Biography
Shardé McNeil Smith is an assistant professor of African American Studies and an affiliate faculty member of Human Development and Family Studies. She earned her M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University-Calumet and Ph.D. in Family Relations from Florida State University. Her research focuses on the effects of social stress exposure on mental and behavioral health outcomes within the African American family context and the role of social support as a protective factor. A primary area of her research focuses on the intra- and interpersonal effects of racial discrimination on mental health in the parent-child and the couple context. Overall, findings from her research demonstrate within-group variation in how stress exposure impacts the African American family’s mental and behavioral health and highlights the need to go beyond between-group differences.
Research Interests
- Social connectedness and resilience
- Effects of racial discrimination on families
- Mental health and wellness in African American communities
Education
- Ph.D. Family Relations, Florida State University
- M.S. Marriage and Family Therapy, Purdue University-Calumet
- B.A. Psychology, North Carolina State University
- B.A. Sociology, North Carolina State University
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies
Affiliate, Center for Social and Behavioral Science
Recent Publications
Bigman, C. A., Planey, A. M., Williamson, L. D., Smith, M. A., & McNeil Smith, S. (2023). ‘There will be screen caps’: the role of digital documentation and platform collapse in propagation and visibility of racial discourses. Information Communication and Society, 26(9), 1812-1829. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2041698
Rivas-Koehl, M., Rivas-Koehl, D., & McNeil Smith, S. (2023). The temporal intersectional minority stress model: Reimagining minority stress theory. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 15(4), 706-726. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12529
Barton, A. W., Lavner, J. A., Sutton, N. C., Smith, S. M., & Beach, S. R. H. (2022). African Americans’ Relationship Quality and Depressive Symptoms: A longitudinal investigation of the Marital Discord Model. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(7), 1061–1072. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000967
McNeil Smith, S. (2022). Invited commentary on the “Race and Well-Being” section of the Transformative Family Scholarship Special Issue. Family Relations, 71(5), 2066-2069. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12795
Chioneso, N. A., Hunter, C. D., Gobin, R. L., McNeil Smith, S., Mendenhall, R., & Neville, H. A. (2020). Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling: A Framework to Address Racial Trauma in Africana Communities. Journal of Black Psychology, 46(2-3), 95-121. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798420929468