About

Lindsey Weiler is an Associate Professor in the Family Social Science department at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on developing and testing interventions for children and adolescents, with the goal of fostering positive development and healthy functioning. She emphasizes leveraging relationships and social capital to promote positive mental health and psychosocial outcomes. Her work has contributed to the science of relational preventive interventions, including youth mentoring and trauma-informed program models for children exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Dr. Weiler is recognized as an expert in community-based research and serves on the Research Board of the National Mentoring Resource Center. Her research and contributions have been highlighted and disseminated at local, national, and global levels.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Medicine
• Pedagogy
• Psychiatry
• Psychotherapist
• Nursing

Selected publications

• A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Autism Mentorship Program

  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · 2026-03-03

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  PURPOSE: While mentoring programs have many positive social-emotional outcomes for youth, the benefits of mentoring are not yet well understood for autistic youth, a population that frequently seeks social and mental health supports. The current pilot randomized clinical trial study aims to examine (1) the acceptability of the Autism Mentorship Program (AMP) and (2) the preliminary effectiveness of AMP in improving mentees' well-being and reducing symptoms of mental health problems. METHODS: Participants included 24 autistic youth, 24 caregivers of autistic youth, and 12 autistic adults. Youth (ages 14-18) were randomized to AMP or services-as-usual (SAU), with 13 randomized into AMP. AMP included 23 weekly online mentoring sessions during which autistic mentors and autistic adolescents met in 1-to-1 meetings and discussed topics related to social-emotional learning or shared interests or engaged in an activity of their choosing. Youth, caregivers and autistic mentors completed pre- and post-program assessments related to satisfaction, mental health, and psychosocial outcomes. Analyses focused on descriptive trends and effect sizes due to limited power. RESULTS: Participants in AMP reported high program satisfaction and strong mentoring relationships. Compared to youth in SAU, AMP youth showed improvements in self-esteem, satisfaction with self, perceived social support, and engagement, with small to moderate effect sizes. Mentees also reported trends toward reduced anxiety and depression. CONCLUSION: AMP is a feasible, acceptable, and potentially effective identity-affirming program for autistic adolescents. Findings support further evaluation in larger trials to establish its utility as a scalable, community-based mental health support within autistic communities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Coping Strategies, ACEs, and Mental Health Among Adolescents with Child Welfare Involvement

  Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma · 2026-04-13

  articleOpen access

  Adolescents involved in the child welfare system face disproportionate mental health risks, yet our understanding of how coping strategies function within this population remains limited. This cross-sectional study examined how various coping strategies relate to mental health functioning among 245 adolescents with child welfare involvement and whether these relationships were moderated by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Using a modified version of the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, hierarchical regression analyses revealed both direct associations and significant moderation effects. Direct effects showed that positive cognitive restructuring was associated with lower anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and problem-focused coping was related to fewer anger symptoms. Additionally, avoidance and distraction coping were associated with higher symptoms across multiple mental health concerns. However, simple slopes analyses revealed that ACEs altered these associations. Problem-focused coping showed negative associations with anger, dissociation, and sexual concerns at high ACE levels but not at mean or low ACE levels, and avoidance coping was positively associated with anxiety and depression at high and mean ACEs levels but not at low ACE level. Two strategies typically associated with fewer mental health problems showed a different pattern at high ACE levels (while showing no association at mean or low ACE levels): support-seeking was associated with increased anger symptoms and cognitive restructuring with increased sexual concerns. These findings highlight the context-dependent nature of coping and mental health associations and underscore the need for trauma-informed interventions that consider both adversity exposure and the development of coping skills tailored to adversity levels and available resources.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mentoring Within Groups

  2026-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mentoring Activities for Building Developmental Assets

  2026-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Does the experience of mentoring youth affect mentors' mental health and wellbeing?

  American Journal of Community Psychology · 2026-04-06

  article

  Abstract Engaging in positive campus opportunities amid stress or strain may help support college student mental health and wellbeing. This study examined whether participating in a service‐learning course as mentors to youth exposed to adversities was related to college students' mental health and wellbeing during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Participants ( N = 548; 18–41 years old; M age = 20.03) included 112 college student mentors enrolled in the service‐learning course and 436 college students who were not enrolled in the course as mentors. Propensity score analysis was used to create comparable groups and determine whether the experience of mentoring was associated with improvements in college students' mental health (i.e., depression and anxiety) and wellbeing (i.e., flourishing, gratitude, self‐compassion, connectedness, engagement, happiness, optimism, and perseverance). Results indicated that participating in the service‐learning course as a youth mentor positively affected their levels of flourishing and self‐compassion. These findings highlight how engagement in relationally‐focused, service‐learning activities may have positive effects on some aspects of college student mentors' wellbeing. Going forward, it may be helpful to investigate the benefits of mentoring for mentors' mental health and wellbeing within a randomized controlled trial among a more heterogeneous sample.

