• PhD, University of Maryland - College Park

My research program focuses on the roles that close interpersonal relationships (e.g., friendships, parent-child relationships) play in social and emotional development and psychopathology during late childhood and early adolescence. I am especially interested in how peer relationships function as risk and protective factors in the lives of children and adolescents who are considered at risk for such internalizing and externalizing difficulties as anxiety, depression, and aggression. My work includes longitudinal analyses of peer nomination and self-report data, along with laboratory observations of adolescents and their best friends. Other current research projects examine the importance of time and place in understanding friendship and victimization experiences (the TRIP study, funded by a National Science Foundation grant), the developmental significance and internalizing consequences of temporal changes in peer relationships (e.g., losses of friendships), the emergence and impact of romantic experiences, such as other-sex crushes, and the peer and psychological correlates of social behaviors across cultures. Current projects also consider the developmental significance of being alone and spending time in solitude across the life-span, including in older age.

• Bowker, J. C., Rubin, K. H., & Shafik, M. (accepted, 2026). A scoping review of the associations from social withdrawal motivations to socially withdrawn behavior: Insufficient evidence to characterize social withdrawal motivations as behavioral subtypes. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.  
• Perdue, N., Colder, C., & Bowker, J. C. (accepted, 2026). Peer victimization and friendship quality: A moderated mediational pathway with social withdrawal and temperament. Journal of Early Adolescence.
• Bowker, J. C. (accepted, 2026). Climate change and adverse mental health outcomes: Is solitude a mediating mechanism of influence? ISSBD Bulletin.
• Weingarten, J. P., Emery, L., McVarnock, A., Coplan, R. J., Simms, L. J., & Bowker, J. C. (2026). Clarifying the conceptualization and measurement of motivations for solitude: A structural analysis. Emerging Adulthood, Online first.
• Millet, M. A., van den Berg, Y. H. M., Burk, W., & Bowker, J. C. (2026). Childhood shyness and negative social cognitions in emerging adulthood: Adolescent negative peer experiences as moderators. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 187, 49-65.
• Bowker, J. C. & Coplan, R. C. (2026). Introduction to the special section on the study of social withdrawal during childhood and adolescence: In honor of Dr. Kenneth Rubin. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 50, 1-5.
• Sette, S., Coplan, R. J., Ooi, L. L., Zuffianò, A., Xiao, B., Wong, Q., Rapee, R. R., Oh, W., Liu, J., Kim, Y., Kim, H., Kamble, S., Greco, C., Dogan, A., Castillo, K. N., Braathu, N., Bølstad, E., Bayram-Ozdemir, S., & Bowker, J. C. (2025). Measurement invariance of the straightforwardly-worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and associations with life satisfaction among emerging adults in 10 Countries. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. Online First.
• Bowker, J. C., Gominiak, G. A., & Yallof, I. L. (2025). Response evaluations and decisions: Importance of friendship and stress. Journal of Early Adolescence. Online First.
• White, H., Bowker, J. C., Etkin, R. E., & Kamble, S. (2025). Reciprocal associations between social withdrawal motivations and peer difficulties among early adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 97, 1759-1771.
• Bowker, J. C. (2025). Psychological correlates of crush experiences during early adolescence: Importance of features. International Journal of Behavioral Development. Online First.
• McVarnock, A., Coplan, R. J., White, H. I., & Bowker, J. C. (2025). Looking beyond time alone: An examination of solitary activities in emerging adulthood. Journal of Personality, 93, 81-100.
• Ghosh, R. A., Bowker, J. C., & Rubin, K. H. (2024). Interactions between relationship support from mothers, fathers, and best friends as related to adolescent adjustment during the transition to high school. Social Development, 33, e12760.
• Bowker, J. C.  Weingarten, J. P, Etkin, R. E., & Dirks, M. A. (2024). When best friendships end: Young adolescents’ responses to best friendship dissolution. Frontiers of Developmental Psychology, Special issue on peer relationships, 2, 1-17.
• Weingarten, J. P., Bowker, J. C., & Simms, L. J. (2024). A peer trade-off model of personality disorder traits during adolescence. International Journal of Developmental Science, 18(3-4), 169-174.

• Distinguished Contributions Award, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development
• Fellow, Association for Psychologicial Science
• Fellow, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development
• UB Psychology Excellence in Teaching Award