My program of research seeks to understand and address co-occurring epidemics, such as stigma-related stress (e.g., heterosexism, racism, sexism, cissexism), trauma exposure, hazardous drinking, and PTSD, surrounding sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations, with a focus on sexual minority women (SMW) and gender-diverse people.

Several ongoing projects involve: (1) identifying multilevel (e.g., individual, social, structural) determinants of sexual and gender identity disparities in alcohol misuse and poor mental health; (2) guiding evidence-based intervention development, delivery, and implementation to ameliorate alcohol misuse and mental health comorbidities among trauma-exposed SGM people; and (3) determining help-seeking barriers and facilitators among trauma-exposed SGM populations living in high-stigma and low-resource settings, including Central New York.

Undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning more about this work or joining my research team are encouraged to contact me at jrscheer@syr.edu.

NIH/NIAAA K01AA028239 (PI: Scheer). “Testing a biopsychosocial model of violence exposure, minority stressors, and hazardous drinking among sexual minority women (SMW).” Consistent with the NIAAA’s research priorities, the K01 will provide major advances in understanding biopsychosocial mechanisms (e.g., minority stressors, physiological reactivity, PTSD) and moderators (e.g., race/ethnicity) influencing the heterogeneity in hazardous drinking among SMW as well as the role that these mechanisms and moderators might play in SMW’s differential need for and response to treatment. Findings from this study will inform current epidemiologic, etiologic, and clinical treatment models of trauma-exposed sexual minority women’s health. Role: Principal Investigator

Syracuse University Collaboration for Unprecedented Success and Excellence (CUSE) Grant Program SD-6-2021 (PI: Scheer). “A socioecological approach to understanding formal help-seeking barriers and facilitators among victimized sexual and gender minority people.” In response to limited research on drivers of trauma-exposed SGM people’s barriers and facilitators to accessing formal services, this community-based study strives to 1) understand SGM people’s help-seeking barriers and facilitators across multiple ecological levels and 2) identify contextual factors that contribute to whether and how victimized SGM people make use of local violence-related programming. Findings from this study will inform an NIH R21 grant that uses a Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness Implementation design to deliver culturally tailored Motivational Interviewing to trauma-exposed SGM people. Role: Principal Investigator

NIH/NIDA R24DA051988 (PI: Batchelder). “Examining sexual minority engagement in recovery community centers.” Findings from this project will characterize the gay, lesbian, and bisexual identified individuals utilizing recovery community centers (RCCs), and identify perceived facilitators, barriers, and satisfaction with RCC utilization as well as to other forms of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders treatment among sexual minorities. Role: Co-Investigator

APA/APF Walter Katkovsky Research Grants (PI: Scheer). “Expressive writing therapy to reduce PTSD symptoms and hazardous drinking among trauma-exposed sexual minority women: A randomized controlled trial.” This study will assess the impact of the first tailored online expressive writing intervention to reduce PTSD symptoms and hazardous drinking among sexual minority women who have experienced trauma. Findings from this award will increase the clinical relevance of personalized technology-delivered treatments and inform studies using computational text analysis to guide low-threshold treatments for this population. Role: Principal Investigator

2022 ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award – Health Disparities/Equity (PI: Scheer). “Tailored online expressive writing interventions to reduce PTSD and hazardous drinking among trauma-exposed sexual minority women: A randomized controlled trial.” This study draws upon NIH’s Stage Model for Intervention Development to develop (Stage IA) and test (Stage IB) a randomized controlled trial to compare an expressive writing treatment condition to an active control condition among a national sample of 200 racially diverse trauma-exposed sexual minority women at risk of PTSD and hazardous drinking. We will also examine (Stage II) expressive writing treatments’ mechanisms of action in reducing PTSD symptoms and hazardous drinking compared to an attention control. Role: Principal Investigator

Yale Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies. (PI: Jackson). “Border identity stress among bisexual, multiracial, and gender non-binary populations.” This study seeks to identify and study a new form of minority stress: border identity stress (i.e., the unique mental strain caused by holding an identity that transgresses two binary groups such as bisexual, multiracial, and gender nonbinary identities) using cross-sectional and ecological momentary assessment methodology. Role: Co-Investigator

Publications: Please see my full and up-to-date publication lists via my profiles on Google Scholar, NCBI, and ResearchGate.

Cascalheira, C. J., Hamdi, S. M., Scheer, J. R., Saha, K., Boubrahimi, S. F., & De Choudhury, M. (2022). Classifying minority stress disclosure on social media with bidirectional long short-term memory. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, 16, 1373–1377.

Helminen, E. C., Cascalheira, C. J., Shaw, T. J., Zollweg, S., Hughes, T. L., & Scheer, J. R. (2022). A latent class analysis of tailored substance use treatment programs: Implications for treating syndemic conditions facing sexual and gender minority populations. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. DOI:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109550

Shaw, T. J., Jakubiak, B. K., & Scheer, J. R. (in press). Support-seeking and active coping mitigate the association between post-trauma symptom severity and attachment insecurity in a community sample of trauma survivors. Traumatology.

Edwards, K. M., Scheer, J. R., & Mauer, V. (in press). Promoting resilience among sexual and gender minority youth through mentoring: A systematic review. School Social Work Journal.

Helminen, C. E., Ducarb, D. M., Scheer, J. R., Parkec, K. R., Mortona, M. L., & Felver, J. C. (in press). Self-compassion, minority stress, and mental health in sexual and gender minority populations: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice.

Ybarra, M. L., Goodman, K., Saewyc, E., Scheer, J. R., & Stroem, I. F. (2022). Youth characteristics associated with sexual violence perpetration among transgender boys and girls, cisgender boys and girls, and non-binary youth. JAMA Network Open, 5(6), e2215863-e2215863.

