Dusti R. Jones

Dusti R. Jones, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Population Health Sciences

Research Interests

  • Eliminating Inequities in Stress and Cancer Risk Behaviors
  • Biopsychosocial Models of Resilience, Stress, and Cancer Risk Behaviors
  • Evidence-Based Interventions Deployed in Real World Settings
  • Optimizing mHealth Methodologies for the Assessment of Health and Resilience Indicators

Dr. Jones is currently a K12 scholar in the Clinical and Translational Science’s Career Development Program. She completed a postdoc with Dr. Joshua Smyth which focused on Ambulatory Biopsychology. Dr. Jones received her PhD in Biobehavioral Health from the Pennsylvania State University, where she was a T32 predoctoral fellow in the Pathways T32 Training Program to identify psychosocial determinants and biological pathways that underlie healthy aging. She also has a master’s degree in Experimental Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Western Washington University.

Research Statement

Dr. Jones uses a resilience-based approach to understand what protective factors (e.g., positive emotions, emotion stability, self-regulatory capacity, mindfulness) can be utilized as an asset or resource to decrease engagement in harmful health behaviors (e.g., tobacco and alcohol use) and to buffer against stress in ways that may reduce cancer risk. Her work incorporates novel mHealth methodologies (e.g., ecological momentary assessment, wearable sensors, just-in-time adaptive interventions) to assess these dynamic, microlevel resilience processes among populations that have been historically marginalized, which include individuals identifying with racial and ethnic minority groups and those living in poverty.

Education History

Doctoral Training Pennsylvania State University
 PhD
Graduate Training Western Washington University
 MS
Undergraduate Western Washington University
 BA

