Niki Weller, Ph.D.

Phone:

765-455-9428

Email:

wellern@iu.edu

Campus:

IU Kokomo

My research focuses on how sociodemographic and social-environmental factors — family, peers, and community — influence adolescent behaviors, particularly risky behaviors ranging from substance use to sexual health and mental health outcomes. Since 2017 I've partnered with a local non-profit to reduce adolescent risk behaviors among high-risk populations across Indiana, and since 2016 I've worked with HOPE Mentoring, pairing undergraduates with incarcerated youth in Indiana juvenile facilities. I also co-direct the Global Institute on Juvenile Delinquency and Prevention, an international network of researchers and practitioners from the U.S., Costa Rica, Brazil, and Mexico working to improve policy and practice around juvenile delinquency. I'm the author of Sociology in Motion, an introductory sociology textbook published by Kendall Hunt.

Research

Research Areas: Adolescent risk behaviors, social-environmental influences on youth, juvenile justice and mentoring

Representative Publications:

• "Global Partnerships in Juvenile Justice: Bridging Research and Practice Across Six Nations." The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social and Community Studies, 2026.
• "Incarcerated Girls with Disabilities: A Multinational Perspective." Intervention in School and Clinic 58(5), 2023
• "Trauma and Abuse: Incarcerated Girls in the United States and Costa Rica." Intervention in School and Clinic 58(5), 2023
• "Internalizing Disabilities among Incarcerated Girls from Mexico and the United States." Intervention in School and Clinic 58(5), 2023
• "Employment Reentry Preparation: Explicit Recommendations for Girls with Disabilities." Intervention in School and Clinic 58(4), 2023
• "How COVID-19 Worsened Mental Health Problems of Incarcerated Youth." In COVID-19 and Students Mental Health: Public Health Crises and the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents, Taylor & Francis, 2022
• "Education and Transition Requirements for Students with Disabilities in US Juvenile Correctional Facilities." Intervention in School and Clinic 56(5), 2021
• "Interdisciplinary Collaborations in the Study and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency." The Journal of South Texas 34(2), 2020
• "The Impact of Perspective in Identifying and Responding to Potential Sexual Misconduct: A Study of University Students." Midwest Social Sciences Journal 22(1), 2019
• "Undergraduate Students as Mentors to Support Youth Transitioning from Incarceration." Journal of Prison Education 6(2), 2019
• "HOPE: A Statewide Reentry Mentoring Program for Youth in Confinement." Corrections Today 81(2), 2019
• "A Case Study on Experiential Learning in a First-Year General Education Course." Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 19(1), 2019

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Sociology (S 100), Social Problems (S 101), Introduction to Social Services (S 125)
• Methods of Sociological Research (S 252)
• Sexuality and Society (R 320), Social Aspects of Health and Medicine (S 314), Juvenile Delinquency (S 328), Sociology of Gender (S 338), Statistics for Social and Health Professionals (S 355), Body and Society (S 357), Drug Abuse in Society (S 364), Health Disparities & Social Justice (S 360), Health over the Life Course (S 372), Sociology of Mental Health (S 374)

Awards/Honors

• 2025 IUK Summer Faculty Fellowship
• 2024 IUK Summer Faculty Fellowship
• 2024 IUK Grant-in-Aid, The Youth Rights Project in São Paulo, Brazil
• 2024 IU OVPIA International Collaboration Grant, The Youth Rights Project in São Paulo, Brazil
• 2023 Building Bridges Award, Indiana University
• 2020 Chancellor's Excellence in Diversity Award
• 2020 Trustees Teaching Award
• 2020 Claude Rich Excellence in Teaching Award
• 2019 IUK Grant-in-Aid, PreVenture Pilot Program with Overdose Lifeline, Inc.
• 2019 OVPIA Travel Grant, International Conference in Mexico City, Mexico
• 2018 OVPIA Overseas Travel Conference Grant, HOPE Mentoring Program
• 2017 Trustees Teaching Award