Annette Mahoney

Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., University of Houston, 1992

Dr. Mahoney has specialized in theory and empirical research on relational spirituality, or specific religious/spiritual (R/S) cognitions and behaviors about close interpersonal relationships that can help or harm individual and relational health. She has written extensive integrative reviews on the science of religious/spiritual processes and marriage, parenting across diverse families, and divorce. She created the Relational Spirituality Framework to organize and synthesize such studies. She also wrote a book on children’s spiritual and religious development. She has authored, co-authored, or mentored empirical studies on the roles that specific R/S processes play for marriage, the transition to parenthood, parenting, couples' sexual relationships, romantic break-ups and divorce, friendships, AA sponsorship, and individuals' personal well-being. These R/S processes include sanctification, spiritual intimacy, desecration, sacred loss, spiritual one-upmanship, positive R/S coping, and negative R/S coping. Relational spirituality also encompasses how peoples' felt relationships with God and their faith communities inform their close relationships with other people. Latest research interests focus on the roles that R/S factors play for sexual and gender minorities and their family dynamics, singlehood, as well as the implications of religious exiting. For more information, see https://www.annettemahoneyphd.com/

Recent Publications:

Mahoney, A. (2021). The science of children’s religious and spiritual development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108874342

* First author is graduate student I supervised

* McGraw, J. S., Skidmore, S. J., Lefevor, G. T., Docherty, M., & Mahoney, A. (2023, February 6). Affirming and nonaffirming religious beliefs predicting depression and suicide risk among Latter-Day Saint sexual minorities. Journal of Counseling Psychology. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cou0000659

* McGraw, J. S., McManimen, S. Chinn, J., Harrison D. Angoff, H. D., Docherty, M., &  Mahoney, A. (2022). Adverse childhood experiences, suicidal/self-harming thoughts, and suicide attempts among LGB and Heterosexual Utahns. Journal of Homosexuality, 69 (7), 1141-1159. DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2021.1909396 Epub Apr 2021

* McGraw, J. S., Peer, S. O., McManimen, S. Chinn, J. & Mahoney, A. (2022). Comparison of lifetime suicide attempts and recent suicidal/self-harming thoughts among sexual minority and heterosexual Utahns: Results from a population-based survey. Archives of Suicide Research, 26(2), 961-967 DOI: 10.1080/13811118.2020.1806159   Epub Aug 2020

* McGraw, J. S., Docherty, M., Chinn, J. & Mahoney, A. (2021). Family, faith, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) among LGBTQ youth in Utah. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advanced online publication, Oct 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000517

Mahoney, A., Wong, S., Pomerleau, J. M, & Pargament, K. I. (2021). Sanctification of diverse aspects of life and psychosocial functioning: A meta-analysis of studies from 1999-2019. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advanced online publication May 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000354

Fallahchai, R., Fallahi, M., Moazenjami, A., & Mahoney, A. (2021).  Sanctification of marriage, religious coping and dyadic adjustment in Iranian couples. Archive for the Psychology of Religion. Advance online publication Apr 2021. DOI: 10.1177/0084672421996826         

Mahoney, A., Pargament, K. I., & DeMaris, A. (2021). Spiritual intimacy, spiritual one-upmanship, and marital conflict across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 35(4), 552-558. DOI: 10.1037/fam0000795 Epub 2020 Aug 13.

* McGraw, J. S., Chinn, J. & Mahoney, A. (2021). Historical, doctrinal, and empirical insights into Latter-Day Saint sexual minorities’ psychological and interpersonal functioning. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 17,(2) 168-195. DOI: rg/10.1080/1550428X.2020.1800545 Epub Aug 11, 2020      

Gower, T., Rancher, C., Campbell, J., Mahoney, A., Jackson., M., McDonald, R., Jouriles, E.N. (2020). Caregiver and divine support: Associations with resilience among adolescents following disclosure of sexual abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect. 109:104681. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104681. Epub Sep 9, 2020.

Jouriles, E. N., Rancher, C., Mahoney, A., Kurth, C., Cook, K. & McDonald, R. (2020). Divine spiritual struggles and psychological adjustment among adolescents who have been sexually abused. Psychology of Violence, 10(3), 334–343. DOI: 10.1037/vio0000274

Padgett, E., Mahoney, A., Pargament, K. I., & DeMaris, A. (2019). Marital sanctification and spiritual intimacy predicting married couples’ observed intimacy skills across the transition to parenthood. Religions, 10, 177-193. doi: 10.3390/rel10030177

Hernandez-Kane, K. M., & Mahoney, A. (2018). Sex through a sacred lens: Longitudinal effects of sanctification of marital sexuality. Journal of Family Psychology, 32(4), 425-434. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000392