Justin Parent

Biography

Dr. Parent is an associate professor in the Human Development and Quantitative Methods Division at Penn GSE where he directs the Kids Development and Stress (KiDS) Lab. Dr. Parent's research examines how family processes shape children's mental and physical health, with a focus on family-based interventions and child epigenetics. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on early-career scientists and engineers. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Parent received his Ph.D. in Clinical and Developmental Psychology from the University of Vermont and completed his clinical psychology residency at Brown University.

Education

Ph.D. (Clinical & Developmental Psychology) University of Vermont, 2017
Clinical Residency (Child Clinical Psychology) Brown University, 2017
B.A. (Psychology) University of Vermont, 2011

Areas of Expertise

Developmental psychopathology
Parenting
Epigenetics
Sleep health
Risk and resilience
Family-based intervention and prevention
Parental mental health

Academic Programs

School and Mental Health Counseling, M.S.Ed.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Parent's research examines how early adversity becomes biologically embedded and how caregiving can buffer those effects. His work has shown that epigenetic processes are dynamic rather than fixed, that increases in positive parenting mitigate accelerated epigenetic aging in high-risk children, and that a randomized trial of a positive parenting program slowed the pace of biological aging and reduced epigenetic inflammation. Extending this work, his team has used 15-year longitudinal data to show how community threat and parenting jointly shape epigenetic aging trajectories and synthesized these findings into a bioadaptability framework that positions behavioral interventions as a means to recalibrate biological systems and promote lifelong resilience.

Funding: NIMHD R01 MD015401, PI - Parent. Epigenomic mechanisms of risk and resilience: The role of parenting

Dr. Parent's laboratory has also established sleep as a fundamental biological pathway linking environmental stressors to long-term health trajectories. His team provided the first evidence that adolescent sleep efficiency and timing mediate the link between early adversity and accelerated epigenetic aging. Building on this, his lab developed the Nighttime Parenting Scale and translated this construct into clinical practice through evidence that behavioral parenting programs improve child sleep quality by reducing bedtime resistance, and most recently through a novel nighttime parenting intervention for early adolescents that reduced sleep onset latency and improved internalizing symptoms. New research in the lab will further explore how the link between sleep disturbances and youth health is mediated by stress-related epigenetic disruption of allostasis, via endocrine, inflammatory, and oxidative stress-related gene pathways, as well as accelerated epigenetic aging.

Pending Funding: NHLBI R01HL176748, PI – Parent, Peripubertal sleep deficiencies and biopsychosocial health trajectories: The role of epigenomic mechanisms

Publications

Metrailer, G., Tavares, K., Ver Pault, M., Lopez, A., Denherder, S., Hernandez Valencia, E., DiMarzio, K., Highlander, A., Merrill, S. M., Rojo-Wissar, D. M., & Parent, J. (2026). Community threat, positive parenting, and accelerated epigenetic aging: Longitudinal links from childhood to adolescence. Child Development, 97(1), 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacaf002

D’Agata, A., Eaton, C., Smith, T., Vittner, D., Sullivan, M., Granger, D.A., Lu, B., & Parent, J. (2025). Psychological and physical health of a US preterm birth cohort at 35 years. JAMA Network Open, 8(7), e2522599. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.22599

Hogan C., Merrill, S., Hernandez Valencia, E., McHayle, A., Sisistsky, M., & Parent, J. (2025). The impact of early childhood adversity on peripubertal accelerated epigenetic aging and psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 64(6), 724–733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2024.04.019

Merrill, S. M., Konwar, C., Frihat, Z., Parent, J., & Dajani, R. (2025). Molecular insights into trauma: A framework of epigenetic pathways to resilience through intervention. Med, 6(2), Article 100560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medj.2024.11.013

DiMarzio, K., Rojo-Wissar, D.M., Hernandez Valencia, E., Ver Pault, M., Denherder, S., Lopez, A., Lerch, J., Metrailer, G., Merrill, S., Highlander, A., & Parent, J. (2025). Childhood adversity and adolescent epigenetic age acceleration: The role of adolescent sleep health. Sleep Advances, 6(1), zpaf003. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepadvances/zpaf003

Rodriguez, V. J., Shaffer, A., & Parent, J. (2025). Revision and validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) in a racially and ethnically diverse national sample. Journal of Family Psychology, 39(1), 107–120. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001271

Merrill, S., Hogan, C., Bozak, A., Cardenas, A., Comer, J., Bagner, D., Highlander, A., & Parent, J. (2024). Telehealth parenting program and salivary epigenetic biomarkers in preschool children with developmental delay: NIMHD Social Epigenomics Program. JAMA Network Open, 7(7), e2424815. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24815

Sullivan, A. D.W., Bozak, A., Cardenas, A., Comer, J., Bagner, D., Forehand, R., & Parent, J. (2023). Parenting practices may buffer the impact of adversity on epigenetic age acceleration among young children with developmental delays. Psychological Science, 34(10), 1173–1185. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976231194221

Acosta, J., Parent, J., & Hare, M., DiMarzio, K., Sisitsky, M., McMakin, D. (2023). Developing the Nighttime Parenting Scale: Differentiating nighttime versus general parenting practices and their impact on youth sleep health. Sleep Health, 9(4), 489–496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2023.05.007

Parent, J., Anton, M., Loiselle, R., Highlander, A., Breslend, N., Forehand, R., Hare, M., Youngstrom, J., A., & Jones, D. J. (2022). A randomized controlled trial of technology-enhanced behavioral parent training: Sustained parent skill use and child outcomes at follow-up. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(9), 992–1001. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13554