Sofia T. Stepanyan is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Gannon University. She received her B.A from the University of California, Los Angeles and her M.A and Ph. D from the University of California, Riverside. For the past several years her research has focused on understanding the development of youth behavioral, emotional, and psychosocial problems. In her research she uses the developmental psychopathology perspective, to understand how the synergetic influences between biological, cognitive, psycho social, and emotional processes contribute to maladaptive developmental outcomes in youths. Her work has been published inleading journals such as Journal of Adolescence and The Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.