Long before he became a leading voice in relationship science, Justin Lavner was simply fascinated by people.
“I’ve always been interested in understanding why people are the way they are,” said Lavner, a professor and the director of clinical training in the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychology. “What eventually fascinated me most was how people relate to other people and what predicts the quality of our closest relationships.”
Especially, he said, relationships with our romantic partners and family members.
Lavner views these relationships as a “shelter from the storm” of everyday life—a place of comfort and support in times of stress. However, they can also be sources of strain and conflict without the proper tools.
Through interdisciplinary research, Lavner’s work addresses some of the biggest issues facing relationships. He studies factors that predict individual and relational well-being and develops interventions—structured, evidence-informed programs—to help people improve their relationships, reduce stress, and enhance well-being. He then studies how those programs change outcomes over time.
“Interventions can be ‘constructed resilience resources’ for families,” he said.
For Lavner, understanding relationships isn’t just an academic pursuit—it’s a lifelong mission to help families and couples weather life’s storms together.
When multiple fields shape one goal
Growing up, Lavner lived in several small towns in upstate New York, often adapting to new social environments and learning how people in different towns and classrooms relate to one another.
He developed a love of reading, which he found essential to learning about other people, places, and cultures. He described it as a way of “expanding [his] world.” At the time, he was unsure exactly what he wanted to do with his life—until attending Williams College and falling in love with academia.
“Colleges and universities are these really special places where you meet all these different people and find all these possibilities you couldn’t have dreamed of,” he said. In higher education, he saw not just a place for research and education, but a place for growth.
Before taking his first psychology course, Lavner thought psychology was just about studying the inner workings of a person’s mind, but after conducting research with a family psychologist during his undergraduate years, Lavner was drawn to relationship dynamics and how they affect people’s everyday lives. He chose to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology.
“It was important for me to do work that related to understanding people and their problems and ultimately try to help improve their quality of life and well-being,” he said.
Lavner received his Ph.D. from UCLA and joined UGA’s psychology department as an assistant professor in 2014. From there, he has been able to collaborate with multiple colleagues across departments and disciplines. Interdisciplinary research is crucial to his work, Lavner said, as many factors affect and are affected by relationships. It also allows him to benefit from and build on other researchers’ expertise and achieve greater impact.
Lavner adjusts his research models and interventions depending on the study. Much of his recent work takes place online, leveraging people’s increased comfort with technology. Some studies, however, allow Lavner and his collaborators to work with participants in their own environments.
Centering marginalized families
Lavner prioritizes working with underserved populations in his work, such as members of the LGBTQ community and families with minoritized racial and ethnic identities.
“For too long, people from underserved and marginalized backgrounds were not included in research or were mistreated in biomedical and social science research,” he said. “As a result, we often don’t know whether the things we think are true are actually true for different groups. We also don’t have a full picture of the factors that contribute to their health and well-being.”
In his core research framework, Lavner focuses on how different stressors can weaken both individual health and relationship functioning.
“Families from underserved groups face stigma and marginalization, such as racial discrimination or heterosexism. These stressors can wear on relationships,” he said.
Lavner has worked on several projects with UGA’s Center for Family Research (CFR), including the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) study led by Steven Beach, Regents’ professor of psychology and CFR director. ProSAAF examined a couple-focused intervention for Black couples with pre-adolescent children.
“We’ve been very interested in how improving the couple relationship ends up having other benefits for the family, whether looking at child, adult, or parenting outcomes,” Lavner said. “[We’re also looking at] at how ProSAAF can protect family members’ health as they face stressors such as financial strain, racial discrimination, and COVID-19-related stress.”
By supporting marginalized families in this and other studies, Lavner hopes to strengthen relational, mental, and physical health in these populations.
One early project at UGA examined a parenting intervention for first-time Black mothers and their infants, aiming to promote responsive parenting around infant sleeping, soothing, and feeding. The study blended multiple types of expertise. Lavner worked closely with former William P. “Bill” Flatt Professor of Nutrition Leann Birch, a leading expert in childhood nutrition who passed away in 2019 before the project’s completion, as well as neonatologist Brian Stanfield at Augusta University.
The team recruited new mothers from Augusta University’s Medical Center. Those who enrolled in the study received five home visits over the first 16 weeks postpartum, including three data collection visits and two intervention sessions. During the home visits, researchers evaluated infant weight, sleep, and feeding patterns. They also tracked mothers’ sleep, postpartum depression, and parenting behaviors.
“Mothers in the responsive parenting group slept longer, experienced more rapid reductions in depressive symptoms, and demonstrated more responsive feeding and soothing practices,” Lavner said. In addition, babies in this group had healthier weight trajectories and better sleep.
This multidimensional impact shows how relational and behavioral interventions can improve both psychological and physical health outcomes.
Lavner has also contributed to projects seeking to improve other types of relationships. He is part of a study led by Erin Dolan, Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Innovative Science Education and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Emily Rosenzweig, formerly a faculty member in the Mary Frances Early College of Education and now an associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Instead of focusing on familial relationships, this project focuses on improving mentoring relationships between life sciences faculty and their graduate students, shaping healthier academic environments that directly influence the well-being and success of young scientists.
“For too long, people from underserved and marginalized backgrounds were not included in research or were mistreated in biomedical and social science research. “As a result, we often don’t know whether the things we think are true are actually true for different groups. We also don’t have a full picture of the factors that contribute to their health and well-being.”
– Justin Lavner, professor and director of clinical training in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychology
Research with real-world impact
For Lavner, research is about improving lives beyond the lab. His work is not driven by curiosity alone, but a desire to elevate supportive relationships that ease human challenges.
One of his newest projects is a collaboration with Brian Bauer, assistant professor of psychology. They are testing a novel telehealth intervention for veteran couples to reduce suicide risk. The goal, Lavner explained, is to provide an accessible way to increase awareness of early crisis symptoms and help partners provide better support, ultimately preventing escalation of suicidal crises.
“The times we most need constructive communication and support from our families are often when it’s hardest for them to offer it,” he explained. The interventions are designed to strengthen people’s capacity to do so.
Lavner also values his role as a mentor to students, seeing it not as a professor’s obligation but as one of the most meaningful parts of his work. Before attending college, he didn’t know anyone who had a Ph.D. Academia was not clearly defined or accessible. Much of what he learned came through the guidance of others.
Now, he carves out an hour a week with each of his graduate students to discuss their work. He describes mentoring conversations that move beyond research design or career logistics and into bigger questions about purpose and direction.
“I get to see them grow not just as scholars, but as people,” said Lavner, adding a quote from Mary Oliver in her poem The Summer Day. “‘What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’”
Lavner uses these discussions to open broader conversations with students that go beyond publications, grants, or academic milestones. They are an invitation to explore meaning, values, and direction.
Looking ahead, Lavner’s goals remain the same as they were when he began his Ph.D. program 20 years ago: Help as many families as possible, from all different backgrounds, and provide tools that make everyday life a little easier.