Scheer, J. R., Clark, K. A., McConocha, E., Wang, K., & Pachankis, J. E. (2022). Toward cognitive-behavioral therapy for sexual minority women: Voices from stakeholders and community members. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpra.2022.02.019

Scheer, J. R., Batchelder, A. W., Bochicchio, L. A., Kidd, J. D., & Hughes, T. L. (in press). Alcohol use, behavioral and mental health help-seeking, and treatment satisfaction among sexual minority women. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Helminen, E. C., Scheer, J. R., Edwards, K. M., & Felver, J. C. (2022). Adverse childhood experiences exacerbate the association between day-to-day discrimination and mental health symptomatology in undergraduate students. Journal of Affective Disorders, 297, 338-347. DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.058

Helminen, E. C., Scheer, J. R., Jackson, S. D., Brisbin, C. D., Batchelder, A. W., Cascalheira, C., & Sullivan, T. P. (2021). PTSD symptoms and hazardous drinking indicators among trauma-exposed sexual minority women during heightened societal stress. Behavioral Medicine. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2021.2006132

Scheer, J. R., Clark, K. A., Talan, A., Cabral, C., Pachankis, J. E., & Rendina, H.J. (2021). Longitudinal associations between childhood sexual abuse-related PTSD symptoms and suicidal ideation among sexual minority men. Child Abuse & Neglect. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105353

Scheer, J. R., Edwards, K. M., Helminen, E. C., & Watson, R. J. (in press). Victimization typologies among a large national sample of sexual and gender minority adolescents. LGBT Health.

Scheer, J. R., Edwards, K. M., Sheinfil, A. Z., Dalton, M. R., Firkey, M. K., & Watson, R. J. (2021). Sexual and physical victimization, substance use, and mental health among sexual and gender minority youth: The role of self-concept factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advanced online publication. DOI: 10.1177/0886260521103586.

Helminen, E. C., Scheer, J. R., Felver, J. C. (2021). Gender differences in the associations between mindfulness, self-compassion, and perceived stress reactivity. Mindfulness. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1007/s12671-021-01672-y.

Wang, K., Maiolatesi, A. J., Burton, C., Scheer, J. R., & Pachankis, J. E. (2021). Emotion regulation in context: Expressive flexibility as a stigma coping resource for sexual minority men. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1037/sgd0000503.

Scheer, J. R., Antebi-Gruszka, N., & Sullivan, T. (2021). Physical and sexual victimization class membership and alcohol misuse and consequences among sexual minority and heterosexual female youth. Psychology of Violence, 11(5), 434-444.

Scheer, J. R., Batchelder, A. W., Wang, K., & Pachankis, J. E. (2021). Mental health, alcohol use, and substance use correlates of sexism among a sample of gender diverse sexual minority women. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication. DOI:10.1037/sgd0000477.

Edwards, K. M., Scheer, J. R., Littleton, H., Staats, N. (2021). Preventing adverse childhood experiences among sexual and gender minority youth: A call to action. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1080/19359705.2021.1932662.

Antebi-Gruszka, N., & Scheer, J. R. (2021). Associations between trauma-informed care components and multiple health and psychosocial risks among LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner violence. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 43(2), 139-156.

Scheer, J. R., Clark, K. A., Maiolatesi, A. J., & Pachankis, J. E. (2021). Syndemic profiles and sexual minority men’s HIV-risk behavior: A latent class analysis. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1007/s10508-020-01850-4.

Scheer, J. R., & Poteat, V. P (2021). Trauma-informed care, mobilizing mechanisms, and health among LGBTQ intimate partner violence survivors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(13-14), 6670-6692.

Scheer, J. R., Pachankis, J. E., & Bränström, R. (2020). Gender-based structural stigma and intimate partner violence across 28 countries: A population-based study of women across sexual orientation, immigration status, and socioeconomic status. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1177/0886260520976212.

Pachankis, J. E., McConocha, E. M., Clark, K. A., Wang, K., Behari, K., Fetzner, B. K., Brisbin, C. D., Scheer, J. R., & Lehavot, K. (2020). A transdiagnostic minority stress intervention for sexual minority women’s depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(7), 613-630.

Scheer, J. R., & Pachankis, J. E. (2019). Psychosocial syndemic risks of chronic physical health problems among LGBTQ individuals. LGBT Health, 6(8), 377-385.

Scheer, J. R., McConocha, E., Behari, K., & Pachankis, J. E. (2019). Sexual violence as a mediator of sexual orientation disparities in alcohol use, suicidality, and sexual-risk behavior among female youth. Psychology & Sexuality, 12(1-2), 37-51.

Scheer, J. R., & Mereish, E. H. (2019). Intimate partner violence and illicit substance use among sexual and gender minority youth: The protective role of cognitive reappraisal. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1177/0886260519881001.

Scheer, J. R., & Baams, L. (2019). Help-seeking patterns among LGBTQ young adults with intimate partner violence exposure. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1-20. Advanced online publication. DOI:10.1177/0886260519848785.

Scheer, J. R., & Antebi-Gruszka, N. (2019). A psychosocial risk model of potentially traumatic events and sexual risk behavior among LGBTQ individuals. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 20(5), 603-618.

Scheer, J. R., Woulfe, J. M., & Goodman, L. A. (2019). Psychometric validation of the identity abuse scale among LGBTQ individuals. Journal of Community Psychology, 47(2), 371-384.

Scheer, J. R., Harney, P., Esposito, J., & Woulfe, J. M. (2019). Self-reported mental and physical health symptoms among LGBTQ individuals with potentially traumatic events exposure: The role of shame. Psychology of Violence, 10(2), 131-142.