Biography

Websites:
Website
Research with Rowan
Google Scholar

Education:
Post-Doctoral Associate, Hunter College, CUNY
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology
B.S., Psychology, Georgia College & State University

Research Expertise:
African-Centered Psychology | Health Inequities | Qualitative Methodology | Mixed-Methods Research | Intersectionality | Cultural Resilience | Protective Factors

The SPIRiT Lab’s mission is to empower and create positive change for communities who are marginalized due to their intersecting racial identities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. The overall goal of my research program is to investigate and harness culturally specific protective and coping factors to reduce health inequities. The overarching research questions are:
(1)  How does spirituality influence health and well-being for marginalized groups?
(2)  How do marginalized groups harness their culture to cultivate healthier lives?
(3)  How do marginalized groups achieve good health despite systems of oppression?
My research integrates African-centered psychology, strengths-based approaches, and intersectionality theory to shift the traditional Western scientific paradigm from a pathological and Eurocentric model to one that centers holistic health and African-centered scientific paradigms. The work is accomplished using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods methodologies. 

Teaching Narrative:
As a professor, my primary objectives are to (1) share foundational and advanced scholarly knowledge with students in creative and engaging ways that integrate human diversity; (2) create a welcoming and affirming environment where students are able to develop and practice critical thinking related to class material and its connection to the diverse world around them, (3) help students apply course material to grow as human beings; and (4) cultivate students’ ownership of their life-long educational processes by expecting excellence, encouraging individual consultation, and mentoring students in research and professional development. These objectives are aligned with my overall pedagogical philosophy, informed by Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Freedom, that emphasizes students’ development of critical thinking, scholarly voice, and free access to and engagement with information.

Professional Memberships:
Association of Black Psychologists
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

Selected Publications:
Lassiter, J. M., & Fulton, D., Jr. (2024). “I can go off and then pray later about that”: The relationship between spirituality and oppression in Black same gender loving men’s lives. Qualitative Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000295

Lassiter, J. M., O’Garro-Moore, J., †Anwar, K., Smallwood, S., Burnett-Zeigler, I., Stepleman, L., Sizemore, M., Grov, C., & Rendina, J. (2023). Spirituality, self-compassion, and anxiety among sexual minority men: A longitudinal mediation analysis. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 36(2), 229-240. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2022.2033235

Lassiter, J.M. (2023). Black same-gender-loving male couples’ health within an Afrocentric psychological paradigm: The influences of spirituality and religion. In Y. Cooper & E. Holmes (Eds.), Black Couples Therapy: Clinical Theory and Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Lassiter, J. M., & †Mims, I. (2022). “The awesomeness and the vastness of who you really are:” A culturally distinct framework for understanding the link between spirituality and health for Black sexual minority men. Journal of Religion and Health, 61(4), 3076-3097. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01297-4

Follins, L., & Lassiter, J. (Eds.). (2017). Black LGBT health in the United States: The intersection of race, gender, and sexual orientation. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.