Kristin Mickelson

College Catalyst

since 2025

Graduate College

Kristin D. Mickelson received her doctorate in social psychology from Carnegie Mellon University in 1995 and completed her postdoctoral training at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan and the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard School of Medicine. Prior to joining Arizona State University in 2014, she was an assistant and associate professor in the Departments of Psychology and Sociology at Kent State University. Currently, Mickelson is serving as Assistant Dean of Data Analytics & Graduate Program Performance in the Graduate College, as well as a Professor of Psychology in the School of Social & Behavioral Sciences.

Professor Mickelson’s research is interdisciplinary, with special emphases on social and health psychology. She utlilizes both sociological and psychological literature to inform her research questions. Mickelson’s scholarly work examines the role of stressors and psychosocial factors on relationship functioning and health. She has investigated how various dimensions of stressors affect social support processes, as well as the role of contextual factors such as socioeconomic status on the stress-social support-health relationship. Specifically, she is interested in the social distribution of social support processes and whether these can help to explain the differential vulnerability to life events. Her current research is focused on three areas: 1) gender differences in the risk and protective factors for postpartum distress in couples making the transition to parenthood; 2) race/ethnic differences in low birthweight and the role of discrimination and resilience; and 3) using social media as a source of coping and support.

Mickelson’s research has been widely cited and she has published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Sex Roles, Social Science and Medicine, and Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Her areas of teaching specialization include social psychology, interpersonal relationships, psychology of gender, social inequalities, multivariate statistics and supervision of undergraduate research experiences.