Faculty

• Nutrition
• Child obesity prevention
• Parenting practices and family health
• Community-based interventions
• Health disparities
• Evaluation of innovative teaching approaches (e.g., Mindfulness)

Broadly, my research focuses on child obesity prevention and the role parents play in establishing healthy habits.  Specifically, I take a mixed-methods approach to investigating links between maternal stress and weight-related parent feeding practices.  More recent research has examined child eating habits in the restaurant setting, including the development and validation of digital image methodology to measure consumption. 

• Childhood obesity
• Parent stress and feeding practices
• Community-based interventions
• Health Communication
• Health Disparities

1. Mueller, M.P., Shonkoff, E.T., Folta, S.C., Anzman-Frasca, S., Economos, C.D. (2020, accepted). Orders of healthier adult menu items following the implementation of a healthier children’s restaurant menu. Nutrients.

2. Shonkoff, E.T., Folta., S.C., Fitopoulos, T., Ramirez, C.N., Bluthenthal, R., Pentz, M.A., Chou, C., & Dunton, F., (2020, accepted). A positive deviance-based qualitative study of stress coping, and feeding practices among low-income, Hispanic mothers whose children do versus do not meet guidelines for fruit and vegetable intake. Health Education Research.

3. Maisano, M. S., Shonkoff, E. T., & Folta, S. C. (2020). Multiple Health Behavior Change for Weight Loss: A Scoping Review. American Journal of Health Behavior, 44(5).

4. Shonkoff, E. T., Fitopoulos, T., & Folta, S. C. (2020). Employing Technology Industry Methods to Facilitate Transformative Learning Experiences in the Classroom: Insights From a Pilot. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 2373379920925109.

5. Gervis, J., Hennessy, E., Shonkoff, E.T., Bakun, P., Cohen, J., Mueller, M.P., Roberts, S., & Economos, C.D. (2019). Weighed plate waste can accurately measure energy consumption from food in quick-serve restaurants. Journal of Nutrition. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxz222

6. Lynskey, V.M., Shonkoff, E.T., Matthews, E., Zaslow, J., Hennessy, E., Callender, M.E., Economos, C.D., & Harelick, L. (2018). Using a Marketing Evaluation Tool to Optimize a Social Marketing Campaign in public health nutrition: Insights from a copy test of a You’re the Mom campaign ad. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

7. Shonkoff, E. T., Dunton, G. F., Chou, C. P., Leventhal, A. M., Bluthenthal, R., & Pentz, M. A. (2017). Direct and indirect effects of parent stress on child obesity risk and added sugar intake in a sample of Southern California adolescents. Public health nutrition, 20(18), 3285-3294.

8. Shonkoff, E.T., Anzman-Frasca, S., Lynskey, V. M., Chan, G., Glenn, M. E., & Economos, C. D. (2017). Child and parent perspectives on healthier side dishes and beverages in restaurant kids’ meals: results from a national survey in the United States. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 56.

9. O’Connor, S. G., Maher, J. P., Belcher, B. R., Leventhal, A. M., Margolin, G., Shonkoff, E. T., & Dunton, G. F. (2017). Associations of maternal stress with children’s weight‐related behaviours: a systematic literature review. Obesity Reviews, 18(5), 514-525.

10. Shin, H., Black, D.S., Shonkoff, E.T., Riggs, N.R., & Pentz, M.A. (2016) Associations among Dispositional Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Executive Function Proficiency in Early Adolescents. Mindfulness, 7(6), 1377-1384. DOI 10.1007/s12671-016-0579-8

• National Institutes of Health sub-award -  AC/DC: Artificial intelligence and Computer visioning to assess Dietary Composition (iDINE 
• Faculty Development Award - Understanding links between parent stress, parental feeding practices, and family dietary intake patterns in food insecure families
• National Institutes of Health sub-award - Mothers and Their Children’s Health (MATCH)
• Prize-winning team, Second place, Sight and Life’s Elevator Pitch Competition at the American Society of Nutrition’s annual meeting 2018
• Tufts Innovates Seed Grant, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Shonkoff, Co-PI; Folta, S., PI), Technology Industry Methods for Solving Public Health Challenges: Community-based innovation through the lens of social psychology