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About Us

Our lab is primarily interested in investigating factors associated with the development and maintenance of problematic eating behaviors, ranging from dietary restriction to excessive, uncontrollable over-eating. Our current research examines relationships among various individual-level factors, such as personality characteristics, affect, and interpersonal problems, and their associations with disordered eating. We are also more broadly interested in the assessment of psychopathology, particularly personality assessment and the cross-cultural measurement equivalence and validity of eating disorder measures.

 

* Dr. Ambwani will be on sabbatical during the 2012-2013 Academic Year. During this time, she will be conducting research at the Institute of Psychiatry (King's College), London, and will not be accepting any student research assistants. *


Suman Ambwani, Ph.D.
Psychology Department
Dickinson College
P.O. Box 1773
Carlisle, PA 17013
Phone: (717) 245-1022
Fax: (717) 245-1971

Lab News

Congrats to Jenn Chmielewski ('10) who successfully completed her Masters in Counseling Psychology at Columbia University, and will be commencing a PhD program in Social-Personality Psychology at CUNY this Fall!

Dave Breen (’12), Angela Guy ('12) and Nina Ligato ('12) are all off to graduate school! Dave will be working on his PsyD in Clinical Psychology at Loyola University. Meanwhile, Nina and Angela will be working on their Masters degrees - in Social Work at Boston College and in Medical Science at Boston University, respectively. Congratulations to all three students!

Alyssa Compeau (’11) had the opportunity to attend and present her research from Dickinson at the International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED) in Austin, TX.

The EBPA lab assisted with the planning and coordination of Dickinson's annual "Love your Body Week" (formerly known as Fat Talk Free Week) in March 2012. Check out the press coverage for this important eating disorder prevention campaign...

Megan Song (’12) presented her study on the effects of validity-scale coaching on test profile validity at the Society for Personality Assessment annual conference in Chicago, IL!

Alyssa Compeau (’11), who was a co-organizer for Fat Talk Free Week at Dickinson, published the following article this summer as part of her internship at “A Chance to Heal” (an organization that focuses on eating disorder prevention) http://www.healthyweightcommit.org/images/uploads/HW_FatTalk_072611.pdf

Our lab recently had two papers accepted for publication:

Ambwani, S., & Morey, L.C. (in press). Food consumption as affect modulation in borderline personality. Journal of Personality Disorders.

Ambwani, S., Boeka, A., Brown, J.D., Sarwer, D.B, Fabricatore, A.N, Byrne, K.T., Budak, A.R., Morey, L.C., & O’Neil, P.M. (in press). Socially desirable responding among bariatric surgery candidates during psychological assessment. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.

Congrats to Alyssa Compeau ('11), winner of the Stephen Benson Senior Prize in Psychology (see photo here). Alyssa was also one of four seniors invited to present her research at the Dickinson College Senior Research Symposium.

For additional lab news, click here...

Recent and Upcoming Events

 

International Conference on Eating Disorders -- Austin, TX

*Compeau, A. & Ambwani, S. (2012, May). The effects of fat talk on body dissatisfaction: The moderating role of dietary restraint. Poster accepted for presentation at the International Conference on Eating Disorders, Austin, TX.

Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) -- Chicago, IL

Ambwani, S., Roche, M.J., *Compeau, A., & Pincus, A. (2012, March). Interpersonal Functioning and Binge-Eating Behavior among College Women.  In A. Pincus (Chair), Intensive Repeated Measures Assessment of Interpersonal Behavior.

*Song, M., *Compeau, A., MacArthur, J., & Ambwani, S. (2012, March). Detecting defensive responding in personality assessment.

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) -- Toronto, ON

*Guy, A., Ligato, A., Breen, D., & Ambwani, S. (2011, November). Social Pressures in the Athletic Environment and Disordered Eating Attitudes Among Male Collegiate Athletes.

Ambwani, S. (2011, November). Personality, Affect, and Binge-Eating: Measuring Core Features of Eating Dysfunction through Ecological Momentary Assessment. In C. Martin (Chair), Ecological Momentary Assessment in the Study of Eating-Disordered Beliefs and Behaviors.

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) -- San Francisco, CA

Compeau, A., & Ambwani, S. (2010, November). Daily and momentary assessment of negative affect, interpersonal distress, and eating behavior.

Compeau, A., & Ambwani, S. (2010, November). Responses to unplanned eating: An exploratory study.

Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) -- San Jose, CA

Chmielewski, J., Guy, A., Compeau, A., Buck, S., & Ambwani, S. (2010, March). Weighing the evidence: Accuracy of self-reported body weight.

Ambwani, S., Hopwood, C.J., & Chmielewski, J. (2010, March). Less is more: The validity of the 5-item Restraint Scale.

Ambwani, S., Hopwood, C.J., & Compeau, A. (2010, March). What is Dietary Restraint?

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) -- New York, NY

Chmielewski, J., Emery, L., & Ambwani, S. (2009, November). Thin-Ideal Internalization, Fear of Fatness, and Disordered Eating: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Ambwani, S., Compeau, A., Chmielewski, J., Guy, A., & Emery, L. (2009, November). Ecological Momentary Assessment of Mood, Interpersonal Stress, and Binge-Eating Behavior.

Obesity Society -- Washington, DC

Ambwani, S., Boeka, A.G., Brown, J.D., Byrne, T.K., Budak, A.R., Sarwer, D.B., Fabricatore, A.N., Eisenberg, M., & O’Neil, P.M. (2009, October). Correlates of socially desirable responding among bariatric surgery candidates.


 

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