• Professor Carolyn Becker is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the implementation of scientifically supported interventions in clinical and real world settings. Her primary areas of research include body image, eating disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. 

    Becker teaches a range of courses related to clinical psychology and regularly involves Trinity psychology students as research collaborators. Over the past decade, 26 undergraduate research assistants have earned co-authorship on at least one publication. In 2012, Becker was awarded the Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship for excellence in teaching and advising. In 2017, she was named a Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation for superior teaching at the college level. 

    Becker has been conducting research with female athletes since 2007, and her research on the prevention of eating disorders with female athletes has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. She is considered a leader in the implementation of peer-led prevention programs, and she and her undergraduate students pioneered a blended task-shifting/train-the-trainers approach to scaling the Body Project. This approach to delivery of the Body Project has been used by over 250 universities in North America, as well as numerous non-profit partner organizations around the globe. Becker is currently partnering with students and Dr. Keesha Middlemass (Howard University, Department of Political Science) in a new line of research investigating psychopathology in individuals with food insecurity.

    • Ph.D., Rutgers University
    • M.S., Rutgers University
    • B.A., Swarthmore College
    • Hooper, S. C.**, Marshall, V. B.**, Becker, C. B., LaCroix, A. Z., Keel, P. K., & Kilpela, L. S. (2022). Mental health and quality of life in post-menopausal women as a function of retrospective menopause symptom severity. Menopause, 29, doi 10.1097/GME.0000000000001961.
    • Wilfred, S. A.#, Becker, C. B., Kanzler, K. E., Musi, N., Espinoza, S., Kilpela, L. S. (2021). Binge Eating Among Older Women: Prevalence Rates and Health Correlates Across Three Independent Samples. Journal of Eating Disorders. 9, 132, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-021-00484-8
    • Stewart, T. M., Kilpela, L. S., Wesley, N., Baule, K., & Becker, C. B. (2021). Psychometric properties of the Contextual Body Image Questionnaire for Athletes: A replication and extension study in female collegiate athletes. Journal of Eating Disorders, 9, 59. doi.org/10.1186/s40337-021-00414-8
    • Becker, C. B., Middlemass, K. M., Gomez, F.#, & Kilpela, L. S. (2021). An Exploratory Examination of Internalized Weight Stigma in a Sample Living with Food Insecurity. Body Image, 37, 238-245.
    • Verzijl, C. L.#, Duan, J., Wilfred, S.#, Becker, C. B., & Kilpela, L. S. (2021). Tailoring a dissonance-based body image intervention for adult women in a proof of concept trial: The Women’s Body Initiative. Body Image. 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.01.001
    • AlShebali, M., Becker, C., Kellett, S., AlHadi, A., & Waller, G. (2021). Adapting the Body Project to a non-Western culture: A dissonance-based eating disorders prevention programme for Saudi women. Eating and Weight Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01104-9
    • Hazzard, V.M., Loth, K.A., Hooper, L., & Becker, C.B. (2020). Food insecurity and eating disorders: A review of emerging evidence. Current Psychiatry Reports, 22. doi.org/10.1007/s11920-020-01200-0
    • Gomez, F.**, Kilpela, L. S., Middlemass, K. M., & Becker, C. B. (2020). Sexual trauma uniquely associated with eating disorders: A replication study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. doi: 10.1037/tra0000586 
    • Middlemass, K. M., Cruz, J.**, Gamboa, A.**, Johnson, C.**, Taylor, B.**, Gomez, F.**, & Becker C. B. (2020). Food insecurity and dietary restraint in a diverse urban population. Eating Disorders: Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 1-14.

     

    ** Note: Trinity undergraduate student co-author (includes recently graduated students not yet in graduate school)

    # Note: Non-undergraduate Trinity co-author still in training phase of career (e.g., graduate school, post-doctoral fellow/training)

    • Psychopathology
    • Clinical psychology
    • Behavioral medicine
    • First Year Experience - Food Matters
    • Field Practicum