• PhD, University of Pittsburgh

I am broadly interested in the role of psychosocial factors in the etiology, maintenance and recovery from depression, as well as how depressive conditions impact people’s lives in terms of health-related behavior (such as treatment adherence among HIV+ patients) and social rejection. A number of my past research projects have examined how labile self-esteem, insecure attachment style, and ruminative coping contribute to risk for depression. Recent studies have focused on implicit self-esteem, biases in interpersonal perception, deficits in executive control and autobiographical memory, as well as testing an online mindfulness-based intervention for depression and developing a smart phone app to disrupt rumination. Our lab is presently developing studies to investigate the role of various aspects of the physical environment such as extreme heat, air pollution and urban green space in mental health outcomes. We are particularly interested in whether psychological, behavioral and social factors mediate these environmental effects.

• Ma, X. & Roberts, J. E. (2026). Development of a novel task for investigating insensitivity to future consequences: Two studies conducted with undergraduates and community volunteers. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 48, 27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-026-10283-7
• Yoo, E-H., Roberts, J. E., & Han, I. (2026). HUD-assisted housing modifies the association between neighborhood socioeconomic vulnerability and air toxicant exposure. Science of the Total Environment, 1016, 181494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181494
• Sperry, S. H., Stromberg, A., Roberts, J. E., & Prisciandaro, J. J. (2025). Behavioral approach and inhibition sensitivity predicts depressive and hypomanic mood and behavior in daily life. Psychiatry Research, 353, 116734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116734
• Ma, X. & Roberts, J. E. (2025). An experimental investigation of individual differences in sensitivity to future consequences: Depression, anxiety, and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 242, 113212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113212
• Yoo, E-H., Roberts, J. E., & Suh, Y. (2024). Delayed effects of air pollution on public bike-sharing system use in Seoul, South Korea: A time series analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 10, 1016/j.socscimed.2024.117030
• Yoo, E-H., Min, J., Choi, B., Lee, H., Ryoo, S., Min, K., & Roberts, J. E. (2024). Spatiotemporal variability of the association between greenspace exposure and depression in older adults. BMC Public Health, 24, 2556. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19952-2
• Yoo, E-H., & Roberts, J. E. (2024). Differential effects of air pollution exposure on mental health: Historical redlining in New York State. Science of the Total Environment, 948, 174516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174516
• Yoo, E-H., Roberts, J. E., & Chen, K. (2024). Effects of air pollution on emergency room visits for mental disorders: Risks and effect modification by comorbid physical disorders and personal characteristics. Environmental Research: Health, 2(2), 025001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad1f3f
• Rosenfeld, E. A., Lyman, C., Wojcik, C. M., Macia, K. S., & Roberts, J. E. (2023). Reassessing rumination: Validity of the Day Reconstruction Method for Rumination (DRM-R) to assess episodes of rumination in daily life. Psychological Assessment, 35(12), 1098–1107. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0001282
• Barry, T. J., Takano, K., Hallford, D. J., Roberts, J. E., Salmon, K., & Raes, F. (2023). Autobiographical memory and psychopathology: Is memory specificity as important as we make it seem? WIREs Cognitive Science, 14(3), e1624. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1624
• Rosenfeld, E., Lyman, C., & Roberts J. E. (2022). Development of an mHealth app–based intervention for depressive rumination (RuminAid): Mixed methods focus group evaluation. JMIR Form Res; 6(12), e40045. 10.2196/40045
• Yoo, E-H., Roberts, J. E., Eum, Y., Li, X., Chu, L., Wang, P., & Chen, K. (2022). Short-term exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution and mental disorders: A case-crossover study in New York City. Environmental Research: Health, 1, 015001. 10.1088/2752-5309/ac6439
• Yoo, E-H., Roberts, J. E., Eum, Y., Li, X., & Konty, K. (2022). Exposure to urban green space may both promote and harm mental health in socially vulnerable neighborhoods: A neighborhood-scale analysis in New York City. Environmental Research, 204(Pt C), 112292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112292
• Yoo, E-H., & Roberts, J. E. (2022). Static home-based versus dynamic mobility-based assessments of exposure to urban green space. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 70,127528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127528
• Yoo, E-H., Eum, Y., Roberts, J. E., Gao, Q., & Chen, K. (2021). Association between extreme temperatures and emergency room visits related to mental disorders: A multi-region time-series study in New York, USA. The Science of the Total Environment, 792, 148246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148246