Tania Abouezzeddine
  1. Directory
  2. People

Tania Abouezzeddine

Associate Professor of Psychology

DepartmentsRosemead School of Psychology
Undergraduate Psychology Department
Biola AffiliationsFaculty
Social Media
Twitter

Documents

CV Document (PDF)

Degrees

  • Post-doctorate, University of California Los Angeles
  • Ph.D., University of Southern California
  • M.A., Boston University
  • B.A., American University of Beirut

Biography

Tania Abouezzeddine has studied and has experience in several areas in the field of psychology working on topics such as clinical neuropsychology across the lifespan, biological basis of behavior, trauma, pediatric psychology and cross-cultural psychology. She is currently an associate professor of psychology at Biola, previously at the University of Southern California. Abouezzeddine graduated from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon with a degree in psychology. She earned her master's degree at Boston University and later her doctorate in psychology specializing in clinical science at the University of Southern California, where she specialized in child psychology and neuropsychology. During her doctoral studies, Abouezzeddine studied the effects of social support from friends and family on adolescents consistently bullied in their school environment.

In addition to her work in the area of school trauma, Abouezzeddine received extensive training in the area of clinical neuropsychology working with populations across the lifespan, from pediatrics to geriatrics. On her clinical internship Abouezzeddine worked with veterans and geriatric populations at the West Los Angeles Veteran Affairs, providing neuropsychological evaluations to Veterans struggling with neurodegenerative disorders (ie. Dementias), traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse disorders. After earning her doctorate, Abouezzeddine went on to complete a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she specialized in pediatric neuropsychology assessing children with traumatic brain injury, seizure disorders and learning and developmental disabilities. In addition to clinical and academic work, Abouezzeddine is heavily involved in ministry both within her community and internationally. She has been in a position of leadership in her local Bible Study Fellowship class (2006-2017), lead children's Sunday school classes, and participated in her local church’s hospitality services.  In addition she has worked extensively with Syrian and Iraqi refugee populations in Lebanon and Greece, providing psycho-education and clinical consultation to the refugees, as well as cross-cultural training for the short term mission teams she has been a part of.

Abouezzeddine currently runs a Neuropsychology research lab at Rosemead School of Psychology where she and her students work on topics integrating neuropsychology, biological markers, and emotional and spiritual factors.

Affiliations

  • American Psychological Association Member
  • International Neuropsychological Society Member

Publications (Selected)

  • Wood, Z. B., Wang, D. C., Lee, C., Barnes, H., Abouezzeddine, T., Canada, A., & Aten, J. D. (2021) Social support, religious coping, and traumatic stress among hurricane Katrina survivors of Southern Mississippi: A sequential mediational model. Traumatology.
  • Abouezzeddine, T., Hill, P.C., Campbell, C.D., & Smith, S.R. (2018). Religion and Personality Assessment. In S.R. Smith & R. Krishnamurthy (Eds.). Diversity-Sensitive Personality Assessment. Routledge
  • Wang, D. C., Aten, J. D., Boan, D., Wismick, J-C., Griff, K. P., Valcin, V., Davis, E. B., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Van Tongeren, D. R., Abouezzeddine, T., Sklar, Q., & Wang, A. (2016). Culturally Adapted Spiritually Oriented Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Child Survivors of Restavek. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, Vol 3(4), 224-236.
  • Yuan, H.C., Sohn, E.Y., Abouezzeddine, T., Mahrer, N.E., Barber, B.A., Keens, T.G., Davidson, W.S.L. & Gold, J.I. (2012). Neurocognitive Functioning in Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Pilot Study of Positive Airway Pressure Therapy. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 27 (6), pp. 607-613.
  • Schantz-Wilkins, S., Guzman-Clark, J., Osato, S., Harada, N., Henriques, D., Royer, C., Abouezzeddine, T., Castle, S., & Dhanani, S. (2011). Comparison of the GDS and the PHQ-9 Depression Screening Instruments in Ethnically Diverse Older Medical and Psychiatric Veteran Populations. Federal Practitioner, 28(6):11-16.
  • Abou-ezzeddine, T., Schwartz, D., Chang, L., & Lee-Shin, Y. (2007). Positive peer relationships and risk for victimization in Chinese and Korean children's peer groups. Social Development, 16 (1), pp. 106-127.
  • Toblin, R.L., Schwartz, D., Gorman, A. H., & Abou-ezzeddine, T. (2005). Social-cognitive and behavioral attributes of aggressive victims of bullying. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26(3), pp. 329-346.
  • Schwartz, D., Toblin, R.L., Abou-ezzeddine, T., Tom, S., & Stevens, K.I. (2005). Difficult home environments and the development of aggressive victims of bullying. In K. Kendall-Tackett and S. Giacomoni. Victimization of children and youth: The spectrum of crimes against children.
  • Schwartz, D., Hopmeyer Gorman, A., Toblin, R., & Abou-ezzeddine, T. (2003). Mutual antipathies in the peer group as a moderating factor in the association between community violence exposure and psychosocial maladjustment. In E.V.E. Hodges & N. A. Card (Eds.), Enemies and the darker side of peer relations. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development, 102, pp. 39-54.

