Catherine Wall, PhD
Social Health Psychologist
Virginia Commonwealth University
Bio
In a rapidly evolving world where systems often fail to keep pace with our understanding of human experience and misinformation spreads like wildfire, interdisciplinary psychological research is uniquely positioned to drive meaningful change. My work seeks to integrate principles and theories founded in social, cognitive, and health psychology with insights from fields such as public health, media studies, and political science to tackle critical and current issues.
I have had the fortune to work with numerous wonderful researchers, such as Dr. Amy Krosch at Cornell University and Drs. Eric Benotsch, Caroline Cobb and Andrew Barnes at Virginia Commonwealth University. My experiences and work have constantly straddled the lines between social and health psychology, allowing me the opportunity to examine phenomena through an interdisciplinary lens. This interdisciplinary approach continues to inform my research ideas and methods.
Outside of my research, I am an avid roller derby player, a book lover, a rock climber, and active in community based organizations.
Latest First-Author Publication
“Desistance”: A Multimethod Review of the Literature on Gender Identity
Variability in Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth
The rates of persistence and desistance in transgender identities (broadly defined) are among the most
common rhetorical points in legal and ethical debates over transgender health. Originally popularized by
a researcher’s blogpost, political and legal action restricting gender-affirming care claim that 60%–90%
of youth presenting for care “desist” from a transgender identity on the basis of 11 informally reviewed
data sets. Our multimethod synthesis of this literature, in contrast, uses and finds (a) a series of metaanalytic
estimates suggesting very heterogeneous and fickle estimates of desistance both from these studies
alone and when supplemented by more recent samples, (b) simulations suggesting that volunteer bias
compromises how informative these estimates can be, and (c) a qualitative review revealing serious conceptual
problems, outdated assumptions, and substantial methodological limitations. These analyses
undermine the popularized “60%–90%” desistance estimate that commonly underlies policy efforts
intended to restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Attempts to justify such legislative
and health care policy initiatives with this ostensible desistance rate reflect, at best, a misunderstanding
of the nature of the scientific literature and, at worst, a motivated reading of the scientific literature.
Catherine Wall
Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology
806 W. Franklin St.
Box 842018
Richmond, Virginia 23284-2018