Christine So
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Houston, 2022
Contact Information
Email: christine.so@wsu.edu
Office: JT TBA
Phone: (509) 335-TBA
Website: Laboratory for Understanding Nocturnal behaviors and Affect (LUNA)
Classes Taught
- PSYCH 530: Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues
Research Interests
- Mechanisms of trauma-related sleep disturbances
- Sleep disturbances as a risk factor for other health-related problems
- Neurobiology of sleep
- Sleep health disparities
Research in the Laboratory for Understanding Nocturnal behaviors and Affect (LUNA) broadly centers on how disrupted sleep acts as both precipitating and exacerbating factors of psychopathology, particularly in the context of trauma and stress. Currently, my line of research is focused on characterizing cognitive and affective processes underlying nightmares using multimodal methods (e.g., ecological momentary assessment, polysomnography, actigraphy, computerized tasks). Other lines of research to be pursued include use of ambulatory technology to identify sleep biomarkers of Alzheimer’s risk, environmental influences on sleep health disparities, and personalized behavioral sleep medicine interventions.
Dr. So will be considering graduate student applications for Fall 2025 admission to the Clinical Psychology PhD Program.
Selected Publications
So, C.J., LaVoy, E.C.P., Harmouch, S., & Alfano, C.A. (2023). Objective and subjective sleep patterns and biomarkers of stress among women with a history of sexual abuse in childhood. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001600
Miller, K.E., So, C.J., Brownlow, J.A., Gehrman, P.R., & Woodward, S.H. (2023). Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with sleep disturbance in a sample of trauma-exposed Veterans. Sleep Health, 9(5), 634-637.
So, C.J., Palmer, C.A., Gonzalez, R.D., Bower, J.L., Lau, S., & Alfano, C.A. (2021). Which objective sleep elements predict children’s perceptions of good sleep quality? A preliminary investigation based on polysomnography and actigraphy. Sleep Health, 7(1), 65-71.
LaVoy, E.C., Palmer, C.A., So, C.J., & Alfano, C.A. (2020). Bidirectional relationships between sleep and biomarkers of stress and immunity in youth. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 158, 331-339.
Doty, T.J., So, C.J., Bergman, E.M., Trach, S.K., Ratcliffe, R.H., Yarnell, A.M., Capaldi, V.F., Moon, J.E., Balkin, T.J., & Quartana, P.J. (2017). Limited efficacy of caffeine and recovery costs during and following 5 days of chronic sleep restriction. Sleep, 40(12), zsx171.
