Below you will find brief video summaries of publications from my major projects, along with links to the papers. Here are the primary projects these papers come from:
"2m2x" focuses on wellbeing during the transition to undergraduate. In this short-term longitudinal study, autistic and non-autistic first-year college students completed a baseline questionnaire battery about their diagnostic and mental health history before their first semester of college, a brief 2-min survey twice per week (hence, “2m2x”) throughout their first semester on campus, and then an endpoint battery. This data helps us to learn more about what contributes to depression and anxiety during the challenging time of the transition to college, with the goal of ultimately improving prevention and intervention efforts.
The Applied Consent Communication Study (ACCS) used a mixed-methods approach (i.e., both quantitative and qualitative methods) to explore challenges in navigating sexual consent for both autistic and non-autistic young adults. Prior literature has suggested that autistic students are likely to have worse sexual education experiences and be more at risk of sexual trauma. This study aims to understand these concerns in more detail, ultimately making suggestions for how to improve future sexual education.
Don't see a publication you're looking for? At this time, video summaries are only available for a subset of my papers, but you're welcome to reach out to request a copy of any. Full publication lists are available on Google Scholar and via my CV.
"2m2x" YouTube Playlist Publications:
McKenney, E. E., Brunwasser, S. M., Richards, J. K., Day, T. C., Kofner, B., McDonald, R. G., Williams, Z. J., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Kang, E., Lerner, M. D., & Gotham, K. O. (2023). Repetitive negative thinking as a transdiagnostic prospective predictor of depression and anxiety symptoms in neurodiverse first-semester college students. Autism in Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0078
McKenney, E. E., Cucchiara, C. L., & Gotham, K. O. (2023). Transitioning to college during COVID-19: A brief report on incoming students’ self-reports of mental health from 2020 to 2022. Journal of American College Health, 73(4), 1295–1301. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2023.2283742
McKenney, E. E., Richards, J. K., Day, T. C., Brunwasser, S. M., Cucchiara, C. L., Kofner, B., McDonald, R. G., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Lamm, J., Kang, E., Lerner, M. D., & Gotham, K. O. (2024). Satisfaction with social connectedness is associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in neurodiverse first-semester college students. Autism, 28(8), 1972-1984. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231216879 (Original work published 2024)
Terroso, S. R., McKenney, E. E., Brunwasser, S. M., Richards, J. K., Day, T. C., Kofner, B., ... & Gotham, K. O. (2025). Longitudinal relationships between depressive attributional style and internalizing symptoms in an autism-enriched sample of incoming college students. Autism in Adulthood, 7(2), 185-200.
"ACCS" YouTube Playlist Publications:
McKenney, E. E., Cucchiara, C. L., Senanayake, A., & Gotham, K. O. (2024). “I Don’t Care if it Would Kill the Mood. I’m Going to Use My Words”: Perceptions and Use of Explicit Verbal Sexual Consent in Neurodiverse Undergraduate Students. The Journal of Sex Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2024.2365273
McKenney, E. E., Cucchiara, C., Zapotitla, S. B., & Gotham, K. (2024). “You Don’t ‘Just Know’”: Difficulties in Determining Desire, Recognizing Trauma, and Accessing High-Quality Sexual Education in Neurodiverse Young Adults. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2024.2445171
McKenney, E. E., & Gotham, K. O. (2025). Young Adults May Misjudge Peers’ Opinion of Verbal Consent. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2025.2496895
Other publications:
McKenney, C. M., & McKenney, E. E. (2024). Wheeled repair alliance: Rolling out wheelchair repair and maintenance in community bicycle shops. Assistive Technology, 37(2), 87–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2024.2348163
Williams, Z. J., McKenney, E. E., & Gotham, K. O. (2021). Investigating the structure of trait rumination in autistic adults: A network analysis. Autism, 25(7), 2048-2063. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211012855