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Melissa Jones

Assistant Professor
Current Faculty

Research Areas

Adverse Childhood Experiences
Child Health & Well-Being
Gender, Deviance, & Crime
Incarceration

Biography

Dr. Jones’ research efforts center on exploring how exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other forms of trauma shape life outcomes across the life course and how these processes may vary by groups. To that end, her research focuses primarily on the associations between experiencing trauma and various health and behavioral outcomes, including involvement in crime and delinquency.

Selected Publications

Hoffmann, John P., and Melissa S. Jones. (In press). “Cumulative Stress and Adolescent Substance Use: A Review of Twenty-First Century Literature.” Trauma, Violence & Abuse. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1524838020979674

Jones, Melissa S., Hayley Pierce, and Constance L. Chapple. (In press). “Early Adverse Childhood Experiences and Self-Control Development Among Youth in Fragile Families.” Youth & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0044118X21996378

Pierce, Hayley, and Melissa S. Jones. 2022. “Gender Differences in the Accumulation, Timing, and Duration of Childhood Adverse Experiences and Youth Delinquency in Fragile Families.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 59(1):3-43. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00224278211003227

Pierce, Hayley, Melissa S. Jones, and Benjamin G. Gibbs. 2022. “Early Adverse Childhood Experiences and Exclusionary Discipline in High School.” Social Science Research 101:102621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102621

Jones, Melissa S., Meredith G. F. Worthen, Susan F. Sharp, and David A. McLeod. 2021. “Native American and Non-Native American Women Prisoners, Childhood Adverse Experiences, and the Perpetration of Physical Violence in Adult Intimate Partner Relationships.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 36(23-24):11058-11087. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0886260519897328

Jones, Melissa S. 2020. “Exploring Coercive Control, PTSD, and the Use of Physical Violence in the Pre-Prison Heterosexual Relationships of Incarcerated Women.” Criminal Justice and Behavior 47(10):1299-1318. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0093854820920661

Jones, Melissa S., Meredith G. F. Worthen, Susan F. Sharp, and David A. McLeod. 2018. “Life as She Knows it: The Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Intimate Partner Violence Among Women Prisoners.” Child Abuse & Neglect 85:68-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.08.005