Laura McCloskey


Laura McCloskey profile picture

Professor Emeritus

Email: lmcclosk@iu.edu
Department: Applied Health Science

B.A., English University of Wisconsin-Madison 1976
B.S., Psychology (Honors) University of Washington-Seattle 1979
Ph.D., Psychology University of Michigan 1986
P.D., Child Clinical Psychology University of Rochester 1988

Founding Director, Center for Research on Health Disparities, Indiana University, SPH, 2011-2020

Scholarly Interests

I study the origins, health impact and prevention of gender-based violence against women and children. My research probes psychological determinants of violence against women and girls within an inter-disciplinary eco-social framework.

  • The cycle of gender-based violence in American families. This federally-funded research is a thirty-year mixed-methods longitudinal study focusing on the mental health outcomes of women and children exposed to domestic violence.
  • HIV-AIDS risk and resilience among young South African women. My South African collaborators and I performed unique case-control interview study of 885 women ages 15-29 in South Africa to investigate risk factors for early onset of HIV with the support of the William F. Fulbright Foundation.
  • Original case studies of global policies and prevention of violence against women across multiple countries

Becker, K.B.,* Stuewig, J., & McCloskey, L.A. (2009) Traumatic stress symptoms of women exposed to different forms of childhood victimization and Intimate Partner Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Dec, 13: 111-128

McCloskey, L.A. (2013) The intergenerational transfer of mother-daughter risk for gender-based abuse. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 41 (2), 301-326.

McCloskey, L.A. (2016) The effects of gender-based violence on women's unwanted pregnancy and abortion. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 89(2), 153.

McCloskey, L.A., Doran, K.,* & Gerber, M. (2016) The association of women's sterilization with intimate partner violence. Journal of Women's Health DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2015.5595

McCloskey, L.A., Boonzaier, F., Steinbrenner, S. & Hunter, T.* (2016) Prevention and intervention programs addressing intimate partner violence in sub-Saharan Africa. Partner Abuse, 7, 277-315.

McCloskey, L.A. (2017) The intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment: Socioecological and psychological origins of maternal risk. In D. Teti (Ed) Parenting and Family Processes in Child Maltreatment and Intervention (Child Maltreatment Solutions Network) NY, NY: Springer Publishing.

McCloskey, L.A., Eloff I, Doran K.* Determinants of intergenerational sexual relationships and HIV risk among South African women outpatients in Gauteng. AIDS care. 2020 Sep 23:1-9.

McCloskey, L.A., Hitchcock S, Eloff I, Dinh P, Masemola K. The role of reproductive coercion in women's risk for HIV: A case-control study of outpatients in Gauteng, South Africa. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 2021 Dec;151(3):377-82.

McCloskey, L.A. & Eisler, R. (2021). Family structure and family violence and non- violence. In: Kurtz, L., J. Turpin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict. 3rd edition. New York: Academic Press.