Marie Good

Biography

Marie started working at Redeemer in July of 2014. She is a developmental psychologist who is fascinated by the role that spiritual and religious beliefs play in the social, emotional, and physical well-being of adolescents and young adults. In her doctoral work in Brock University’s Adolescent Development Lab, she focused examining on the difference between “religiosity” and “spirituality”, particularly in terms of how they are differentially related to emotional well-being and engagement in risky activities (e.g., substance use). Her doctoral finding that religiosity (but not spirituality) tended to predict lower engagement in alcohol use, led to a postdoctoral fellowship in the Social Neuroscience Lab at the University of Toronto, where she studied cognitive and neural mechanisms that may help explain why religious adolescents drink less than their non-religious peers. She has published her findings in journals such as Developmental Psychology, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Religion Brain and Behavior, and Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Research Interest

Spiritual and religious development, particularly among adolescents and emerging adults; The differential roles of spirituality versus religion in the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents and emerging adults; Risk-taking and mental health in adolescents and emerging adults.