Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar

Areas of Specialization

• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Victimization
• Substance Use
• HIV Risk Behaviors
• High-Risk Youth and Young Adults
• Dating Violence
• Mental Health
• Using Cell Phones for Data Collection

Education

Ph.D., Iowa State University

Current Research

My research interests focus on substance use, physical and sexual victimization, mental health, and partner violence among both college populations as well as among youth experiencing homelessness. I currently have a five-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This project uses a socio-ecological framework to examine linkages between risk factors and coping behaviors among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). The goal of this work is to develop a just-in-time personal support intervention that is data-driven, relevant to our population, and provides individualized support to these young people. This intervention was developed in collaboration with YEH as well as community partners, to ensure our intervention is culturally relevant to YEH. This mobile intervention provides resources and support to YEH delivered to their personal cellphone.

If you are an undergraduate student majoring or minoring in Sociology and you are interested in a research experience in my research areas, please contact me.

Current Teaching

I teach classes in the area of Family including Contemporary Family Issues (SOCI 325), Perspectives on Families (SOCI 449/849), and a Seminar in Family Violence (904).

Selected Publications

2026

Tyler, Kimberly A. “Childhood Maltreatment, Emotion Regulation, and Substance Use among Youth Experiencing Homelessness.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Use, 31(2): 79-90. Published online April 7, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1080/29973368.2026.2651549

Tyler, Kimberly A., and *Jessica Phelps. “Perspectives on Services Use, Non-Service Use, and Potential Solutions from Youth Experiencing Homelessness.” Youth & Society, Published Online first August 15, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X261477429

2025

Tyler, Kimberly A. “A Comparison of College Women and Men on Types and Risks of Sexual Assault.” Violence and Victims, 40(5):724-739. 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41326269/

Kort-Butler, Lisa A., Kimberly A. Tyler, and *Cindy Mays. “Drug Use Stigma and Public Preferences for Public Health versus Legal System Responses.” Journal of Drug Issues, 55(4): 611-624. Published Online April 20, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220426241246724

Tyler, Kimberly A. and *Anika R. Eisenbraun. “Distal and Proximal Stressors Associated with Substance Use among Youth Experiencing Homelessness: The Influence of Race.” Youth & Society. Published Online April 25, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X251336790

2024

Tyler, Kimberly A., *Anika R. Eisenbraun, *Anna Synya, and *Madison Lloyd. “Familial and Individual Risk Factors, Sexual Assault, and Mental Health: A Comparison of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White College Students.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(19-20): 4754-4775. Published Online November 16, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241298298

Tyler, Kimberly A. and Colleen M. Ray. “PTSD Symptoms among College Students: Linkages with Familial Risk, Borderline Personality, and Sexual Assault.” Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 33(2): 127-145. Published Online March 8, 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10538712.2024.2326543

(*indicates graduate student co-author)

Other Information

In August 2022, I was awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. My project uses a socio-ecological framework to examine linkages between Proximal risk factors, Affect regulation, and Coping behaviors. Specifically, we will identify factors that influence positive vs. negative coping behavior for youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) to develop a just-in-time personal support intervention that is data-driven, relevant to our population, provides individualized support, and can be sustainable outside the research setting.

This study is highly innovative as YEH are a highly mobile group and oftentimes, traditional interventions where youth must come into agencies to receive the intervention do not work for many youths, especially those deemed at highest risk, who are oftentimes, the youth in most need of an intervention. Thus, a mobile app that sends messaging content and service information directly to their phone for a just-in-time intervention is highly innovative and culturally specific to this population. Currently, there is no just-in-time personal support intervention that exists for this group of youth; thus, this project is ground-breaking because it will be the first of its kind to deliver this type of intervention to youth experiencing homelessness. 

I am also co-director of the Longitudinal Networks Core for the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center at UNL.