In recent years, there has been a movement to revisit the kinds of methods and statistical practices used in Psychology. For example, scholars have advocated for registering research designs and hypotheses before data collection, taking statistical power more seriously, and finding ways to make research findings more open and available to people across the world. As an emerging scholar, I engage in open science practices and have a strong background in a multitude of research designs and methods.

My primary line of research takes an attachment theoretical approach to studying the psychology of donor-conception. How does attachment style contribute to peoples’ willingness to incorporate donor-conception into their identities? How does attachment relate to curiosity about donor-conception and attempts made to contact one’s donor? These types of questions motivate my research agenda and inspire ideas for future streams of research.

In my Master’s thesis study, we found that donor-conceived (DC) adults who were anxiously attached to their parents were more curious about their donor conception compared to their less-anxious counterparts; however, they were not more likely to search for their donor or establish contact (Lozano, Fraley, & Kramer, 2019). For more information about this work, see my invited blog post from SPSP Character and Context. Moreover, recent qualitative research suggests that individual differences in attachment may predict language use in adults’ self-narratives about their donor-conception, particularly the extent to which some people endorse the term “social parent” to discuss their experiences (Lozano, Fraley, & Kramer, 2020).

Another related line of work with my collaborators involves the accurate enumeration of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and infertility services in the United States (Arocho, Lozano, & Halpbern, 2019). Broadly speaking, my long-term goal is to develop basic and applied research in this area. It is my hope to draw attention to public policy issues on donor conception and one day implement interventions aimed at facilitating secure parent-child attachment in families that utilize assisted reproduction. With this, I’d like to find ways to connect families with the necessary resources to ensure effective family communication (e.g., early disclosure) and more satisfying relationships.

For ongoing projects that I’m actively working on, please see my project pages!