Research in our lab at the University of Southern California focuses on lifespan development & clinical geropsychology. We primarily study cognitive development across the lifespan using a variety of statistical methodologies to clarify individual differences in intraindividual change. Moreover, we are a developmental behavior genetics lab so we typically use twin, sibling, and family study designs to study genetic (both quantitative and molecular) and environmental effects on cognitive ability with a particular interest in how genes come to be correlated with environments. Aside from cognitive development, we focus on a range of topics including infant attachment, temperament development, adult personality development, loneliness, social relationships, and DNA methylation age. Most recently, we are studying how differential methylation correlates with these outcomes using epigenome-wide association studies.
Dr. Beam also is the Contact-PI of the midlife phase of the Louisville Twin Study, which is 7-year project supported by the National Institute on Aging to clarify early and midlife risk factors of cognitive functioning and preclinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition to studying the Louisville twins, we use population-based data (e.g., Midlife Development in the United States, National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the Health and Retirement Study, and the Mexican Health and Aging Study) to test our hypotheses.
If you are interested in joining the lab, please contact Dr. Beam.