Jennifer Mezzapelle, PhD

Dr. Jennifer Mezzapelle is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Social Work. Her current research focuses on how intimate partner violence victims’ identities shape their victimization experiences, as well as how others perceive their victimization. Her other research interests include how people evaluate incidents of sexual harassment based on the identity of the harassment target and the nature of the harassment behavior, and how identity affects individuals’ risk for incurring work-related trauma. Dr. Mezzapelle earned her Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology and her M.A. in Psychology from the University at Albany, SUNY and her B.A. in Psychology from Fairfield University.

Degrees

Ph.D., Social and Personality Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY
M.A., Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY
B.A., Psychology, Fairfield University

Research Interests

Sexual harassment; intimate partner violence; stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination; work-related trauma

Select Publications

Shortland, N. D., Crayne, M. P., & Mezzapelle, J. L. (2025). Vicarious trauma via the observation of extremist atrocities: A rapid evidence assessment. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 26(5), 1097-1108. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241305359

Mezzapelle, J. L., & Reiman, A. (2025). (Mis)matching expectations: The effects of claimant gender identity and harassment form on perceptions of sexual harassment claims. European Journal of Social Psychology, 55(1), 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3122

Mezzapelle, J. L., & Reiman, A. (2024). Do sexual harassment claimants’ gender identity and race influence third-party observers’ assumptions about the harassment incident? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 48(4), 546-570. https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843241252658

Mezzapelle, J. L., & Reiman, A. (2023). How do non-Black U.S. college students think they would feel after committing a race-related interpersonal transgression? Race and Social Problems, 15, 474-489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-023-09392-9

Reiman, A., Ocasio, T. S., & Mezzapelle, J. L. (2023). How cisgender people define ‘transgender’ is associated with attitudes toward transgender people. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52, 991-1007.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02454-w

Mezzapelle, J. L., & Reiman, A. (2022). How do people perceive sexual harassment targeting transgender women, lesbians, and straight cisgender women? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28(3), 644-660. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000361