Loyola University Chicago

Department of Psychology

Amy Bohnert


 
Title: Professor, Clinical & Developmental Psychology
Office: 215 Coffey Hall
Phone: 773-508-2961

Background Information
Post-Doctorate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University
Ph.D., Penn State University
Masters, Penn State University
Bachelors, University of Michigan
 
Additional Information
 
Classes Taught: 
Social Development
Wellness Center Practicum
Child Psychopathology
General Psychology
Psychological Perspectives on the Experience of Globalization
 
 
Research Interests:
Dr. Bohnert is a Professor in Clinical and Developmental Psychology. Her work focuses on how various contexts may promote better outcomes among youth. Guiding themes of her research are emphasizing developmental transitions as points of reorganization, as well as conducting translatable work that can reduce health disparities among youth. Through collaborations across Chicago and the country, she utilizes principles of developmental science to examine health and well-being in children and adolescents, including several papers that characterize sleep and physical activity among girls during early adolescence. She also serves as a program evaluation consultant for the past 20 years designing and conducting multi-method evaluations to examine the effectiveness of after-school and summer programs, green schoolyards, as well as community-based initiatives to improve health and well-being among youth and families.
 
 
Selected Publications:
 
Rea, E.M., Nicholson, L.M., Mead, M.P., Egbert, A.H. & Bohnert, A.M. (In press). Daily relations between nap occurrence, duration, and timing and nocturnal sleep patterns in college students. Sleep Health.
 
Schrepf, A., Hellman, K., Bohnert, A. M., Williams, D. A. & Tu, F. F. (2022). Generalized sensory sensitivity is associated with comorbid pain symptoms: A replication study in women with dysmenorrhea. Pain. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002676. PMID 35543649. Advance online publication.
 
Egbert, A.H., Stockdale, L.A., Nicholson, L., Sroka, A., Szpak, V., Morrison, R.G., Silton, R., & Bohnert, A.M. (2022). Delicious and difficult to resist?: Inhibitory control differs after exposure to food and non-food commercials. Appetite, 173, 105993. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.105993.
 
Loren, D. M., Rea, E. M., Harber, K. A., & Bohnert, A. M. (2022). Testing an ecological model of obesity among children: Identifying targets for intervention. Health Psychology, 41(3), 193-203. doi: 10.1037/hea0001163.
 
Nicholson, L., Bohnert, A.M., & Crowley S. J. (2022). A developmental perspective on sleep consistency: Early childhood through emerging adulthood. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 1-20.  doi: 10.1080/15402002.2021.2024192. Advance online publication.
 
Bohnert, A.M., Nicholson, L.M., Mertz, L., Bates, C.R., & Gerstein, D. (2021). Green schoolyard renovations in low-income urban neighborhoods: Benefits to students, schools, and the surrounding community. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12559. PMID: 34713911. Advance online publication. 
 
Bates, C. R., Nicholson, L. M., Rea, E. M., Hagy, H. A., & Bohnert, A. M. (2021). Life interrupted: Family routines buffer stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10826-021-02063-6.
 
Anderson, N. A., Huguenel, B. M., Bohnert, A.M., & Conley, C. S. (2021). Organized activity involvement across the transition to college: Multiple dimensions predicting adjustment. Journal of College Orientation, Transition, and Retention, 28(1). doi: 10.24926/jcotr.v28i1.3597.
 
Brazendale, K., Beets, M.W., Armstrong, B., Weaver, R.G., Hunt, E.T., Pate, R.R., Brusseau T.A., Bohnert, A.M., Olds, T., Tassitano, R.M., Tenorio, M.C.M., Garcia, J., Andersen, L.B., Davey, R., Hallal, P.C., Jago, R., Kolle, E., Kriemler, S., Kristensen, P.L., Kwon, S., Puder, J.J., Salmon, J., Sardinha, L.B., van Sluijs, E.M.F. & on behalf of the ICAD collaborators (2021). Children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on weekdays versus weekend days: A multi-country analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18 doi: 10.1186/s12966-021-01095-x.
 
Gerstein, D. E., Bates, C., & Bohnert, A.M. (2021). Evaluating a green schoolyard transformation: A protocol using the RE-AIM framework. Children, Youth and Environments, 31, 187-198.
 
Nicholson, L., McLeod Loren, D., Reifenberg, A., Beets, M., & Bohnert, A.M. (2021). School as a protective setting for excess weight gain and child obesity: A meta-analysis. Journal of School Health, 19-28. doi: 10.1111/josh.12972. Epub 2020 Nov 5.
 
Egbert, A.H. Nicholson, L., Sroka, A., Silton, R., & Bohnert, A.M. (2020). Binge eating, but not dietary restraint, moderates the association between unhealthy food marketing exposure and sugary food consumption. Eating Behaviors. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2020.101401.
 
Nicholson, L., Egbert, A.H., Moreno, J.P., & Bohnert, A.M. (2020). Variability of sleep and relations to body weight among first year college students. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1007/s12529-020-09888-3.
 
Bohnert, A.M., Loren, D. M., & Miller, A. (2020). Examining childhood obesity through the lens of developmental psychopathology: Framing the issues to guide best practices in research and intervention. American Psychologist, 75(2), 163-177. doi: 10.1037/amp0000581.
 
Egbert, A.H., Creber, C., Loren, D.M., & Bohnert, A.M. (2019). Executive function and dietary intake in youth: A systematic review of the literature. Appetite, 139, 197-212. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.04.013.
 
Bates, C., Bohnert, A., Buscemi, J., Vandell, D. L., Lee, K. T. H., & Bryant, F. B. (2019). Family entropy: Understanding the organization of the family home environment and impact on child health behaviors and weight. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 9, 413-421. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibz042.
 
Egbert, A., Bohnert, A., Bates, C., McLeod, D., Creber, C., Rosania, K., Ward, A., Dugas, L. & Silton, R. (2019). The heat is on: A mixed-method examination of eating behavior and executive functions among low-income minority girls during summertime. Journal of Early Adolescence, 39(5), 625 –641. doi: 10.1177/0272431618780432.
 
Loren, D. M., Bohnert, A. M. & DeCarlo Santiago, C. (2019). Measures of acculturation and relations to weight among Mexican-origin youth. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 6(2), 364-370. doi: 10.1007/s40615-018-00533-0.
 
Recent Funding:
 
Innovation Grant          5/1/21 - 4/30/22          $31,935
Northshore University Health Systems
The Role of Sleep Dysregulation on the Dysmenorrhea among Adolescents
Principal Investigator
Through a collaboration with the NIH-funded EMPATHY project at NorthShore University Health Systems, this study will examine objective measures of sleep and physical activity and their relation to pain across menarche and two years follow-up in a sample of adolescent girls.
 
Loyola Research Support Award          1/1/20 - 12/31/22          $10,000
Loyola University Chicago
Fluctuations in Weight-Related Behaviors across the Adolescent Transition
Principal Investigator
Through a collaboration with the NIH-funded EMPATHY project at NorthShore University Health Systems, this study will examine objective measures of sleep and physical activity and their relation to BMI across the menarchal transition in a sample of adolescent girls.
 
Evaluation of After-School Programming          8/1/13 - 7/31/2022          $90,400
Girls in the Game
Making a Difference in the Lives of Chicago Girls
Principal Investigator
Through an ongoing partnership with a community-based program, Girls in the Game (GIG), this project seeks to evaluate the effect of an after-school program on health, well-being, and social and leadership skills among low-income, minority girls.