Presentations

  • Estacio, S. M., Wiersig, S. M., Peterson, B., Wang, D. C., Canada, A. & Abouezzeddine, T. (2023, August). Academic Self Efficacy and Stress Considering Social Comparison - Secondary Analysis. Inter-divisional collaborative symposium to be presented at the APA Annual Convention, Washington DC.
  • Nam, E., Grover, S., Canada A., & Abouezzeddine, T. (2023, August). Resilience in Humanitarian Aid Workers: Examining Expatriates vs National Workers. Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
  • Goodwin, E., Abouezzeddine, T., Canada, A., & Gorgens, K. (2023). Relationship between typology of crime and cognitive screening test performance among justice-involved individuals with traumatic brain injury. Paper presentation American Psychology-Law Society conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • Estacio, S. M., Wiersig, S. M., Peterson, B., Wang, D. C., Canada, A. & Abouezzeddine, T. (2021, August). Academic self efficacy and stress considering social comparison. Inter-divisional collaborative symposium APA Annual Convention, San Diego, CA.
  • Swanson, S. Abouezzeddine, T. Estacio, S. Canada, A. Peterson, B. M. (2020, August). The moderating effect of reflection: the impact of stress on inhibition. Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
  • Barnes, H.A., Abouezzeddine, T., Wang, D., Canada, A., & Aten, J. (2019, August). Support, meaning making, and trauma among Hurricane Katrina survivors of southern Mississippi: Investigating the relationships between social support, meaning making, and post-traumatic stress.
  • Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Louie, J.K., Abouezzeddine, T., Wang, D., Timmer, S.G. (2019, August). Intergenerational Cycle of Child Abuse: Maternal Affect, Child Affect, and Emotional Regulation. Poster presented at the APA Convention, Division 53 Program, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Medina Del Rio, L., Abouezzeddine, T., & Eltiti, S. (2019, August). Experience Autism: Effectiveness of an Autism training program for law enforcement officers. Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Wang, F.L., Abouezzeddine, T., Phelan, M.J., Wang, D., and Dick, M.B. (2019, February). Language Proficiency as a Confounding Variable: The Association Between Neuropsychological Scores, Ethnicity, Language, and Acculturation in a Geriatric Asian Population. Poster presented at the International Neuropsychological Society Conference, Manhattan, NY.
  • Louie, J.K., Abouezzeddine, T., Wang, D., Timmer, S.G. (2017, August). Maternal affect in the intergenerational transmission of child abuse. Poster presented at the APA Convention, Division 53 Program, Washington D.C.
  • Barnes, H.A., Abouezzeddine, T., & Wang, D.C. (2016, August). Effects of Secondary Trauma and Vicarious Trauma Among Crisis Care Workers. In T. Abouezzeddine (Chair), Trauma and Sex Trafficking in Diverse Geo-Cultural Contexts. Symposium conducted at the Division 36 hospitality Suite at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Denver, CO
  • Wang, D. C., Boan, D., Aten, J. D., Charles, W. J., Valcin, V., Abouezzeddine, T., Davis, E. B., Hook, J., Davis, D., & Van Tongeren, D., Sklar, Q., & Wang, A. (2015, June). A controlled trial of culturally adapted Spiritually Oriented Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for child survivors of restavek. Poster presented at the Wheaton College Humanitarian Disaster Institute Disaster Ministry Conference, Wheaton, IL.
  • Wang, D. C., Boan, D., Aten, J. D., Charles, W. J., Valcin, V., Abouezzeddine, T., Davis, E. B., Hook, J., Davis, D., & Van Tongeren, D. (2015, August). Spiritually Oriented Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Haitian Children in Restavek. Symposia presented at the APA Annual Convention (Division 36 – Religion and Spirituality), Toronto, Canada.
  • Yuan H.C., Sohn E., Gold J.I., Abou-ezzeddine T., Mahrer N.E., Azoff J., Keens T.G., Davidson S.L. (2008) The Effects of Positive Airway Pressure Therapy on Cognitive Function in Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: Preliminary Findings.
  • Hopmeyer-Gorman, A., Schwartz, D., Nakamoto, J., Abou-ezzeddine, T., and Toblin, R. (2003). Peer-perceived popularity, aggression, and trajectories of academic engagement in early adolescence. Paper symposium at Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
  • Abou-ezzeddine, T. & Yiyuan, X. (2003). Friendship as a moderator in the relation between social risk factors and victimization in Chinese children’s peer group. Poster-presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
  • Arner, H.M., Abou-Ezzeddine, T., & Bollinger, A.R. (November 2000). Relationship between anger and PTSD symptomatology, social support, and locus of control in combat veterans. Poster presentation at the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, New Orleans, LA.

Research Interests

  • Trauma Resilience
  • Cultural and Diversity Issues
  • Neuropsychology: Administration integrity and Diagnostic Accuracy
  • Refugees

Areas of Expertise for Media Interviews

  • Cross-cultural Issues
  • Cultural Diversity
  • Culture
  • Mental Disorders
  • Mental Health
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
Biola University
13800 Biola Ave. La Mirada, CA 90639
1-562-903-6000
© Biola University, Inc. All Rights Reserved.