- Major Professor: Dr. Daniel Choe
I study parent-child interactions and the co- and self-regulation of parents’ and children’s emotions, physiology, and behavior. I am interested in factors that shape parenting beliefs and behaviors, including parents' own sensitivity to the environment, physiological reactivity, and childhood experiences; child characteristics such as their temperament and self-regulatory capacities; and aspects of the broader sociocultural contexts in which parenting and caregiving occur. I want to better understand the mechanisms underlying intergenerational cycles of harsh caregiving and maltreatment, so action can be taken to disrupt these cycles and promote the health and well-being of children and their caregivers.
Grants & Awards
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award 2025-2026
UC Davis Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship 2025-2026
Jastro-Shields Graduate Research Award (funded $1,921; 2024-2025)
Sigal, M. & Olwert, M.R. (Co-PIs): "Graduate Peer Support- Navigate your way to social fitness!" Healthy UC Davis & Equity in Mental Health Grant. (funded $22,385; 2023-2025)
Jastro-Shields Graduate Research Award (funded $1,427; 2022-2023)
Publications
Olwert, M.R., Hart, S.R., Carter, D., Stromberg, N.R. (2026). A latent profile analysis of body image and disordered eating attitudes behaviors in adolescent boys. Journal of Adolescence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.70185
Choe, D.E., Golden, A.B., & Olwert, M.R. (2025). Advancing research on mobile screen media and young children’s cognitive skills. Academic Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2024.06.018
Lippmann, M., Olwert, M. R., & Leistner, C. E.. (2023). Emerging adults’ perspectives on consensually nonmonogamous parenting. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53(1), 321–339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02720-5
Choe, D. E., Olwert, M. R., & Golden, A. B. (2023). Cognitive and psychophysiological predictors of inductive and physical discipline among parents of preschool-aged children. Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001140
Conference Presentations
Olwert, M.R., Williams, C.M.J. & Choe, D.E. (2026) Parent and child sympathetic nervous system activity over time during parent–child interactions. Poster presentation at the Western Psychological Association, Tacoma, WA.
Olwert, M.R., Golden, A.B., & Choe, D.E. (2025). Evaluating children's and mothers’ parasympathetic self-regulation and co-regulation throughout different parent–child interaction contexts. Poster presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
Olwert, M.R., Zhang, X., & Belsky, J. (2025). Examining children’s differential susceptibility to positive and negative parenting effects: An influence statistics approach. Poster presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
Olwert, M.R., Golden, A.B., & Choe, D.E. (2024). Children’s parasympathetic self-regulation and co-regulation during parent-child interactions. Poster presentation at the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Olwert, M.R., Hart, S.R., Carter, D., Paul, N.R. (2023). A latent profile analysis of body Image and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in adolescent males. Poster presentation at the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Diego, CA.
Olwert, M.R. & Hart, S.R. (2021) Examining the effects of adverse and positive childhood experiences: A latent class approach. Round-table session at the American Educational Research Association, held virtually.