Researcher

Dr. Shawn C.T. Jones is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Jones' program of research principally seeks to challenge, clarify and correct the narrative concerning risk and resilience for Black youth and their families. He strives to better understand the interplay between race-related risk (e.g., racial discrimination, racism-related stress) and protective factors (e.g., racial identity, racial socialization, Africentricity) that influence Black youth psychological wellbeing. To that end, his investigations seek to move beyond understanding that racial/ethnic factors are protective, to unearthing the mechanisms and processes that explain how this protection is achieved. He employs both quantitative and qualitative methodologies—including utilizing mixed methods—and his strengths-based approach is grounded in cultural ecological models, acknowledging the role of individual and broader contextual (e.g., microsystem, macrosystem) factors. Lastly, as a scientist-practitioner, his research endeavors to answer these questions in the service of identifying avenues for prevention and intervention efforts.

Dr. Jones earned his Master’s of Heath Science at Johns Hopkins University and PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.