SPA Grants

Dissertation Grant | Student Research Grant | EISJ Grant

We are no longer accepting Grant applications for EISJ, Dissertation or Student Research Grants.  
Grant notifications have already be sent out. If you have not received your notification, please contact our office at info@personality.org.

SPA Dissertation and Research Grants will be evaluated on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on the following domains:

  • Overall Quality of the Proposal
    • Proposal is clear and well-written
    • Proposal provides a clear rationale for the project with appropriate citations
    • The method described in the proposal is clear and appropriate for the proposed project
  • Feasibility of the Project
    • The project is feasible based on the timeline and budget provided
  • Potential to Contribute to the Field of Personality Assessment
    • The proposed project will significantly contribute to the field of personality assessment and/or advance the field of personality assessment

 A successful proposal will be well-written, provide a clear and compelling rationale for the project, the methods described are clear and appropriate for the proposed project, the project is feasible within the time and budget proposed, and the project has the potential to significantly contribute to and/or advance the field of personality assessment. 


Dissertation Grant 

July 25, 2023 - October 22, 2023 (Extended Deadline)

The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) will be making grants to support dissertation research in the area of personality assessment. These awards of up to $800 dollars must have an approved dissertation proposal before applying for the grant. Although not required at time of application, to receive the grant, the student must hold an active student membership for the 2024 calendar year. It is expected that the findings of the dissertation will be presented at a forthcoming Annual Convention of SPA. 

  

2023 Dissertation Grant Winners
Ali Yunus Emre Akca When it is Fake and When it is Flawed: The Impact of Biases and Stereotypes in Professionals' Decision Making About Fabricated Symptoms 
Edleen De Jesus-Sanchez An Examination of MMPI-3 Score Patterns of Sex Trafficked Women
Alana Gallagher Hierarchical Structure of Post-traumatic Cognitions and Complex PTSD in Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence 
Callie Jowers Do Dimensions of Object Relations Mediate the Relationship between Pathological Traits, Defenses, and Coping? 
Julianne Lawson Killing Two Birds with One Phone: Attachment, Technology-Interference, Relationship Satisfaction within Daily Couple Interactions
Gillian Moloney Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the PAI-A Antisocial Features Scale
Kathleen Tully The Role of Narcissism in Instagram Consumption

2022 Dissertation Grant Winners
Mark Blanchard  Do Relatedness and Flourishing Predict Doctor-Patient Relationships and Healthcare Utilization?

Rachel Davenport 

 Using the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global to Evaluate the Impact of Parental Divorce on College Students' Interpersonal Functioning
Emily Leonard  An Examination of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) Profiles of International Saudi Arabian College Students
Kadie Lambardo   Exploring Personality Characteristics and Recidivism Risk Among Adult Male Sexual Offenders
Ilene Perez-Palen The Influence of Native Language on Thematic Apperception Test Assessment of Defenses in International Spanish-Speaking College Students
Courtney Saunders Differences in Socio-Cognitive Processes Among Individuals Exhibiting Characteristics of Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissism: A Multimethod Approach
Ethan Xiong Personality, Acculturation, and Religious Beliefs and Practices: A Comparative Study of Characteristics Associated to Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Services Among Hmong Americans and Non-Hmong Populations

2021 Dissertation Grant Winners
Christine Anerella Humor Use During Conflict in Close Relationships

Paula Floyd

Personality and Psychopathology Correlates of Institutional Misconduct among Juvenile Offenders 
Alana Fondren Assessing LGBTQ+ Community Connectedness, Postive Identity, and Mental Health Outcomes in Sexual Minority Emerging Adults
Savannah Grier Capturing the Interpersonal and Momentary Dynamics of Codependency in Dyadic Conflict
Emily O'Gorman Developmental Cascades from Early Childhood Attachment Security to Adolescent Level of Personality Functioning in a High-Risk Sample 
John Rucker Development and Evaluation of an Object Relations Measures for the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB)


Student Research Grant 

July 25, 2023 - October 22, 2023 (Extended Deadline)
The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) will be making grants to support all types of student research in the area of personality assessment. These awards of up to $500 dollars are open to undergraduate or graduate students in psychology or related fields. Although not required at time of application, to receive the grant, the student must hold an active student membership for the 2024 calendar year. It is expected that the findings of this research will be presented at a forthcoming Annual Convention of SPA.
 
