Lauren Simpson, M.A.
Third-Year Graduate Student University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dept. of Psychology University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Contact
Lauren (she/her) is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research focuses on identifying risk and resilience factors for psychopathology following the experience of interpersonal violence. Specifically, she is interested in the role of emotion dysregulation in the development and maintenance of trauma-related psychopathology. Her clinical interests center on supporting individuals who have experienced interpersonal violence.
Lauren received her B.A. in Psychology from Amherst College. As an undergraduate, she worked as a Peer Advocate for Sexual Respect, leading workshops and events to prevent sexual and gender-based violence on campus and providing direct support to students who experienced interpersonal violence. After graduating, she worked as a project coordinator at UNL for Drs. David DiLillo and Sarah Gervais on a multi-site, longitudinal randomized control trial that evaluated the efficacy of an online program to increase bystander intervention (see “Evaluation of RealConsent2.0” under “Current and Past Grants”). She also works as a crisis line volunteer for Voices of Hope, a local organization in Lincoln that supports individuals who have experienced interpersonal violence and is the current student therapist for the UNL Center for Advocacy, Response, and Education (CARE), providing free evidence-based trauma therapy to students, staff, and faculty. Additionally, she is passionate about mentorship and loves working with students to help them identify and pursue their career goals in psychology.
Publications
Simpson, L. E., Kumar, S. A., Brockdorf, A. N., Brock, R. L., Messman, T. L., Gratz, K. L., & DiLillo, D. (2025). The cumulative impact of recurrent experiences of intimate partner violence on emotion dysregulation: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(11-12), 2760-2783. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241278996
Lydecker, J. A., Lou, R. L., Rossa, E., Simpson, L., & Ozbardakci, E. (2024). How parents talk about weight: Qualtitative content analysis using a randomized experiment design. Stigma and Health. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000508
Salazar, L. F., Parrott, D., DiLillo, D., Gervais, S., Schipani-McLaughlin, A., Leone, R., Swartout, K., Simpson, L., Moore, R., Wilson, T., Flowers, N., Church, H., Baildon, A. (2023). Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of RealConsent2.0: A web-based intervention to promote prosocial alcohol-involved bystander behavior in young men. Trials, 24(1), Article 804. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07797-w
Reyes, M. E., Simpson, L., Sullivan, T. P., Contractor, A. A., & Weiss, N. H. (2023). Intimate partner violence and mental health outcomes among Hispanic women in the United States: A scoping review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 809-827.https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211043815
Kneeland, E. T. & Simpson, L. E. (2022). Emotion malleability beliefs influence emotion regulation and emotion recovery among individuals with depressive symptoms. Cognition and Emotion, 36(8), 1613-1621. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2022.2143327
Simpson, L. E., Raudales, A. M., Reyes, M. E., Sullivan, T. P., & Weiss, N. H. (2022). Intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress symptoms: Indirect effects through negative and positive emotion dysregulation. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(15-16), NP14008-NP14035. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211006371
Lydecker, J. A., Simpson, L., Smith, S. R., White, M. A., & Grilo, C. M. (2022). Preoccupation in bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, and higher weight. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 55(1), 76-84. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23630
Selected Presentations
Simpson, L. E., Soetjoadi, I., Whitlock, K. J., & DiLillo, D. (2024, September). What’s the main event? Discrepancies in PTSD symptom measurement in interpersonal violence research. Poster presented at the 40th annual meeting for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Boston, MA.
Simpson, L. E., Messman, T. L., Gratz, K. L., & DiLillo, D. (2024, June). Does emotion dysregulation mediate associations between women’s experiences of intimate partner violence and later alcohol and substance use? Poster presented at the 47th annual meeting for the Research Society on Alcohol, Minneapolis, MN.
Simpson, L. E., Kumar, S. A., Brockdorf, A. N., Brock, R. L., Messman, T. L., Gratz, K. L., & DiLillo, D. (2023, November). A longitudinal investigation of the cumulative impact of recurrent intimate partner violence experiences on emotion dysregulation. Poster presented at the 57th annual convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Seattle, WA.
Simpson, L. E., Kumar, S. A., Brockdorf, A. N., Messman, T. L., Gratz, K. L., & DiLillo, D. (2022, November). The cumulative impact of intimate partner violence experiences on emotion dysregulation. Poster presented at the 56th annual convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
Simpson, L. E. & Kneeland, E. T. (2021, November). Beliefs about emotion malleability and the causes of depression influence perceptions of depression among individuals with depressive symptoms. Poster presented at the 55th annual convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New Orleans, LA (virtual).
Simpson, L. E., Waite, E., & Dixon-Gordon, K. (2021, November). Emotion reactivity and regulation: Influence of lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder on responses to a negative mood induction in individuals with borderline personality disorder. Poster presented at the 55thannual convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New Orleans, LA (virtual).
Simpson, L. E., Raudales, A. M., Reyes, M. E., Sullivan, T. P., & Weiss, N. H. (2021, November). The roles of negative and positive emotion dysregulation in the relationship between intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Poster presented at the 37thannual convention for the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (virtual).