About our authors
Spencer A. Rathus received his PhD in psychology from the University at Albany and is on the faculty at The College of New Jersey. He has also taught at Northeastern University and New Mexico State University. His areas of research include psychological assessment, cognitive behavior therapy, and deviant behavior. He has published articles in the area of male sexual dysfunction and is the originator of the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, which has become a Citation Classic. He has authored several books, including Psychology: Concepts and Connections; PSYCH, HDEV, CDEV, Essentials of Psychology, and Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development. He co-authored Making the Most of College with Lois Fichner-Rathus; AIDS: What Every Student Needs To Know with Susan Boughn; and Behavior Therapy, Psychology and the Challenges of Life, Health in the New Millennium, and Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World with Jeffrey S. Nevid. His professional activities include service on the American Psychological Association Task Force on Diversity Issues at the Precollege and Undergraduate Levels of Education in Psychology, and on the Advisory Panel, American Psychological Association, Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) Task Force on Undergraduate Psychology Major Competencies.
Jeffrey S. Nevid is Professor of Psychology at St. John’s University in New York, where he has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels for many years, as well as serving for more than 30 years as director of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. He received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Albany and was a NIMH Post-Doctoral Fellow in evaluation research at Northwestern University. Jeff is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and was awarded a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.
Jeff has accrued more than 200 publications and presentations at professional conferences, with his publications appearing in such journals as Health Psychology, American Journal of Health Promotion, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Sex Roles, Journal of Sex Research, AIDS Patient Care and STDs, Journal of Occupational Medicine, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Professional Psychology:  Research and Practice, AIDS Education and Prevention, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Teaching of Psychology, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, Psychology and Health, Computers in Human Behavior, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment and Journal of Personality Assessment.
Jeff also served as Editorial Consultant for the journals Health Psychology and Teaching of Psychology and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He is author of Essentials of Psychology: Concepts and Applications (Cengage Learning), A Student's Guide to AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Allyn & Bacon), and Choices: Sex in the Age of STDs (Allyn & Bacon). He is co-author, with Spencer Rathus, of Psychology and the Challenges of Life: Adjustment of Growth (Wiley) and  Exploring Health Psychology (Wiley), and with Spencer Rathus and Beverly Greene, Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World (Pearson Education). Jeff also conducts a program of pedagogical research designed to help students become more effective learners and was the 2022 recipient of the Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation.
Joining the author team as a contributor, Taylor Lane Rathus obtained her PhD in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Connecticut and teaches psychology in the International Baccalaureate Program at the Dwight School in Manhattan. She also holds a Master’s degree and an Advanced Certificate in LGBT Health, Education and Social Services from the New York University Department of Applied Psychology. Her research has focused on HIV prevention among sexual and gender diverse men of color, sexual orientation and gender identity-based disparities among subgroups of sexual and gender diverse youth, masculinity, and critical consciousness. She has published in numerous journals, including AIDS and Behavior, Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Youth and Adolescence and Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health.