2023 Student Research Grant Winners
Lauren Allen Roles of Informants' Well-Being in Evaluative Bias: Effects on Informant Ratings
Jen Ying Zhen Ang & Aakriti Prasai Understanding Counselor Trainee Experiences with the Wright-Constantine Structured Cultural Interview 
Matthew Chapman  A Qualitative Examination on Adult Male Sex Offenders and Their Adverse Childhood Experiences
Christine Hujing Interpersonal Projection of Right-Wing Authoritarianism 
Casey Lee Use of Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with Diverse Populations: Exploring Trainee Psychologists' Experiences
Paige MacQueen Associations between Preceiver Bias on Informant-Report Personality Measures and the Informant's Personal Attitudes toward Mental Illness
Courtney Phillips Examining the Predictive Power of Criterion A of the Alternative Model for Personality
Benjamin Poag The Invasive Workplace: Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Traits and Work-Related Technology Use
Tabea Springstein Measuring Emotion Regulation Success in Daily Life and Evaluating Nomothetic and Idiographic Associations with Strategies and Situations
  
2022 Student Research Grant Winners
Rachel Chavin Understanding How Different Personality Models Can Predict NSSI Tendencies 
Colette Delawalla  Assessing the UPPS-P Facets of Impulsivity Using the MMPI-3
Katherine Hein Negative Affect Changes, Emptiness, and Interpersonal Conflict Related to Binge Eating and Borderline Personality Traits
Callie Jowers Using the Rorschach to Assess Though Disorder: The Effect of the Examiner's Questions on Test Validity
Karen Kelley  Investigating the Transdiagnostic Potential of Rumination in Relation to Cluster B Personality Disorder Symptoms 
Whitney Ringwald  Identifying Risk Pathways between Multi-Rater Assessments of Big Five Personality Traits and Binge Drinking with Passive Sensing Technology 
Shannon Thomson  Differentiating Schizoid and Avoidant Personality Styles: The Role of the Self-Concept 
 
2021 Student Research Grant Winners
Mark Blanchard Health, Happiness, and Doctor-Patient Relationships: A Primary Care Study
Bailey Crittenden Experimental Validation of R-PAS Distorted Form Quality Variable
Kelci Davis Psychopathy Testing Bias in Sexual Orientation Minorities: A Slope-Intercept Bias Approach
Callie Jowers The Role of Conscious and Unconscious Coping within the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders 
Cory Knight Pscyhological Flexibility, the Alternative Model of Personality Disorder in the DSM-5, and the Five Factor Model: A Quantitative Analysis
Madeline Lenhausen Reference Group Processes in Personlity Assessment
Courtney Mason Facets of the Five Factor Model and Negative Thoughts Predicting Non-Suicidal Self-Injury
Jiwon Min Development of a Bried Personalized Mobile Intervention for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
Giulia Pascarella Evaluation of COVID-19 Emergency and Related Lockdown Policies Effects on the Normative Expectations for the Rorschach and Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) 
Armahn Rassuli  The Effects of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Gamers
Silas Sheridan Interpersonal Dependency from a Narrative Perspective
Tingyun Tseng Impact of Culture on Interpersonal Dependency Scored: A Comparsion of Second-Generation Taiwanese Immigrants and American Adults

EISJ Grant

December 8, 2023 - January 29, 2024

SPA is proud to announce the creation of the Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Research Grants. Although we welcome applications from all professional levels, we, in particular, welcome applications from students and early-career professionals. These grants, ranging anywhere from $500 to a maximum of $10,000, are meant to support research that advances equity, inclusion, and social justice research, as defined by our Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EISJ) track and key terminology for our convention. Although not required at time of application, to receive the grant, the applicant must hold an active SPA membership for the 2024 calendar year. It is expected that the findings of the research will be presented at a forthcoming Annual Convention of SPA.

Materials to be submitted on the application include: 

  • Project Proposal
  • Itemized Budget
  • Projected Timeline
  • Resume or CV

2024 Dissertation Grant Winners

Megan Airey

Megan Airey

Widener University

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(847)562-6943

Grant Winner

Anthony Battaglia

Anthony Battaglia

PhD Student, York University

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(416)671-1320

Grant Winner

Emily Bemis-Keir

Emily Bemis-Keir

University of Detroit Mercy

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(810)813-2333

Grant Winner

Rachel Suzanne Chavin

Rachel Suzanne Chavin

University of South Dakota

Grant Winner

Kelci Chezem Davis

Kelci Chezem Davis

Sam Houston State University

Grant Winner

Adrienne Eldridge

Adrienne Eldridge

Regent University

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(336)602-6255

Grant Winner

Leah Emery

Leah Emery

Doctoral Candidate, SUNY at Buffalo

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(406)697-5780

Grant Winner

Alexandra Leigh Halberstadt

Alexandra Leigh Halberstadt

Pennsylvania State University

Grant Winner

Hyungji Kim

Hyungji Kim

Long Island University-Brooklyn

Grant Winner

Savanna Parker

Savanna Parker

Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology

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(920)901-2234

Grant Winner

Camryn Sutton

Camryn Sutton

Alliant International University

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(550)307-9291

Grant Winner

2024 Student Research Grant Winners

Shakur Dennis

Shakur Dennis

Graduate Student, Oklahoma State University

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(703)622-4799

Grant Winner

Megan Alexis Keen

Megan Alexis Keen

Texas Tech University

Grant Winner

Abigail Kowalski

Abigail Kowalski

William James College

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(574)315-9150

Grant Winner

Morgan Maples

Morgan Maples

University of South Dakota

Grant Winner

Chloe O'Dell

Chloe O'Dell

Research Assistant, University of Southern Mississippi

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(785)766-5868

Grant Winner