BYU-I Health Psychology Emphasis

04/03/2026

I am excited to share with you that 4 more of our BYU-Idaho psychology major students recently published in the journal, COVID.
In their article entitled, "College Student Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccination Attitudes and Uptake Behavior in the U.S.: Prevalence, Correlates, and Promoting Improvement", Macey Bunnell, Given Chatelain, Eve McCulloch, Lexi Soelberg, Devon Marrott, and I explored the relative prevalence of Influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations and attitudes among BYU-Idaho students. In two separate studies, we had the goals of identifying key behavioral correlates (e.g., diet, sleep, exercise) with uptake behavior and attitudes, as well as how a classroom-based experience might change both attitudes and behavior for these vaccines. Overall, we noted several behavioral correlates for influenza, but not COVID-19 uptake behavior and discovered the classroom experience was enough to substantially change attitudes but not behavior. These students have worked hard with me on this project, working through the peer review process and to ultimate publication over the past year. I also recognize Devon Marrott, who provided data from his I/O Psych class. Here is the link to their Open Access article:

For vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccination uptake is among the best public health behaviors to prevent infection, disease and death. However, public confidence in this behavior has waned in recent years alongside the twin respiratory threats of influenza and COVID-19. Moreover, certain population...

09/02/2025

I am excited to share that 3 of our BYU-Idaho psychology major
students (many of whom are in or accepted to prestigious doctoral and masters programs currently) recently published in in the latest issue of the Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research!
In their article entitled, "Mindful strides: A brief associative attention intervention to improve running performance among college students," Natalie Johnson, Madi Adair and Lindsay Johnson explored the impact a short training session regarding associative (focus on body sensations) versus dissociative (focus on distractions like music) attention strategies could impact physical performance. For this study, they conducted a pre/post design with 100+ students who ran on treadmills in the fitness center. They worked incredibly hard, demonstrating just how far an undergraduate can go in research while here at BYU-Idaho! Here is
the link to their article:

Natalie K. Johnson, Madeline E. Adair, Lindsay Johnson, Robert R. Wright, and Samuel L. Clay Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University–Idaho

03/11/2025

I am excited to share with you that 10 of our BYU-Idaho psychology major students (many of whom are in or accepted to prestigious doctoral and masters programs currently) recently published in two publications in the latest issue of the Psi Chi Journal Journal of Psychological Research!

if you click here, you will find the page for both articles: https://www.psichi.org/page/301JNSpring2025

First, in the article titled, “Dating Apps Users Among a Religious College Student Body: Profiles of Emotional and Psychosocial Well-Being”, Lindsay Johnson, Brandon Jones, Maren Batman, Lavear Whitney, Kiyomi Miyasaki, and Anna Aho analyzed the differences in health metrics (e.g., psychological basic needs, emotional diversity, loneliness, depressive symptoms) between those who used dating apps compared to those who did not use dating apps here on the BYU-Idaho campus. In short, they discovered that those who use dating apps seem to have more unhealthy profiles.
Second, in the article titled, “State of the First Semester Freshman: Health and Wellness Through the COVID-19 Pandemic, Years 2018–2023”, Skyler Brough, Josh Castro, McKenna Osborne, Lindsay Johnson, and Spencer Johnson examined health and wellbeing differences in three cohorts (designated pre-COVID, COVID, and post-COVID relative to the pandemic restrictions). They focused specifically on first semester students, comparing them to non-first semester students both within and across the three cohorts. Generally, they found that first semester students have returned to prepandemic levels for many health metrics, but continue to have poorer health compared to non-first semester students. These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions may have impacted first semester students disproportionately more, making them an important demographic to focus on.
Congratulations to all these students for their hard work over several semesters!

Explore the spring issue. All content is free to read.

02/27/2024

Technology is a powerful tool that can be used for good or ill. One particular concern has been the use of technology to perpetrate acts of aggression and bullying, commonly referred to as cyberbullying. It is a serious concern for our youth and for adults who are regularly online, particularly when it comes to mental and even physical health and wellbeing.
I am excited to share with you that 2 of my current students (and 1 prior student who is now a faculty member Devon Marrott) at BYU-Idaho in the Psychology Department recently published an article on this topic in the Journal of Technology in Behavioral Sciences.
Their study focused on cyberbullying instigation and victimization and how they are differentially linked: instigation to poor health behaviors and victimization to poor health outcomes. The study entitled, “Sticks and stones: Cyberbullying victimization, instigation and associated health among online college students” can be found at this link to the website:

10/11/2023

Ever wonder how your social media accounts may be affecting your health (including Facebook)? What about your motive or reason for using social media in the first place? A recent study investigating differential health and wellness profiles of a large sample of adults using different social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram) for different reasons (e.g., entertainment, information seeking) was published in the Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research with some interesting results.
Follow the link below to view the study and see if your favorite social media might be bad for your health...

