Faculty Directory

Robert O. Motley Jr.

Assistant Professor

Photo of Robert O. Motley Jr.

Robert O. Motley Jr.

Contact

Email: robert.motley@bc.edu

Education

  • B.A., Northeastern Illinois University
  • M.S.W., University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis

Research Interests

The intersection of racism, violence, and trauma for Black emerging adults ages 18-29 and associated adverse mental and behavioral outcomes. 

Expertise

  • Black Communities
  • Mental Health
  • Trauma
  • Social Determinants of Health

Research Lab

July 2021: Founder and Principal Investigator of the Racism-based Violence Injury & Prevention Lab

CV or Resume

Profile

Assistant Professor Robert O. Motley Jr., PhD, MSW, joined the School of Social Work in 2021. He obtained his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work, where he was a National Institute of Mental Health (T-32) Pre-doctoral Fellow. His research examines the intersection of racism, violence, and trauma for Black emerging adults ages 18-29 and associated adverse mental and behavioral outcomes.

With support from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (F31MD013386), and Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation, his most recent research employed qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the relationship between exposure to perceived racism-based police use of force, racism-based trauma symptoms, and substance use in a sample of Black emerging adults in St. Louis, Missouri. He looks to identify risk and protective factors that can be targeted by behavioral health intervention programs and advance personal safety practices and policies in America that are respective of equity and human dignity for marginalized emerging adult populations.

Dr. Motley served as the lab manager for the Race and Opportunity lab at the Brown School for five years where he developed administrative processes for lab recruitment and research, oversaw all research projects and events, supervised undergraduate/graduate students, and conducted data analyses and manuscript development for publication. He also coordinated the speaker series for the Journal Club on Race in Science at the Brown School, an interdisciplinary group of doctoral students, postdocs, and faculty who critically examine racial statistics, ethnicity, and culture in social and behavioral research.

Dr. Motley received a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago Jane Addams College of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work from Northeastern Illinois University. He has presented research findings at national scientific conferences and submitted manuscripts that were accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

 Motley, R. O., Jr., Williamson, E., & Quinn, C. R. (2024). Prevalence and Correlates of Racism-based Police Violence among Black Emerging Adult College Students. Social Work in Public Health, 1-12. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2024.2341838

Motley, R. O., Williamson, E., Pieterse, A. L., & Harris, M. (2024). Profiles of Black Emerging Adult Exposure to Racism-Based Police Violence and Associated Mental Health Outcomes. Emerging Adulthood, 12(3), 398-409. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968241240182

Motley, R., & Baidoo, C. (2023). Racism and Accountable Policing for Black Adults in the U.S. Encyclopedia of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1639

Walker, D.T., Bills, K. L., & Motley, R. O., Jr. (2023). Physical and Mental Health Outcomes of Black Emerging Adults with Community Violence Exposure: An Integrative Review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231194055

Motley, R. O., Jr, Chen, Y.C., & Motley, J. (2023). Prevalence and Correlates of Adverse Mental Health Outcomes among Black Emerging Adults. Social Work Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svad005

Motley, R. O., Jr, Chen, Y.C., Finner, A., Masood, Y., & Joe, S. (2023). Prevalence and Correlates of Police Contact Anxiety among Male and Female Black Emerging Adults in St. Louis, Missouri. Social Work Research, 47(1), 50-61. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svac032

Szlyk, H., Motley, R., Joe, S., Nonas-Barnes, L., & Azasu, E. (2023). An Examination of Suicidal Behavior among Black College Students with Exposure to Police Violence. Social Work, 68(1), 18-27. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac046

Motley, R., Simmons, E., Azasu, E., Clifton, M., Walker, D. T., & Carnayla Johnson. (2022). Utilizing a Mediation-Moderation Model to Examine Exposure to Videos of Police use of Force in Media, Police Contact Anxiety, Grit, and Suicidality among Black Emerging adult College Students. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1086/722584

SELECTED GRANTS

August 2022-July 2024: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Evidence for Action Grant Award ($395,560) Principal Investigator: Robert O. Motley Jr., PhD. 

May 2019-April 2021: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award Individual Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award (F31MD013386; $60,936) Principal Investigator: Robert O. Motley Jr., PhD. 

February 2019: Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation Doctoral Dissertation Grant Award ($5,000) Principal Investigator: Robert O. Motley Jr., PhD.

March 2019: Researcher Resiliency Training Program Fellowship, National Institute of Mental Health (R25MH118935; $4,000) Principal Investigators: Mary McKay PhD, Sean Joe, PhD, Fred Ssewamala, PhD.

SELECTED APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

July 2022: Appointed as a member of BCSSW Academic Standards Review Committee

May 2022: Selected to serve on the BCSSW Executive Board

June 2021: Selected to serve on the BCSSW Doctoral Committee

November 2020: Appointed as a Teaching Fellow with the Brown School for the spring 2021 semester. Developed and taught course S31-5182.01 Special Topics: Trauma of Policing Among Marginalized Populations in America

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