Matthew Grindal is a quantitative sociologist who researches the theoretical mechanisms that link ethnic identity processes (i.e., ethnic identity development and ethnic-racial socialization) to the health and delinquency outcomes of adolescents and young adults. He is specifically interested in the general mechanisms specified by the social psychological literature (e.g., verification, enhancement, perceptions of threat and intergroup attitudes) and the micro-level mechanisms traditionally employed in criminological theory (i.e., social learning, social bonds, strain and self-control). His work has appeared in journals such as Deviant Behavior and Journal of Family Issues.

• Ethnic Identity
• Ethnic-Racial Socialization
• Theories of Criminal Offending
• Race and Crime
• Juvenile Delinquency
• Substance Use
• Identity Theory
• Social Identity Theory

• Grindal, Matthew and Ryan Trettevik. 2019. “Perceived Similarity, Identity Verification, and Positive Emotions.” Pp. 35-52 in Identities in Everyday Life, edited by Jan E. Stets and Richard T. Serpe. New York:  Oxford University Press.
• Grindal, Matthew, Amanda Admire, and Tanya Nieri. 2018. “A Theoretical Examination of Immigrant Status and Substance Use among Latino College Students.” Forthcoming in Deviant Behavior. Currently available online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2018.1512257
• Grindal, Matthew. 2017. “Ethnic-Racial Socialization, Social Bonds, and College Student Substance Use.” Deviant Behavior 38(10): 1102 – 1119.
• Nieri, Tanya, Matthew Grindal, Michelle A. Adams, Jeffrey Cookston, William Fabricius, Ross Parke, and Delia Saenz. 2016. “Deconstructing the ‘acculturation gap’ in Mexican-American Families and its Effects on Youth Problem Behavior.” Journal of Family Issues, 39(14): 1919-1944.
• Grindal, Matthew and Tanya Nieri. 2016. “The Relationship between Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Adolescent Substance Use: An Examination of Social Learning as a Causal Mechanism.” The Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 15(1): 3-24.
• Trettevik, Ryan and Matthew Grindal. 2016. “The Influence of the Ideal and Ought Self Guides on the Affective Consequences of Identity Verification” Pp. 601-625 in New Directions in Identity Theory and Research, edited by Jan E. Stets and Richard T. Serpe. New York:  Oxford University Press.
• Grindal, Matthew and Tanya Nieri. 2015. “An Examination of Ethnic Identity and Academic Performance: Assessing the Multidimensional Role of Parental Ethnic-Racial Socialization among a Sample of Latino Adolescents.” Race and Social Problems, 7(3): 242-255.

Drawing on two sets of survey data from ethnically diverse young adults, Grindal is currently examining the gender, ethnic and immigrant status variation in four prominent criminological theories: social learning theory, social bond theory, self-control theory, and general strain theory. He is using these same data to examine how different identity processes account for how parental ethnic-racial socialization influences the psychological health of young adults.