Carson R. Ewing, Christian Nienstedt, Robert R. Wright, and Samuel Chambers Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University–Idaho

07/03/2023

There is a job opening in the Psychology Department at BYU-Idaho. If you are interested in applying, see the link below.

IMPORTANT Conditions of employment require employees to hold and to be worthy to hold temple recommends. Job applicants must be able to meet these conditions to advance through a hiring process successfully. An expired recommend will prevent consideration for hire. Posting Closes Thursday, August 31...

05/17/2023

I am excited to share with you that 4 of our students at BYU-Idaho in the Psychology Department recently published in the Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research. Congratulations to Chris Nienstedt, Nathan Smith, Hannah Braithwaite and Ben Gilbert for their hard work over several semesters!
Their study focused on well-being and health among student users of TikTok. Their study entitled, “Swing Away Your Well-Being? Examining Well-Being Indicators Among TikTok Account Holders” can be found at this link to the website

Christian Nienstedt, Nathan Smith, Hannah Braithwaite, Ben Gilbert, and Robert R. Wright Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University – Idaho

04/26/2023

Usually when I announce a research publication, I like to highlight the extraordinary efforts of my student coauthors. This time, however, I am (shamelessly as the sole author) excited to share with you a publication of mine among our BYU-Idaho students in the Health Psychology Emphasis of our department recently published in the journal Education. It is entitled “Undergraduate Health Psychology Education: An Effective Model for Interdisciplinary Education” and can be obtained by contacting me. In short, I found strong support for the effectiveness of the Health Psychology Emphasis in the Psychology Major at BYU-Idaho including student interests, jobs, and graduate school placement. It really is neat to (finally) have empirical evidence to support what you have known all along!

02/07/2023

For those who are interested, Dr. Rob Wright has been elected as the new President-Elect of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association with his 3-year service starting in April 2023. He has been attending RMPA for the past 10 years and his very first conference presentation as an undergraduate student in 2006 was at RMPA. For those interested in looking into RMPA a bit more, here is a link:

The Rocky Mountain Psychological Association is governed by a six-member elected Executive Voting Board consisting of the President, President-Elect, Past-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Diversity Council Chair as well as four appointed voting members (Program Chair, Historian/Archivist, Conven...

01/05/2023

In the fiery maelstrom of conflicting opinions regarding COVID-19, I am excited to share with you that 4 of our students at BYU-Idaho in the Psychology Department recently published in the Journal of American College Health. Congratulations
to Jordan Larson, Sarah Richards, Shaylee Hoffmann Larson, and Chris Nienstedt for their hard work over several semesters!
The study is entitled, “The COVID-19 Pandemic: Electronic Media Use and Health among US College Students”. Here is the link to the website with their article (first 50 downloads are free):
tandfonline.com
https://lnkd.in/gFq-ByiN

Objective: To explore differences before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in electronic media use (i.e. TV watching, social media use, screen time), health (i.e. physical, behavioral, social, menta...

04/11/2022

Had a great time at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association conference 2022 in Salt Lake City. Ten students at BYU-Idaho presented their research and did an excellent job representing our university, department, and research lab. Two of our presentations received the prestigious RMPA Student Research Award!

04/06/2022

I am not one to listen to podcasts very often, but I had the opportunity of being interviewed by Psi Chi's Bradley Cannon on PSYCHEVERYWHERE that has been posted as a new podcast episode regarding the topic of social media use and your health. Here is the link: https://www.psichi.org/page/podcast2022ep05
So if you are interested in social media (you are reading this right now on social media after all) and concerned for your health, you might listen to this one.
Also, feel free to subscribe to the show if you’d like. It’s World Autism Month, so upcoming episodes will be about common misconceptions regarding autism.

Social media might be affecting us in more ways that we realize! In our latest podcast episode, Dr. Robert Wright discusses known correlations between social media and loneliness, health, well-being, and more. Is there a “good” way to use social media?