(Alannah) Shelby Rivers, Ph.D.

Contact

arivers1@twu.edu
940-898-2322
CFO 803

Biography

Dr. (Alannah) Shelby Rivers earned her Bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan College, a small women’s college in Georgia, before going on to complete her Master’s and PhD at Baylor University. At Baylor, she worked with Dr. Keith Sanford on projects examining the interplay between interpersonal relationships and mental and physical health. Her dissertation focused on how relationships with close others (e.g., partners) and medical professionals led to changes in treatment attitudes and adherence over time for individuals with hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes. From there, she became a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Family Intervention Science at Drexel University, where she collaborated with city agencies, school screening programs, and hospitals and other treatment centers to examine the impact of social and familial context on well-being outcomes for high-risk adolescents and adults. She joined the Texas Woman’s University faculty in 2022 where she leads the SHIRE (Studying Health and Interpersonal Relationship Experiences) lab and teaches courses on health psychology and related topics.

Education

Ph.D., Baylor University
M.A., Baylor University
B.A., Wesleyan College

Research Interests

Close Relationships; Physical and Mental Health; Psychological Assessments and Psychometrics; Healthcare Access and Barriers to Care; Health Disparities; Treatment Attitudes, Decision-Making, and Adherence; Patient-Practitioner Relationships; Attachment

Latest Articles

Coping with Type 2 Diabetes: Commonly used strategies associated with mental wellbeing and treatment engagement
Journal of Health Psychology (2024)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Juliet Adams, Rachel Morrison, Audrey Randall, Autumn Sanders

Evaluating Attachment-Based Family Therapy in residential treatment in the United States: Does adolescents' increased attachment security to caregivers lead to decreases in depressive symptoms?
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health (2024)
Guy Diamond, Alannah S Rivers, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Jody Russon, Michael Roeske

Can research on family factors in youth psychiatric residential treatment programs inform efforts to implement family-centered care?
The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families (2024)
Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Michael Roeske, Guy Diamond

Validation of the Client Satisfaction Scale for youth in residential psychiatric care
Residential Treatment for Children & Youth (2024)
Linda Ruan-Iu, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Guy Diamond, Doug Chod

Treatment readiness in psychiatric residential care for adolescents
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research (2024)
Guy Diamond, Linda Ruan-Iu, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Alannah S Rivers, Guy Weissinger

Attachment to parental figures in emerging adults from Brazil, India, and Nigeria: Associations with anxiety and depressive symptoms
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2024)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Guy Weissinger, Nicole K Watkins, Linda Ruan-Iu

Validation of the parent report Behavioral Health Screen among elementary school children: A look at internalizing disorders and sleep
Psychology in the Schools (2023)
Linda Ruan-Iu, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Alannah Rivers, Tita Atte, Allen Tien

Differentiating between youth with a history of suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts
School Mental Health (2023)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Tita Atte, Perri Rosen, Matt Wintersteen

Parent experiences during and after adolescent suicide crisis: A qualitative study
International Journal of Mental Health Nursing (2023)
Guy M Weissinger, Lili Evans, Catherine Van Fossen, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Linda Ruan-Iu

Attachment-Based Family Therapy versus Non-Directive Supportive Therapy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning adolescents with depression and suicidal ideation: An exploratory study
Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior (2023)
Jody Russon, Caroline Abbott, Bora Jin, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Payne Winston-Lindeboom

Development of a new measure of encounters with healthcare barriers: The Commonly Experienced Healthcare Barriers Index
Psychological Assessment (2023)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford, Morgan Brewington, Ashley Buchanan

The challenges of assessing anxiety symptoms for adolescents and young adults in residential treatment: The BHS-Anxiety and the GAD-7 scales
Residential Treatment for Children & Youth (2023)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Linda Ruan-Iu, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Guy Diamond

Find, remind, blind? Support as a context for the adaptive nature of gratitude
Journal of Positive Psychology, The (2022)
Amber Cazzell, Jo-Ann Tsang, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Juliette L Ratchford, Sarah Schnitker

Maternal and paternal attachment in high-risk adolescents: Unique and interactive associations with internalizing symptoms
Journal of Family Psychology (2022)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Guy Bosmans, Ingrid Piovanetti Rivera, Linda Ruan-Iu, Guy Diamond

