• Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Commonwealth of Virginia
• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Virginia
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Medical University of South Carolina
  • Predoctoral Internship, Medical University of Georgia
• M.A., Psychology, University of Virginia
• B.A., Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Szwedo is broadly interested in understanding how adolescent social relationships with family members, friends, and romantic partners contribute to meaningful qualities of future relationships, individual social and emotional adjustment, and physical health. He works to address questions in these domains by utilizing data from an ongoing study following a cohort of participants from their early adolescence into mid-life. Dr. Szwedo also has an emerging interest in developing and implementing interventions to help college students successfully navigate their experiences. Recent topics of interest include:

• Romantic relationship development
• Emotion regulation, coping, resilience
• Young adult independence and success
• Attachment in adolescence and young adulthood
• Social and relational competence
• Online social networking behavior
• Social predictors of physical health
• Intervention development

* Indicates a JMU student author

Shah, E.*, Szwedo, D.E., & Allen, J.P. (2023). Parental autonomy restricting behaviors during adolescence as predictors of dependency on parents in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, (11)1 15-31.

Szwedo, D.E., Stern, J., Kansky, J., Lis, E.*, & Allen, J.P. (2022). Parent and romantic partner behaviors during adolescence as predictors of young adult positive personality, relational competence, and functional independence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 1926-1943.

*Chandra, C.M., Szwedo, D.E., Tan, J., Narr, R., & Allen, J.P. (2020). Interactions between anxiety subtypes, personality characteristics, and emotional regulation skills as predictors of future career outcomes. Journal of Adolescence, 80, 157-172.

Allen, J.P., Narr, R.K., Kansky, J., & Szwedo, D.E. (2020). Adolescent peer relationship qualities as predictors of long-term romantic satisfaction. Child Development, 91(1), 327-340.

Mikami, A. Y., Szwedo, D. E., Khalis, A., Jia, M., & Na, J. J. (2019). Online social interactions predict academic and emotional adjustment in the transition to university. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29(1), 210-224.

*Miles, M. M., Szwedo, D. E., & Allen, J.P. (2018). Learning to cope with anxiety: Long-term links from adolescence to adult career satisfaction. Journal of Adolescence (64).

Szwedo, D.E., Hessel, E.T., Loeb, E.L., Hafen, C.A., & Allen, J.P. (2017). Adolescent support seeking as a path to adult functional independence. Developmental Psychology (53), 949-961.

Szwedo, D.E., Hessel, E.T., & Allen, J.P. (2017). Supportive romantic relationships as predictors of resilience against early adolescent maternal negativity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence (45), 554-565.