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Amy Bohnert

Professor, Clinical & Developmental Psychology; Director of Clinical Training

Education

Post-Doctorate Fellowship: Vanderbilt University
Ph.D.: Penn State University
Masters: Penn State University
Bachelors: University of Michigan

Research Interests

Dr. Bohnert is a Professor in Clinical and Developmental Psychology. Her work focuses on how various contexts may promote better outcomes among youth. Guiding themes of her research are emphasizing developmental transitions as points of reorganization, as well as conducting translatable work that can reduce health disparities among youth. Through collaborations across Chicago and the country, she utilizes principles of developmental science to examine health and well-being in children and adolescents, including several papers that characterize sleep and physical activity among girls during early adolescence. She also serves as a program evaluation consultant for the past 20 years designing and conducting multi-method evaluations to examine the effectiveness of after-school and summer programs, green schoolyards, as well as community-based initiatives to improve health and well-being among youth and families.

Courses Taught

Social Development
Wellness Center Practicum
Child Psychopathology
General Psychology
Psychological Perspectives on the Experience of Globalization

Publications/Research Listings

Burns, M. T. S., Bohnert, A.M., Brooks, B., & Chen, E. (In press). A person-centered approach to examining out-of-school participation among Black adolescents and its association with racial and ethnic identity. 

Hagy, H., Hidalgo-Lopez, E., Portengen, C., Holman, A., Schrepf, A., Clauw, D.J, Harte, S.E., Beltz, A., Bohnert, A.M. & Kaplan, C.M. (In press). The emergence of sex differences in nociplastic pain during adolescence: A conceptual developmentally-oriented biopsychosocial model and opportunities for further investigation. BMC Pediatrics.

Hagy, H., Bohnert, A.M., Hellman, K.M. & Tu, F. F. (In press) Psychosocial predictors of dysmenorrhea stability and change: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada.

Bohnert, A.M., Burns, M.T.S., Adornetti, J.P., Matthews, G.J., Tu, P. L., Chen, M.A., Moon, H., Kim, J., & Chen, E. (2025).  Evaluating associations between neighborhood resources and sleep health among urban-dwelling Black adolescents. Sleep Health, 11(4), 423-430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2025.07.001

Rea, E.M., Bohnert, A.M. & Crowley, S. J. (2025). Napping, sleep, and affect in short and late-sleeping adolescents: An actigraphy and daily diary study. Sleep Health, 11, 317-325.

Adornetti, J.P., Wolfson, A.R., Bohnert, A.M. & Crowley, S.J. (2025). Clash between the circadian and school clocks: Implications for cognitive functioning and school-related behavior during adolescence. Current Sleep Medicine Reports, 11, 10 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40675-025-00321-3

DeZelar, M., Burns, M., Rosania, K. & Bohnert, A.M. (2024). Strategies for evaluating collective impact initiatives: Lessons learned from a community-academic partnership.  American Journal of Evaluation, 45(4), 536-547. https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140241244782.

Tu, F. F., Hellman, K.M., Darnell, S.E., Harber, K.A., Bohnert, A. M., Singh, L., & Walker, L. (2024). A multidimensional appraisal of early menstrual pain experience. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 230, e1-550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2024.01.017

Schrepf, A., Hellman, K., Bohnert, A. M., Williams, D. A. & Tu, F. F. (2023). Generalized sensory sensitivity is associated with comorbid pain symptoms: A replication study in women with dysmenorrhea. Pain, 164, 142-148.

Rea, E.M., Santiago, C.D., Nicholson, L.M., Egbert, A.H. & Bohnert, A.M. (2023). Sleep, affect, and emotion reactivity in first year college students: A daily diary study. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 753–768. doi.org/10.1007/s12529-022-10127-0

Nicholson, L., Bohnert, A.M., & Crowley S. J. (2023). A developmental perspective on sleep consistency: Early childhood through emerging adulthood. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 21, 97-116.  doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2021.2024192

Rea, E.M., Nicholson, L.M., Mead, M.P., Egbert, A.H. & Bohnert, A.M. (2022). Daily relations between nap occurrence, duration, and timing and nocturnal sleep patterns in college students. Sleep Health, 8, 356–363. doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2022.05.002

Egbert, A.H., Stockdale, L.A., Nicholson, L., Sroka, A., Szpak, V., Morrison, R.G., Silton, R.,& Bohnert, A.M. (2022). Delicious and difficult to resist?: Inhibitory control differs after exposure to food and non-food commercials. Appetite, 173, 105993. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.105993.

Loren, D. M., Rea, E. M., Harber, K. A., & Bohnert, A. M. (2022). Testing an ecological model of obesity among children: Identifying targets for intervention. Health Psychology, 41(3), 193-203. doi: 10.1037/hea0001163.

