Research

My research is in the area of happiness and well-being--and more broadly, human flourishing. I am interested in factors that foster flourishing and those that thwart it—everything that influences our ability to realize our full human potential. A big question in my research is: How can negative experiences foster positive psychological change?

As a psychology researcher, I am especially interested in beliefs, behaviors, and feelings that affect flourishing. As someone with an interdisciplinary background, including expertise in public policy and history, I also am very interested in the many other factors within and outside of us that affect flourishing, for us as individuals and as a society. For example, a thread in my work involves physical health outcomes and how they relate to psychological factors.

My research likely fits most neatly into the area of positive psychology and is at the intersection of several areas within psychology, including social, clinical, developmental, and health psychology. I am deeply interested in the public policy implications of my research and more broadly in the intersection of psychology and public policy.

Publications

North, R. J., Stuckey, G., Sherrill, B. N., Ravyts, S. G., Casco, A. A., Schmitt. M., & Holahan, C. J. (in preparation). Are there gender differences in the experience of emotion? A linguistic analysis.

Holahan, C. J., Holahan, C. K., Lim, S., Powers, D. A., & North, R. J. (in press). Living with a smoker and physical inactivity across 8 years in high-risk medical patients. Behavioral Medicine.

Becca North (2018). Your Hidden Superpowers: How the Whole Truth of Failure Can Change Our Lives. Severn River Publishing.

Holahan, C. J., North, R. J., & Moos, R. H. (2017). Stress. In A. Wenzel (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology, 3339 - 3343. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

North, R. J., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2016). What’s Positive about Self-Verification? In C. R. Snyder, S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, and S. C. Marques (Eds.) Handbook of Positive Psychology, 3^rd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

North, R. J., Lewis, D. M. G., Capecelatro, M. R., Sherrill, B. N., Ravyts, S. G., & Fontan, G. (2016). The Things They Carry: Characterizing the Biggest Problems In the Lives Of Emerging Adults. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 35, 437-454.

North, R. J., Holahan, C. J., Carlson, C. L., & Pahl, S. A. (2014). From Failure to Flourishing: The Roles Of Acceptance and Goal Reengagement. Journal of Adult Development, 21, 239-250.

North, R. J., Meyerson, R. L., Brown, D. N., & Holahan, C. J. (2013). The Language of Psychological Change: Decoding an Expressive Writing Paradigm. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 32, 142-161.

Holahan, C. K., Holahan, C. J., North, R. J., Hayes, R. B., Powers, D. A., & Ockene, J. K. (2013). Smoking Status, Physical Health-Related Quality Of Life, and Mortality in Middle-Aged and Older Women. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 15, 662-669.

Holahan, C. J., North, R. J., Holahan, C. K., Hayes, R. B., Powers, D. A., & Ockene, J. K. (2012). Social Influences on Smoking In Middle-Aged and Older Women. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 26, 519-526.

Holahan, C. J., Schutte, K. K., Brennan, P. L., North, R. J., Holahan, C. K., Moos, B. S., & Moos, R. H. (2012). Wine Consumption and 20-Year Mortality among Late-Life Moderate Drinkers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73, 80-88.

North, R. J., Pai, A. V., Hixon, J. G., & Holahan, C. J. (2011). Finding Happiness In Negative Emotions: An Experimental Test Of a Novel Expressive Writing Paradigm. Journal of Positive Psychology, 6,
192-203.

Holahan, C. K., Holahan, C. J., Velasquez, K. E., Jung, S., North, R. J., & Pahl, S. L. (2011). Purposiveness And Leisure-Time Physical Activity In Women In Early Midlife. Women and Health, 51, 661-675.

Holahan, C. J., Pahl, S. A., Cronkite, R. C., Holahan, C. K., North, R. J., & Moos, R. H. (2010). Depression and Vulnerability to Incident Physical Illness across 10 Years. Journal of Affective Disorders, 123, 222-229.

North, R. J., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2009). Self-Verification 360˚: Illuminating the Light and Dark Sides. Self and Identity, 8, 131-146.

North, R. J., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2009). What’s Positive about self-verification? In C. R. Snyder and Shane J. Lopez (Eds.) Handbook of Positive Psychology, 2^nd Edition (pp. 465–482). New York: Oxford University Press.

North, R. J., Holahan, C. J., Moos, R. H., & Cronkite, R. C. (2008). Family Support, Family Income, and Happiness: A 10-Year Perspective. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 475-483

Holahan, C. K., Holahan, C. J., Velasquez, K. E., & North, R. J. (2008). Longitudinal Change in Happiness During Aging: The Predictive Role Of Positive Expectancies. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 66, 229-241.

Kenney, B. A., Holahan, C. J., North, R., J., & Holahan, C. K. (2005). Depressive Symptoms and Cigarette Smoking In American Workers. American Journal of Health Promotion, 20, 179-182.