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Jones, DR, Potter, L N, Lam, CY, Naham-Shani, I, Fagundes, C, Wetter, DW (2024). Examining associations between distinct emotions and tobacco lapse during a quit attempt among African American smokers. Ann Behav Med, 58(7), 506-516.
  2. White, SC, Ruiz, J, Allison, M, Uchino, B, Smith, T, Taylor, D, Jones, DR, Russell, MA, Smyth, JM (2024). A comparison between cardiovascular risk profiles of male law enforcement officers and civilians. Health Psychol Open, 11.
  3. Schlechter, CR, Del Fiol, G, Jones, DR, Orleans, B, Gibson, B, Nahum-Shani, I, Maxfield, E, Locke, A, Cornia, R, Bradshaw, R, Wirth, J, Lam, CY, Wetter, DW (2023). Increasing the Reach of Evidence-Based Interventions for Weight Management and Diabetes Prevention Among Medicaid Patients: Study Protocol for a Pilot Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial. . BMJ Open.
  4. Jones, DR, Smyth, JM, Graham-Engeland, JE (2023). The relation between personality and affect intensity and dynamics: Do associations differ based on arousal? Current Psychology.
  5. Jones, DR, Ruiz, J, Schreier, HMC, Alison, M, Uchino, B, Russell, M, Taylor, D, Smith, T, Smyth, JM (2023). Mean affect and affect variability may interact to predict levels of inflammatory markers. Mean affect and affect variability may interact to predict levels of inflammatory markers. . Brain Behav Immun, 109, 168-174.
  6. Filipkowski KB, Jones DR, Bernstein MJ, Smyth JM (2021). Stress-responses to ostracism: Examining cortisol and affective reactivity to in-person and online exclusion. J Health Psychol, 27(8), 1793-1804. (Read full article)
  7. Johnson JA, Zawadzki MJ, Jones DR, Reichenberger J, Smyth JM (2021). Intra-individual Associations of Perceived Stress, Affective Valence, and Affective Arousal with Momentary Cortisol in a Sample of Working Adults. Ann Behav Med, 56(3), 305-310. (Read full article)
  8. Graham-Engeland J, DeMeo NN, Jones DR, Mathur A, Smyth JM, Sliwinski MJ, McGrady ME, Lipton RB, Katz MJ, Engeland CG (2022). Individuals with both higher recent negative affect and physical pain have higher levels of C-reactive protein. Brain Behav Immun Health, 21, 100431. (Read full article)
  9. Jones DR, Smyth JM, Graham-Engeland JE (2021). Associations between positively valenced affect and health behaviors vary by arousal. Appl Psychol Health Well Being, 14(1), 215-235. (Read full article)
  10. Smyth JM, Jones DR, Wen CKF, Materia FT, Schneider S, Stone A (2021). Influence of ecological momentary assessment study design features on reported willingness to participate and perceptions of potential research studies: an experimental study. BMJ Open, 11(7), e049154. (Read full article)
  11. Jones DR, Allen HK, Lanza ST, Graham-Engeland JE (2020). Daily associations between affect and alcohol use among adults: The importance of affective arousal. Addict Behav, 112, 106623. (Read full article)
  12. Jones DR, Smyth JM, Engeland CG, Sliwinski MJ, Russell MA, Sin NL, Almeida DM, Graham-Engeland JE (2020). Affect variability and inflammatory markers in midlife adults. Health Psychol, 39(8), 655-666. (Read full article)
  13. Slavish DC, Jones DR, Smyth JM, Engeland CG, Song S, McCormick NM, Graham-Engeland JE (2019). Positive and Negative Affect and Salivary Markers of Inflammation Among Young Adults. Int J Behav Med, 27(3), 282-293. (Read full article)
  14. Marini CM, Martire LM, Jones DR, Zhaoyang R, Buxton OM (2018). Daily Links Between Sleep and Anger Among Spouses of Chronic Pain Patients. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 75(5), 927-936. (Read full article)
  15. Jones DR, Lehman BJ, Noriega A, Dinnel DL (2019). The effects of a short-term mindfulness meditation intervention on coping flexibility. Anxiety Stress Coping, 32(4), 347-361. (Read full article)
  16. Jones DR, Graham-Engeland JE, Smyth JM, Lehman BJ (2018). Clarifying the Associations between Mindfulness Meditation and Emotion: Daily High- and Low-arousal Emotions and Emotional Variability. Appl Psychol Health Well Being, 10(3), 504-523. (Read full article)
  17. Graham-Engeland JE, Sin NL, Smyth JM, Jones DR, Knight EL, Sliwinski MJ, Almeida DM, Katz MJ, Lipton RB, Engeland CG (2018). Negative and positive affect as predictors of inflammation: Timing matters. Brain Behav Immun, 74, 222-230. (Read full article)
  18. Jones DR, Johnson JA, Graham-Engeland JE, Park CL, Smyth JM (2018). Is Perceived Growth Associated with Momentary Indicators of Health and Well-Being in People with Asthma or Rheumatoid Arthritis? Appl Psychol Health Well Being, 10(2), 254-271. (Read full article)
  19. Jones DR, Lehman BJ, Kirsch JK, Hennessy KG (2017). Pessimism moderates negative emotion responses to naturally occurring stress. J Res Pers, 69, 180-90.
  20. Lehman BJ, Kirsch JK, Jones DR (2015). Effectively analyzing change over time in laboratory research on stress and health: A multilevel modeling approach. Soc Personal Psychol Compass, 9(10), 551-66.

Review

  1. Jones DR, Graham-Engeland JE (2020). Positive affect and peripheral inflammatory markers among adults: A narrative review. [Review]. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 123, 104892. (Read full article)

Book Chapter

  1. Smyth JM, Jones DR (2025). Ambulatory Methods in Psychosocial and Biobehavioral Research. In N. Schneiderman, T. W. Smith, N. B. Anderson, M. H. Antoni, F. J. Penedo, T. A. Revenson, & A. F. Abraído-Lanza (Eds.), American Psychological Association Handbook of Health Psychology (1, pp. 185-204). American Psychological Association.

Clinical Trials