Bohnert, A.M., Nicholson, L.M., Mertz, L., Bates, C.R., & Gerstein, D. (2021). Green schoolyard renovations in low-income urban neighborhoods: Benefits to students, schools, and the surrounding community. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12559. PMID: 34713911.

Bates, C. R., Nicholson, L. M., Rea, E. M., Hagy, H. A., & Bohnert, A. M. (2021). Life interrupted: Family routines buffer stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10826-021-02063-6.

Brazendale, K., Beets, M.W., Armstrong, B., Weaver, R.G., Hunt, E.T., Pate, R.R., Brusseau T.A., Bohnert, A.M., Olds, T., Tassitano, R.M., Tenorio, M.C.M., Garcia, J., Andersen, L.B., Davey, R., Hallal, P.C., Jago, R.,           Kolle, E., Kriemler, S., Kristensen, P.L., Kwon, S., Puder, J.J., Salmon, J., Sardinha, L.B., van Sluijs, E.M.F. & on behalf of the ICAD collaborators (2021). Children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on weekdays versus weekend days: A multi-country analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18 doi: 10.1186/s12966-021-01095-x.

Gerstein, D. E., Bates, C., & Bohnert, A.M. (2021). Evaluating a green schoolyard transformation: A protocol using the RE-AIM framework. Children, Youth and Environments, 31, 187-198.

Nicholson, L., McLeod Loren, D., Reifenberg, A., Beets, M., & Bohnert, A.M. (2021). School as a protective setting for excess weight gain and child obesity: A meta-analysis. Journal of School Health, 91(1) 19-28. doi: 10.1111/josh.12972. 

Egbert, A.H. Nicholson, L., Sroka, A., Silton, R., & Bohnert, A.M. (2020). Binge eating, but not dietary restraint, moderates the association between unhealthy food marketing exposure and sugary food consumption. Eating Behaviors, 38, 101401. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2020.101401.

Nicholson, L., Egbert, A.H., Moreno, J.P., & Bohnert, A.M. (2020). Variability of sleep and relations to body weight among first year college students. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28(2), 227-237. doi: 10.1007/s12529-020-09888-3.

Bohnert, A.M., Loren, D. M., & Miller, A. (2020). Examining childhood obesity through the lens of developmental psychopathology: Framing the issues to guide best practices in research and intervention. American Psychologist, 75(2), 163-177. doi: 10.1037/amp0000581.

Egbert, A.H., Creber, C., Loren, D.M., & Bohnert, A.M. (2019). Executive function and dietary intake in youth: A systematic review of the literature. Appetite, 139, 197-212.  doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.04.013.

Distel, L.M., Egbert, A. H., Bohnert, A.M., & Santiago, C.D. (2019). Chronic stress and food insecurity: Examining key environmental family factors related to BMI among low-income Mexican origin youth. Family and Community Health, 42, 213-220. doi: 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000228.

Bates, C., Bohnert, A., Buscemi, J., Vandell, D. L., Lee, K. T. H., & Bryant, F. B. (2019). Family entropy: Understanding the organization of the family home environment and impact on child health behaviors and weight. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 9, 413-421. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibz042.

Egbert, A., Bohnert, A., Bates, C., McLeod, D., Creber, C., Rosania, K., Ward, A., Dugas, L. & Silton, R. (2019). The heat is on: A mixed-method examination of eating behavior and executive functions among low-income minority girls during summertime. Journal of Early Adolescence, 39(5), 625 –641. doi: 10.1177/0272431618780432.

 

RESEARCH SUPPORT

FUNDED

     

Evaluation of After-School Programming               8/1/13 - 7/31/26                       $118,400

Girls in the Game                                                      
Making a Difference in the Lives of Chicago Girls
Role: Principal Investigator

Through an ongoing partnership with a community-based program, Girls in the Game (GIG), this project seeks to evaluate the effect of an after-school program on health, well-being, and social and leadership skills among low-income, minority girls.

 

Innovation Grant                                                      5/1/21-11/30/25                                   $31,935

Northshore University Health Systems
The Role of Sleep Dysregulation on Dysmenorrhea among Adolescents
Role: Principal Investigator

Through a collaboration with the NIH-funded EMPATHY project at NorthShore University Health Systems, this study examined objective measures of sleep and physical activity and their relation to pain across menarche and two years follow-up in a sample of adolescent girls. 

 

Health Equity Grant                                                  7/1/22-5/31/24                                     $49,999            

Loyola University Chicago
The Interplay of Stress, Racism and Protective Factors to Promote Sleep Health Equity among Urban Adolescents
Role: Principal Investigator

Through a collaboration with LUC faculty, this study examined relations between stress, discrimination and objective measures of sleep in a sample of ethnic and racial minority youth.