Dr. Mullins' Lab
Pediatric and Health Psychology
The Pediatric and Health Psychology Research Laboratory is part of the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University. These web pages contain information about Dr. Larry Mullins and the graduate students who work with him.
Dr. Mullins' research is primarily focused on child and family adjustment to pediatric chronic illness, with an emphasis on identifying factors that predict both resilience and adjustment difficulties in children and their parents. In particular, the role of parenting capacity factors (parental overprotection, perceived vulnerability, parenting stress, caregiver burden) and cognitive appraisal variables (e.g., uncertainty in illness, illness intrusiveness) in adjustment outcomes are key areas of inquiry. Dr. Mullins has studied these processes in a wide variety of health conditions, including pediatric cancer, disorders/differences of sex development, pediatric rehabilitation, Type 1 Diabetes, asthma, JRA, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1).
He is also quite interested in the development of interventions that target management of illness uncertainty in parents of children newly diagnosed with a significant health problem. He maintains a close working relationship with numerous pediatric specialists at the Children's Hospital, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, where the majority of his research takes place. He also collaborates with colleagues at Cook Children’s Hospital, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and the Intramural Division of NIH.