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Howard Tennen, Ph.D.

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor

Education and Background

Dr. Tennen received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and completed an internship in clinical psychology at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. He was on the psychology faculty at the State University of New York at Albany from 1975-1978, and he has been a member of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine faculty in Community Medicine and Psychiatry since 1978.

Teaching

Dr. Tennen teaches learning theory, social learning theory, and coping with serious illness in the basic sciences curriculum of the Medical School. He developed and directed the training program in structured diagnostic interviewing in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Tennen also teaches resident and intern seminars in positive illusions and health, and theory of psychotherapeutic technique. He is the course director of two courses within the Masters of Clinical and Translational Science program, and he mentors for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Health Center's Alcohol Research Center.

Administrative Activities

Dr. Tennen chairs the School of Medicine's Senior Appointments and Promotions Committee (SAPC). He is the current editor of the Journal of Personality, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Health Center's Alcohol Research Center.

Research Interests

Dr. Tennen works in the area of stress, coping and adaptation. He examines factors that promote psychological and physical health among individuals who face health-related adversity and other threatening circumstances. With Dr. Affleck he has studied people's psychological responses to medical problems—including chronic pain disorders, asthma, heart attack and impaired fertility—and how these responses affect subsequent health and well being. He also investigates stress-related behavior as it unfolds in everyday life, with a focus on individual differences in the temporal patterning of stressful experiences, coping efforts, and symptoms. More recently he has applied daily process methods to psychological and pharmacological treatment trials, and to the study of gene-environment interactions.

Recent Publications

Gunthert, K.C., Conner, T.S., Armeli, S., Tennen, H., Covault, J., & Kranzler, H.R. (2007). The serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and anxiety reactivity in daily life: A daily process approach to gene-environment interaction. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 762-768.

Armeli, S., Todd, M., Conner, T.S., & Tennen, H. (2008). Drinking to cope with negative moods and the immediacy of drinking within the weekly cycle among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69, 313-322.

Frazier, P., Tennen, H., Gavian, M., Park, C., Tomich, P, & Tashiro, T. (in press). Does self-reported post-traumatic growth reflect genuine positive change? Psychological Science.
 

Contact Information

Department of Community Medicine and Health Care
University of Connecticut Health Center
263 Farmington Avenue, MC 6325
Farmington, CT 06030-6325
Phone: (860) 679-5466
Fax: (860) 679-5464
Email: tennen@nso1.uchc.edu

Howard Tennen, Ph.D.
     
MEDICAL SCHOOL     UCONN HEALTH CENTER    GRADUATE SCHOOL Dept. of Community Medicine
270 Farmington Ave, Suite 260
Farmington, CT 06030-6325
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