Social relationships, stress, and treatment adherence perceptions in Type 2 diabetes and hypertension: Between-person, within-person, and compositional associations
Psychology & Health (2022)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Validation of a parent report on externalizing symptoms scale: A downward extension of the Behavioral Health Screen
School Psychology (2022)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Linda Ruan-Iu, Tita Atte, Allen Tien

Suicide risk screening in the school environment: Family factors and profiles
Children and Youth Services Review (2022)
Guy Weissinger, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Tita Atte, Guy S Diamond

Positive exchanges buffer negative exchanges: Associations with marital satisfaction among US mixed-sex couples
Journal of Family Psychology (2022)
Amber Cazzell, Alannah S Rivers, Keith Sanford, Sarah Schnitker

Identifying youth at risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors using the "p" factor in primary care: An exploratory study
Archives of Suicide Research (2022)
Linda Ruan-Iu, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Ran Barzilay, Tyler Moore, Allen Tien

Interpersonal Resilience Inventory: Assessing positive and negative interactions during hardships and COVID-19
Personal Relationships (2021)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Assessing attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention: Defining two attitudes crucial for understanding systemic and social variables associated with disparities
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2021)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Mona Clifton, Alexandra E Pizzuto, Ashley Buchanan, Keith Sanford

A special kind of stress: Assessing feelings of decisional distress for breast cancer treatment decisions
Patient Education and Counseling (2021)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Family and peer relationships in a residential youth sample: Examining unique, non-linear, and interactive associations with depression and suicide risk
Journal of Youth and Adolescence (2021)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Jody Russon, Payne Winston-Lindeboom, Linda Ruan-Iu, Guy Diamond

Treatment Adherence Perception Questionnaire: Assessing patient perceptions regarding their adherence to medical treatment plans
Psychological Assessment (2020)
Keith Sanford, Alannah Shelby Rivers

When we say "perceived support," what do we mean? Contexts and components of support among people with serious medical conditions
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2020)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Both trusting and understanding medical advice: Assessing patient alliance and confusion after medical consultations
Patient Education and Counseling (2020)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Attitudinal and social predictors of adherence to oral endocrine therapy: A psychometrically-informed model
Journal of Health Psychology (2020)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford, Gary Elkins, Janet S Carpenter, Kevin L Rand

Negative relationship behavior is more important than positive: Correlates of outcomes during stressful life events
Journal of Family Psychology (2018)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire: Assessing perceived alliance and experienced confusion during medical consultations
Psychological Assessment (2018)
Keith Sanford, Alannah Shelby Rivers, Tara L Braun, Kelly P Schultz, Edward P Buchanan

The Parting Parent Concern Inventory: Parents' appraisals correlate with divorced family functioning
Journal of Family Psychology (2017)
Keith Sanford, Alannah Shelby Rivers

Chapters

Family Environment Scale
in Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy | Springer (2018)
Alannah Shelby Rivers, Keith Sanford

Current Projects

Relationship Self-Efficacy: With undergraduate and graduate researchers at the SHIRE lab. Key goals: examining and developing an assessment of relationship self-efficacy in multiple types of relationships (e.g., friendships) for use in future projects, including a developing collaboration about cultural differences in forgiveness motives.

Barriers to Healthcare Access: With undergraduate researchers at the SHIRE lab. Key goals: understanding key resources (individual, interpersonal, community) used to navigate barriers to healthcare access (affordability, accessi

Newport Healthcare Projects: With Newport Healthcare and other collaborators. Key goals: exploring social and other predictors of psychological symptoms of high-risk adolescents and young adults in a treatment center, including the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ adolescents, the role of parental attachment for emerging adults, and multiple domains of functioning.

Externally Funded Projects

Maternal and Paternal Attachment in a Cross-Cultural Sample
BeSample | $250.00 | 2023
Role: Principal Investigator

Maternal and Paternal Attachment in a Cross-Cultural Sample
Toloka AI | $500.00 | 2022
Role: Principal Investigator

Internally Funded Projects

Relationship Self-Efficacy in Multiple Close Relationships
GOV-Texas Woman's University | $500.00 | 2024
Research Grant

Summer Research Funding
College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Woman's University | $4,730.00 | 2023
Research Grant

Professional Affiliations

• International Association of Relationship Research
• Society for Personality and Social Psychology
• Society for the Teaching of Psychology