She has been conducting inent of adolescent romantic relationships and the impact of social media on dating

Pages’ research interests stem around the role that humor plays in mental health and close relationships, and Vornlocher hopes to conduct research on positive psychology and emotion regulation

Romance can be part of the college social experience, and it has looked very different this year. Social distancing and a lack of public social events have been challenging worldwide, but especially on college campuses that are used to large social outings like sporting events and concerts. Adolescents and young adults have experienced disproportionally worse mental health outcomes since the beginning of COVID-19.

All is not bleak romantically, however, as dating apps have been skyrocketing in popularity, with the Match Group reporting that across its 45 apps, such as Match, Hinge and Tinder, use has increased by 30% since . A very different Valentine’s Dayposite photo courtesy of images from Unsplash. Download Full Image

Thao Ha is an expert on relationships and transitions within the adolescent and young adult life cycle, and director of the Heart Lab at Arizona State University. Ha is a recent recipient of the rising star award from the Association for Psychological Science for promising young faculty in the field of psychology and the Young Scientist Award from the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.

This spring, she is also teaching the Navigating Romantic Relationships course for undergraduate students and the Romantic Relationships in Development course for graduate students and has been creating new and exciting ways for her class to understand the material.

“I was searching for new ways to engage students in the course materials,” said Ha. “So I decided that it would be fun to have students compete to write a featured op-ed for ASU on the subject of Valentine’s Day. Continue Reading