Faculty
Selected Faculty Books
Faculty Highlights
Contact Us
Department of Psychology
Univ. of Central Florida
4000 Central Florida Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32816-1390
407-823-4344
Fax: 407-823-5862
psyinfo@mail.ucf.edu
Steven L. Berman
Developmental Psychopathology

Steven L. Berman

Associate Professor, Clinical M.A. Program
Ph.D., Florida International University, 1996
Office: Daytona Beach Campus
Phone: 386-506-4049
Email: Sberman@mail.ucf.edu

  • Faculty Advisor, UCF Daytona Psi Chi, 2002-present
  • Faculty Advisor, UCF Daytona Psychology Club, 2005-present
  • Daytona Campus Rep., Honor's College, 2001-present
  • Member, Society for Research in Child Development
  • Member, American Psychological Association
  • Member, APA Division 7: Developmental Psychology
  • Member, APA Division 53: Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology
  • Member, Southeastern Psychological Association
  • Member, Society for Research on Adolescence
  • Member, Society for Research in Identity Formation
  • Member, Society for the Study of Human Development

View Full Curriculum Vita

Recent Publications

  • Berman, S. L., Kennerley, R. J., & Kennerley, M. A. (2008). Promoting positive adult identity development: A feasibility study of a university-based identity intervention program. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 8, 139-150.
  • Berman, S. L., Weems, C. F., Rodriguez, E. T., & Zamora, I. J. (2006). The relation between identity status and romantic attachment style in middle and late adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 29, 737-748.
  • Berman, S. L., Weems, C. F., & Stickle, T. R. (2006). Existential anxiety in adolescents: Prevalence, structure, association with psychological symptoms and identity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 303-310.
  • Kurtines, W. M., Ferrer-Wreder, L., Berman, S. L., Lorente, C. C., Silverman, W. K., & Montgomery, M. J. (2008). Promoting positive youth development: New directions in developmental theory, methods, and research. Journal of Adolescent Research, 23, 233-244.
  • Varela, R. E., Weems, C. F., Berman, S. L., Hensley, L., & Rodriguez de Bernal, M. C. (2007). Internalizing symptoms in Latinos: The role of anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 429-440.


Current Research

My major area of research is Identity Formation, including the development of career goals, sense of self (ethnic identity, gender roles, sexual orientation), changing attachment patterns (family, friendships, romance), and values acquisition (morality, politics, religion). I am particularly interested in the anxiety and distress often associated with this developmental task. I have been developing intervention programs to help young people struggling with identity dilemmas and related symptoms of anxiety and distress.

I have published a measure of Identity Distress and been involved in the development and publication of a measure of Existential Anxiety. I have also been working on an intervention program aimed at facilitating identity development and reducing identity distress which has been piloted on university students, inner-city high risk high school students, and teenage children of migrant farm-workers. In addition I have been collecting cross-national comparative identity development data in Colombia, Japan, Taiwan and China.


For Students

Students may work in my lab for independent research credit or as volunteers, helping out in data collection and data entry. Students will be trained to conduct interviews and may serve as co-facilitators of identity development workshops. Students are encouraged and mentored in developing their own research project for an undergraduate Honor's thesis or Clinical Master's thesis. Graduate students are trained and supervised in running intervention groups.