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Professional headshot of Social Work Assistant Professor Angela Matijczak (any/all pronouns, white) wearing shirt, sweater and glasses.

Angela Matijczak

  • Assistant Professor, Social Work-General

Dr. Angela Matijczak (any/all pronouns) is an assistant professor in the Social Work Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Broadly, Dr. Matijczak’s research focuses on identifying risk and protective factors for LGBTQ+ youth. They are particularly interested in the relationships between LGBTQ+ youth and their family members, and how these relationships can be beneficial or harmful for mental health. Additionally, their research also examines how social support from other sources (i.e., peers, community, pets) may act as a protective factor for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing family rejection.

Education:

  • Ph.D., Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2024
  • MSW, Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2024
  • B.A., Psychology – Community Concentration, University of New Haven, 2017

Selected Recent Publications:

  • Matijczak, A. (in press). Considerations for the Inclusion of LGBTQIA+ Individuals in Animal-Assisted Therapy. In A. Fine (Eds.), M. Mueller (Eds.), Z. Ng (Eds.), T. Chastain (Eds.), & P.l Tedeschi (Eds.), The Handbook on Animal Assisted Therapy, 6th Edition. Elsevier.
  • Matijczak, A., Tomlinson, C. A., Applebaum, J. W., Kogan, L. R., & McDonald, S. E. (2024). Development and Validation of the Pet-Related Stress Scale. Pets, 1(2), 70-87. https://doi.org/10.3390/pets1020008
  • Roldán, P., Matijczak, A., & Goffnett, J. (2024). Negative associations between minority stressors and self-reported health status among sexual minority adults living in Colombia. Healthcare, 12(4), p. 429. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12040429
  • Matijczak, A., Yates, M. S., Ruiz, M. C., Santos, L. R., Kazdin, A. E., & Raila, H. (2023). The influence of interactions with pet dogs on psychological distress. Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001256
  • Matijczak, A. & McDonald, S. E. (2023). LGBTQIA+ Populations and Human-Animal Interactions. In A. Fine (Eds.), M. Mueller (Eds.), Z. Ng (Eds.), J. Peralta (Eds.), & A. Beck (Eds.), The Handbook on Human Animal Interactions, Interventions and Anthrozoology. Routledge.
  • Matijczak, A., Corley, N., Vergara, I., Johnson, J., & McDonald, S. E. (2023). 'A ray of light in the chaos': Relationships between companion animals and LGBTQ+ emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Human-Animal Interactions.
  • Bickford, E., Matijczak, A., Kemmerer, A., Martinez, F., & Wagaman, M. A. (2023). Applications of Transformative Justice Principles for Centering Transgender and Gender Expansive Experiences in Social Work Education and Practice. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 50, 181. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/jrlsasw50&i=181
  • Matijczak, A., Tomlinson, C. A., Pham, A., Corona, R., & McDonald, S. E. (2022) Relations Between Interpersonal Microaggressions, Depressive Symptoms, and Pet Attachment in an LGBTQ+ Emerging Adult Sample. Journal of LGBT Youth, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2022.2091078
  • Tomlinson, C. A., Matijczak, A., McDonald, S. E., Gee, N. R. (2021). The role of human-animal interaction in child and adolescent health and development. In B. Halpern-Felsher (Ed.), The encyclopedia of child and adolescent health. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818872-9.00003-0 
  • Matijczak, A., McDonald, S. E., Tomlinson, C. A., Murphy, J. L., & O’Connor, K. (2020). The Moderating Effect of Comfort from Companion Animals and Social Support on the Relationship between Microaggressions and Mental Health in LGBTQ+ Emerging Adults. Behavioral Sciences, 11(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11010001

Google Scholar Link | Curriculum Vitae