Camelia E. Hostinar, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development, 2013
• M.A., Child Psychology, University of Minnesota, 2010
• B.S., Psychology, Honors College, Towson University, 2008

About

Camelia Hostinar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Hostinar studies how the social environment shapes health, with a focus on the activity of stress-response systems. She is examining the pathways linking early-life stress to later disease and investigating protective processes that could modify these adverse trajectories

She directs the Social Environment and Stress (SES) Lab, in which she welcomes the participation of graduate students with an interest in this area of study.

She is also affiliated with the UC Davis Center for Poverty Research.

Research Focus

Dr. Hostinar researches childhood adversity (experiences of stress, maltreatment, poverty, loneliness) and how they influence later development and health. She has a particular interest in protective factors that may buffer children and adolescents from chronic stress and subsequent physical or mental health problems. Her research examines developmental processes at multiple levels of analysis, incorporating endocrine and immune biomarkers, electrophysiological data, and behavioral measures. She seeks to improve understanding of the role of early-life stress in shaping self-regulatory skills, and to illuminate how stress-buffering processes such as supportive social relationships exert their effects.

Lab

Hostinar Lab

Selected Publications

• Deer, L. K., Parenteau, A. M., Linares, J. U., Wyant-Stein, K., Daang, E. M., Alen, N. V., Kramer, H. J., Lagattuta, K. H., & Hostinar, C. E. (2026). The effect of acute stress on executive function in children: Moderation by parasympathetic nervous system activity. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 265, 106445. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106445 
• Hang, S., Hastings, P. D., & Hostinar, C. E. (in press). Methodological innovations for measuring multifaceted emotions in context. In V. LoBue, K. Pérez-Edgar, & K. A. Buss (Eds.), Handbook of emotional development: Advances in theory, research, and practice. Springer International Publishing.
• Arrington, M. N., Nishina, A., Hostinar, C. E., & Guyer, A. E. (2025). Identifying patterns and predictors of social health in adolescence using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Developmental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002139.
• Hostinar, C. E., Parenteau, A. E., Jost, G. M., Hang, S., Guan, J. Y., & Lawler, J. M. (2025). Stress in childhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009420228
• Jost, G. M., Hang, S. Wysocki, A. C., Rhemtulla, M., Robins, R. W., & Hostinar, C. E. (2025). Time spent alone and loneliness in Mexican-origin youth: The role of social relationships and personality. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1548(1), 163–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15348
• Yoo, A., Li, F., Youn, J., Guan, J., Guyer, A. E., Hostinar, C. E., & Tagkopoulos, I. (2025). Prediction of adolescent depression from prenatal and childhood data from ALSPAC using machine learning. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 23282. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72158-9
• Alen, N. V., Hostinar, C. E., & Luthar, S. S. (2025). Promoting resilience of children, parents, and families in the service of health promotion. APA Handbook of Pediatric Psychology, Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, and Developmental Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000413-015
• Hostinar, C. E., & Velez, G. (2024). Generation COVID: Coming of age amid the pandemic. Current Opinion in Psychology, 55, 101725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101725
• Hang, S., Jost, G. M., Guyer, A. E., Robins, R. W., Hastings, P.D., & Hostinar, C. E. (2024). Understanding the development of chronic loneliness in youth. Child Development Perspectives, 18(1), 44–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12496
• Vacaru, S. V., Parenteau, A. M., Yi, S., Silvers, J. A., Hostinar, C. E., & de Weerth, C. (2023). Adolescents’ hair cortisol concentrations during COVID-19: Evidence from two longitudinal studies in the Netherlands and the United States. Developmental Psychobiology, 65(8), e22438. doi:10.1002/dev.22438
• Jost, G. M., Hang, S., Shaikh, U., & Hostinar, C. E. (2023). Understanding adolescent stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Opinion in Psychology, 52, 101646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101646
• Hostinar, C. E., Swartz, J. R., Alen, N. V., Guyer, A. E., & Hastings, P. D. (2023). The role of stress phenotypes in understanding childhood adversity as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 32(3), 277–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000619
• Parenteau, A. M., Boyer, C. J., Campos, L. J., Carranza, A. F., Deer, L. K., Hartman, D. T., Bidwell, J. T., & Hostinar, C. E. (2023). A review of mental health disparities during COVID-19: Evidence, mechanisms, and policy recommendations for promoting societal resilience. Development and Psychopathology, doi:10.1017/S0954579422000499.

Teaching

Camelia Hostinar teaches subject matter related to developmental psychology, health psychology, and research methods.

Awards

• 2026-2030 UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow
• 2024 College of Letters and Science Lab Safety Award
• 2022-2025 Dean’s Faculty Fellow, UC Davis College of Letters & Science
• 2023 Academic Senate Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award, UC Davis
• 2022 Boyd McCandless Award, American Psychological Association (Division 7)
• 2022 UC Davis College of Letters and Science Award for Distinguished Teaching
• 2022 Columbia in the City Sponsored Symposium – International Society for Developmental Psychobiology
• 2020 Early Career Outstanding Paper Award, American Psychological Association Division 7
• 2019 Early Career Contributions Award, Society for Research in Child Development
• 2015 Association for Psychological Science “Rising Star” Award
• 2015 Outstanding Dissertation Award, Society for Research in Child Development