  PublisherDOI

• The Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the Mental Health of Adolescents with Child Welfare Involvement

  Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma · 2025-03-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Environmental and Individual Risk as Moderators of a Site‐Based Mentoring Program for Adolescents Exposed to Adversities

  Journal of Community Psychology · 2025-12-29

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  It is currently unclear if individual and environmental risk factors impact youth experiences of mentoring. The goal of this study was to clarify the moderating effect of individual and environmental risk factors on mentoring programs outcomes. Participants were 676 youth (10-19 years-old) and their guardians engaged in a site-based, targeted mentoring program. Results revealed that youth with greater individual risk factors compared to fewer risk factors, experienced greatest reductions in internalizing problems, emotional problems and delinquency. Youth with greater environmental risk factors, compared to fewer, also experienced greatest reductions in peer problems. These findings underscore the benefits of targeted and supportive mentoring programs for youth exposed to a high degree of individual and environmental risk factors. These results also tentatively highlight one way that youth mentoring programs may help to reduce mental health disparities among adolescents exposed to adversities.

  PublisherDOI

• Examining Mentors’ In-the-Moment Observations of Youth-Related Concerns Within an After School Mentoring Program

  Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal · 2025-11-02

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Mentors serve as critical sources of support for young people and have a unique vantage point for observing the child’s life. Their perspective is also crucial for identifying the challenges mentors may encounter, which helps guide training and supervision. Using archival data, the current study sought to index real-time concerns that mentors were noticing with their youth mentees (ages 11–18) during a site-based mentoring program. This program developed a TIME (Tailored Intervention In-the-Moment for Everyone) Card system in which mentors share any concerns they are observing on index cards. The TIME Cards are visible to youth and integrated into the milieu of the program. Cards are submitted to supervisory staff who review and respond accordingly (e.g., offer support, conduct an assessment, provide a referral). Data included 578 excerpts that were independently coded by a team of researchers using content analysis. Mentors submitted an average of 16.06 concerns per program night. Concerns were categorized into four themes: (1) internalizing and externalizing problems (23.48%), (2) adverse childhood experiences and other adversities (28.38%), (3) adolescent development (35.51%), and (4) program-related behaviors or concerns (12.63%). Youth age was negatively associated with program-related concerns and positively associated with violence/aggression, microaggressions/racism, and gaming problems. This study provides insights into common challenges faced by youth and introduces the TIME Card system as a responsive and dynamic tool for supporting mentors and youth in site-based programs. Future research should examine whether this approach enhances mentoring processes and outcomes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• An Examination of the Lived Experiences of College Student Mentors and Their Experiences of Flourishing in a Youth Mentoring Program

  Journal of Community Psychology · 2025-06-03 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  This study examined college students' perceptions about whether volunteering as a youth mentor impacts their experience of flourishing. The aim was to examine how specific experiences in the mentoring program (e.g., relationships with staff and peers, belonging to an organization, and skill development) may lead to flourishing. This study was conducted using a phenomenological study design and was guided by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Participants (N = 9) were recruited on a midwestern campus from a voluntary program where college students mentor youth in an after-school setting. Aspects of the mentoring experience that contribute to college students' experience of flourishing and opportunities for growth were examined.

  PublisherDOI

• Rural adolescents’ and parents’ attitudes toward types of mental health services and supports.

  Rural Mental Health · 2025-03-10 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant F31DA034416

  NIH · $32k · 2013

Frequent coauthors

• Shelley A. Haddock

  Colorado State University

  19 shared

• Heather N. Taussig

  University of Denver

  19 shared

• Rebekah L. Hudock

  14 shared

• Toni Schindler Zimmerman

  Colorado School of Public Health

  14 shared

• Kalli B. Kremer

  Twin Cities Orthopedics

  10 shared

• Kimberly L. Henry

  Colorado State University

  9 shared

• Angela Keyzers

  University of Minnesota

  8 shared

• Jennifer L. Krafchick

  Colorado State University

  6 shared

Labs

• Weiler Research LabPI

Awards & honors

• 2024 Marty and Jack Rossmann Faculty Development Award
• 2023 Outstanding Alumna, College of Health and Human Science…
• 2019 Community Engagement Scholarship Award, W. K. Kellogg F…
• 2018 Engagement Scholarship Consortium Excellence in Communi…
• 2018 Rising Star, Women’s Philanthropic Leadership Circle