Psychology
Mora Reinka
Assistant Professor of Psychology
My research focuses on the stress and coping processes of stigma. That is, how do individuals process stigma-related stressors? How do they cope with stigma-related stress? What are the health consequences of this process?
Mora A. Reinka, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ursinus College. She earned her B.A. (2012) in Psychology from the University of Oregon, as well as her M.S. (2016) and Ph.D. (2020) from the University of Connecticut. She joined the Ursinus College Psychology Department in 2020.
Dr. Reinka’s research focuses on the health consequences of living with a stigmatized identity. Specifically, she investigates stress and coping processes in regard to stigma-related stressors. She has done this with a wide variety of stigmatized identities, including race, weight, and concealable stigmas—those that are not immediately apparent to an outside observer. She conducts her research using physiology (heart rate), cognitive-behavioral measures (reaction times and accuracy), as well as classic experimental paradigms and survey research.
Any students interested in conducting research with Dr. Reinka are encouraged to check out the ROSE Lab page.
Department
Degrees
B.A. University of Oregon
M.S., Ph.D. University of Connecticut
Teaching
PSYC 100 – Introductory Psychology
PSYC 311 – Health Disparities
PSYC 312 – Health Psychology: Health Beliefs, Behaviors, and Behavior Change
PSYC 410 – Advance Research Methods in Health Psychology
PSYC 471 – Seminar on Social Stigma
Recent Work
Reinka, M. A., Chaudoir, S. R., & Quinn, D. M. (2024). Millennials versus Gen-Z: Have perceptions and outcomes of concealable stigmatized identities changed over time? Stigma and Health. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000515
Holder-Dixon, A., Adams, O. R., Cobb, T., Goldberg, A. J., Fikslin, R. A., Reinka, M. A., Gesselman, A. N., & Price, D. M. (2022). Medical avoidance among marginalized groups: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 45, 760-770. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-022-00332-3
Berardi*, J., Jobson*, E., & Reinka, M. A. (2022). Interaction between health self-efficacy and race on self-reported health status. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 27(2), 99-104. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN27.2.99
Reinka, M. A., Quinn, D. M., & Puhl, R. M. (2021). Examining the relationship between weight controllability beliefs and eating behaviors: The role of BMI and internalized weight stigma. Appetite, 164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105257
Quinn, D. M., Puhl, R. M., & Reinka, M. A. (2020). Trying again (and again): Weight cycling and depressive symptoms in U.S. adults. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371.journal.pone.0239004
Reinka, M.A., Pan-Weisz, B. M., Lawner, E. K., & Quinn, D. M. (2020). Cumulative consequences of stigma: Possessing multiple concealable stigmatized identities is associated with worse quality of life. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 50(4), 253-261. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12656
Camacho, G., Reinka, M. A., & Quinn, D. M. (2020). Disclosure and concealment of stigmatized identities. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 28-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.031
* indicates undergraduate student collaborator