Associate Professor of Psychology & Women's and Gender Studies
she/her/hers
About
Additional Research Interests: Qualitative Methods
I study the normalization of mistreatment. I've studied this often in the domain of women's sexual health, including national and institutional policies that structure how information is provided (or not), how outgroups are treated, and how stereotypes make mistreatment and injustice appear to be expected and even deserved. My current research focuses on how people in the U.S. think about abortion, particularly at the intersection of race and gender. I focus on the role of everyday attitudes, beliefs, and emotions that continually shape the environment around those who seek abortion care. Recent articles from this project can be seen here. You can also read more about this project here.
A major focus of my research has been the development of “critical methods,” which are methods that look beyond traditional evaluation procedures to assess subtle information about the role of imagination, history, and political rights in psychological data. For examples, see my work on the self-anchored ladder, survey marginalia, item bank analysis, vulnerable listening, and research using Q methods.
For a more detailed overview of my work related to sex ed and critical sexuality studies, see this encyclopedia entry [“Sara McClelland”] written by ProgressLab alum Leanna Papp & Harley Dutcher. More information about my research can be found at: ProgressLab.info.
I received my PhD in Psychology (2009), was a postdoctoral scholar in the Michigan Society of Fellows (2009-2012), and have received the Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award, the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring in Qualitative Inquiry Award (APA Div 5), the Mary Walsh Roth Teaching the Psychology of Women Award (APA Div 35), and the Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award (Univ of MI).
Recent/Representative publications:
Papp, L. J., & McClelland, S. I. (2021). Too common to count? “Mild” sexual assault and aggression among U.S. college women. Journal of Sex Research, 58(4), 488-501.
McClelland, S. I., Dutcher, H., & Crawford, B. (2020). In the fabric of research: Racial and gender stereotypes in survey items assessing attitudes about abortion. Journal of Social Issues, 76(2), 239-269.
McClelland, S. I. (2018). Critical methods for studying adolescent sexuality. In Lamb, S. & J. Gilbert (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Sexuality: Childhood and Adolescence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 281-299.
McClelland, S. I. (2017). Conceptual disruption: The self-anchored ladder in critical feminist research. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 41(4), 451-464.
McClelland, S. I. (2010). Intimate justice: A critical analysis of sexual satisfaction. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(9), 663-680.
Area
- Joint Program in Women's and Gender Studies and Psychology
- Personality & Social Contexts
Field(s) of Study
- feminist research methods
- gender/sexuality
- critical psychology
- adolescence
- social justice
