3%. The comparison of the active infusion + active OMVM with the placebo infusion + placebo OMVM was not significant (HR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.67-1.23]; P = .54). Although nonsignificant, there was a numerically higher event rate of MI, stroke, mortality from cardiovascular causes in the active OMVM compared to placebo OMVM group. Conclusions and Relevance: The results of this randomized clinical trial demonstrated that, for participants with chronic coronary disease, diabetes, and a previous MI, high-dose OMVM alone or in conjunction with EDTA-based chelation did not reduce cardiovascular events. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02733185.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Support-seeking about social relationships with friends is associated with friendship quality, emotional support, and self-disclosure in adolescence

  Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · 2025-08-27 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  shape their own development. The current study characterizes adolescents' support-seeking discussion topics with close friends, how the topics are influenced by adolescent age and gender, and how they are related to interpersonal processes in close friendships. A community sample of 184 adolescents (85 boys, 99 girls; 58% white, 29% Black, 13% other identity groups) participated annually from age 13 to 18. Through these six waves of data collection, participants completed a total of 859 support-seeking interactions, from which 10 thematic codes were identified. Support-seeking about socially oriented topics (e.g., conflicts with peers, romantic interests) appeared consistently across adolescence, while participants increasingly discussed future-oriented topics (e.g., considering college or work plans) with their friends as they aged. Selection of socially oriented topics was more common among female dyads and was associated with higher friendship quality, self-disclosure, and emotional support in conversations between adolescent close friends.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Consensus statement on developmentally appropriate policy and practice for adolescents in foster care

  Children and Youth Services Review · 2025-07-26 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Empathy across three generations: From maternal and peer support in adolescence to adult parenting and child outcomes

  Child Development · 2024-05-22 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study examined the development of empathic care across three generations in a sample of 184 adolescents in the United States (99 female, 85 male; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other groups), followed from their family of origin at age 13 into their parenting years (through their mid-30s). Mothers' empathic support toward adolescents at age 13 predicted teens' empathy for close friends across adolescence (13-19 years). Participants' empathic support for friends in late adolescence predicted more supportive parenting behavior in adulthood, which in turn was associated with their children's empathy at age 3-8 years. Results suggest that individuals "pay forward" the empathic care they receive from parents, and that skills developed in adolescent friendships may inform later parenting.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• OP82 Stress, loneliness & mental health stigma: a socits approach to school interactions

  SSM Annual Scientific Meeting · 2024-08-01

  articleOpen access

  <h3>Background</h3> Peer interactions and social situations significantly impact pupils’ well-being, and research into these can help us to understand how to minimise negative effects. Our SOCial sITuational Systems (SOCITS) approach to measuring and modelling influences on adolescent mental health is one that can be undertaken in schools by researchers and practitioners. SOCITS facilitates a whole school approach in which everyday interactions and routines through collaborative efforts involving staff, teachers, and children can be investigated and ameliorated. The central research question posed in the study was, ‘Which situations throughout the school day are associated with stress, loneliness and mental health stigma?’ <h3>Methods</h3> We conducted 13 remote walking interviews at two Scottish secondary schools (eight in School 1, five in School 2). At each school we also carried out pupil-teacher system workshops. Remote walking interviews, a form of visual methodology, utilized photographs and video to generate discussions and gather information. These innovative interviews provided visual dimensions that allowed probing into aspects of the environment and their impact on experiences. The systems workshops identified places, people, contextual features, and sentiments that collectively shape school experiences for pupils. B: The interviews revealed that the most stressful places were identified as corridors and stairwells, which were hotspots for crowding and resulted in negative interactions such as pushing, shoving, and bullying. Few places were identified as lonely except for restricted areas where younger pupils were not permitted. Quieter times such as the end of the day were periods where some pupils felt lonely. There was mental health stigma attached to the location of guidance classrooms and being seen making your way to one as this was associated with telling on other students. The workshops highlighted how an interplay of institutional factors (e.g. rules), environmental factors (e.g. unpatrolled spaces) and social factors (e.g. strained staff-pupil interactions) was affecting the well-being of pupils. They also provided an opportunity for teachers to gain insights into the perspectives of students and vice versa, resulting in interactive suggestions for improvement. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The walking interviews and workshops were especially effective in illuminating low- or no-cost interventions to improve pupil well-being such as school repairs, pupil-led anti bullying campaigns, or addressing gender differences in enforcement of uniform rules. These findings can be used to design quantitative, situated methods such as surveys and agent-based models that measure influences on adolescent mental health in schools.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Social Relationship Qualities as Predictors of Health & Aging from Adolescence through Mid-Adulthood

  NIH · $5.4M · 2023–2028

• NIH Grant R03MH045239

  NIH · $42k · 1991

• Adolescent Peer and Family Relationship Predictors of Adult Health

  NIH · $5.4M · 2008–2018

• NIH Grant R01MH058066

  NIH · $4.2M · 2008

• NIH Grant R21MH091486

  NIH · $414k · 2013

Frequent coauthors

• James A. Coan

  University of Virginia

  65 shared

• Meghan A. Costello

  University of Virginia

  63 shared

• Stuart T. Hauser

  University of Virginia

  51 shared

• Bert N. Uchino

  44 shared

• Jingrun Lin

  University of Virginia

  41 shared

• Nauder Namaky

  Providence College

  37 shared

• Emily L. Loeb

  University of Virginia

  25 shared

• David E. Szwedo

  James Madison University

  24 shared