Faculty/Staff Mark S. Friedman, PhD, MSW, MPA

  Assistant Professor

 Graduate School of Public Health
 220 Parran Hall
 Pittsburgh, PA 15261

 Phone: 412-624-3506
 Fax: 412-383-5846
 E-mail: msf11@pitt.edu

 

RESEARCH

My primary research interests are the development of health problems and resiliency among gay and bisexual adolescents and interventions to promote positive outcomes among these youth, health disparities among gay and bisexual men, Internet-based health promotion interventions, and translational research. My research projects to date have focused on defining and measuring adolescent sexual orientation, the relationship between gender-role nonconformity, bullying and suicidality among gay youth, and childhood and adolescent antecedents of adult health problems among gay males. I was recently awarded a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to longitudinally study gay male adolescents using the Internet (Ron Stall, Mentor). My current research activities include a meta-analysis focusing on sexual, physical and verbal abuse of gay, lesbian and bisexual youth, strategies to sample gay and bisexual youth using the Internet, and in-depth interviews with gay and bisexual youth to better understand certain developmental issues and their use of the Internet.

TEACHING

 

I co-teach the course Advanced Topics in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Research.

SERVICE

I am a consultant to Persad Center, Inc., a mental health center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that serves sexual minority individuals. In this role, I am responsible for evaluating the Closing the Gap program, a peer-based outreach program targeting gay and bisexual youth. I have reviewed articles for several journals including the Archives of Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health and Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• Friedman, M.S., Silvestre, A.J., Gold, M.A., Markovic, N., Savin-Williams, R.C., Huggins, J., & Sell, R. L. (2004). Adolescents define sexual orientation and suggest ways to measure it. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 303-317.

• Friedman, M.S., Koeske, G.F., Silvestre, A.J., Korr, W.S., & Sites, E.W. (2006). The impact of gender-role nonconforming behavior, bullying and social support on suicidality among gay male youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(5), 621-623.

• Friedman, M.S., Marshal, M.P., Wright, E.R., Cheong, J.,& Stall, R. (2009). Gay-related development, early abuse, and adult health outcomes among gay males. AIDS & Behavior, 12(6), 891-902. 

• Friedman, M.S., Marshal, M.P., Stall, R., Kidder, D.P., Henny, K.D., Courtenay-Quirk, C., Wolitski, R.J., Aidala, A., Friedman, M. R., Royal, S., & Holtgrave, D.R. Associations Between Substance Use, Sexual Risk Taking and HIV Treatment Adherence Among Homeless People Living with HIV (In Press).

• Stall, R., Friedman, M.S., & Catania, J. (2008). Interacting epidemics and gay men’s health: A theory of syndemic production among urban gay men. In R.J. Wolitski, R. Stall & R.O. Valdiserri (Eds.), Unequal opportunities: Health disparities among Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States.  New York: Oxford University Press.

• Marshal, M.P., Friedman, M.S., Stall, R., King, K.M., Miles, J., Gold, M.A., Bukstein, O.G., & Morse, J.Q. (2008). Sexual orientation and adolescent substance use: A meta-analysis and methodological review. Addiction, 103(4), 546-556

• Stall R, Duran L, Wisniewski SR, Friedman MS, Marshal MP, McFarland W, Guadamuz TE, Mills TC. (2009).  Running in Place: Implications of HIV Incidence Estimates among Urban Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States and Other Industrialized Countries. AIDS & Behavior, [Epub ahead of print].

• Marshal, M. P., Friedman, M. S., Stall, R., & Thompson, A. L.  (in press). Individual trajectories of substance use in lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth and heterosexual youth. Addiction.