Geoffrey Ream

Biography

Geoffrey Ream completed Ph.D., Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2005) MA, Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2001) BA: Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (1999).Editorial Board member, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, April 2005-present Consultant to Bruce Johnson, Ph.D. and Eloise Dunlap, Ph.D., NDRI, July 2005-February 2008 Analyzed quantitative data gathered in a mixed-methods qualitative/ethnographic and questionnaire study of New York City marijuana users ages 18 through 24 for publication and to supplement a competing continuation grant application. Project: Marijuana/Blunts: Use, Subcultures, and Markets, funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant 5R01 DA 013690-04. Peer reviewer for Developmental Psychology, American Journal of Education, Archives of Sexual Behavior, Journal of Adolescent Research, National Multicultural Conference & Summit II (Fall 2000), Personal Relationships, The Sociological Quarterly, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of Early Adolescence, Journal of Adolescence, Child & Adolescent Mental Health, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Journal of Family Psychology, Addiction, Substance Use and Misuse, Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, Malyon-Smith scholarship awarded by Division 44 of the American Psychological Association. New Scholar Reviewer, Personal Relationships, March 2003-August 2005 No longer a “new scholar” as of August 2005. Research assistant to Rachel Dunifon, Ph.D. and Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Ph.D., January-December 2003 Performed secondary analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement (PSID-CDS) using census geocode data for a project on neighborhood effects on youth development. Project: Social Context and Youth Competence: Assessing Pathways of Influence of Community Resources, funded by W. T. Grant Foundation. Consultant to Caitlin Ryan, Ph.D., Jan. 2001 - Mar. 2001 Assisted with literature review for a project on LGBT youth and faith-based organizations. Board Secretary of Out Astoria, Astoria, NY, January 2014 - Present Maintained records of in-person and online communications of this prominent LGBT social and community organization founded in 2006. Also helped with the careful management that is necessary for an organization like Out Astoria to maintain its constructive relationships with local LGBT-owned and other businesses. Volunteer & Board Vice President, New Alternatives for Homeless LGBT Youth, NYC, Nov. 2008-Apr. 2012 Providing technical assistance with evaluation, grant writing, record-keeping, and curriculum development for this program which aims to provide life skills training, psychoeducation, and developmental asset building among homeless LGBT youth ages 18-24. Also assisted in creating a Social Work internship position with this organization for an Adelphi student beginning Spring 2011. New Alternatives is based in Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan and is the vision of Kate Barnhart, activist and former director of Metropolitan Community Church Homeless Youth Services. The organization eventually hopes to provide job training and employment opportunities for homeless LGBT youth. Consultant to Trinity Place Shelter, New York, NY, November 2007-August 2012 Wrote statement of need and evaluation plan for this faith-based LGBT youth shelter’s first application for funding from the AIDS Institute of the New York State Department of Health, which was funded at about $100,000. Also helped obtain its first funding from the Paul Rapoport Foundation. Collaborated with Pastor Heidi Neumark of Trinity Lutheran Church of NYC and Kevin Lotz, LCSW, CASAC, Trinity Place’s program director. Attended the Empire State Pride Agenda 2009 Technical Assistance Conference on February 25, 2009 in Albany, NY, on behalf of Trinity Place. Working with Nicholas Forge, Trinity Place volunteer coordinator and Fordham University doctoral student, created a rigorous protocol for evaluating client outcomes that will be the first of its kind among homeless LGBT youth services. Consultant to Sylvia’s Place Shelter, New York, NY, Fall 2005–Spring 2009 Wrote evaluation plan for this LGBT youth shelter’s application for competing continuation of their grant for LGBT-specific social services from the AIDS institute of the New York State Department of Health, which was funded at about $100,000. Also helped obtain continuing funding from the Paul Rapoport Foundation. Collaborated with Kate Barnhart, then director of Metropolitan Community Church of NYC’s Homeless Youth Services. Created intake forms, managed intake database, and compiled statistical reports based on intake data for public presentations and applications and reports to funding agencies. Used “entrée” with this community of service providers to conduct a qualitative interview study of thought processes about condoms among homeless LGBT youth. Consultant to Leadership Training Institute, Hempstead, NY, June 2007-April 2008 Working with Elizabeth Palley and Roger Levin, also of the Adelphi School of Social Work, and director Mel Jackson, to help fulfill this organization’s reporting and evaluation requirements for their Compassion Capital grant. Assembled existing data into a report and drafted measures for collection of additional, longitudinal data.

Research Interest

scholarship is framed by problem behavior theory of adolescence (PBT), as it was originally specified as “behavior that is socially defined as…undesirable by the norms of conventional society and the institutions of adult authority, and its occurrence usually elicits some kind of social control response” (Jessor & Jessor, 1977, p.83). Offering an alternative to a position of pathologizing and judgment, PBT questions the assumption that undesirable, unconventional, or non-normative behavior of youth is necessarily unhealthy, abnormal, disordered, immoral, psychopathological, and/or maladaptive to youths’ own contexts. PBT also questions the assumption that all efforts by conventional people and institutions to bring youth into line with the norms of conventional society are beneficial or even well-intentioned. Taken together with the fact that many problem behaviors actually have negative health consequences, it suggests that policy and practice interventions informed by conventional society’s ideological goals may work at cross-purposes to an authentic attempt to address the client population’s needs. I have addressed questions inspired by PBT in various substantive areas, including religion, sexuality, LGBT identity, homelessness, sexual risk behavior, substance use, and video games. My work challenges conventional ideological assumptions about client populations and suggests ways in which unconventional status or behavior may be better understood by practitioners, policymakers, or members of the client population themselves. My work has implications, direct or indirect, for more effective remediation of mental or physical health problems through better informed interventions. In addition to pursuing my own projects, I lend analytical support to other projects compatible with my aims as a way of building collaborative relationships, exercising my skills, and learning about new areas.