Maria Boccia, PhD
Professor of Child and Family Studies
Department of Human Sciences and Design
Maria L Boccia (PhD. DMin, LMFT-S, AASECT-certified sex therapist, ABCST-certified sex therapist) is Professor of Child and Family Studies in the Department of Human Sciences and Design at Baylor University.
Dr. Boccia has conducted biomedical research, studying the neuroscience of attachment and maternal and sexual behavior. In addition, as a licensed therapist, she provided sex therapy for patients at the Center for Sexual Health and Education in Charlotte, NC. She has held faculty appointments at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, where she taught and directed the training of master’s students in counseling, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Oklahoma Baptist University. In addition to her academic appointments, she is a licensed marriage and family therapist (MFT) in Texas and North Carolina, a Texas MFT supervisor, American Association of MFT clinical supervisor, an American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors and Therapists-certified sex therapist, and a certified Christian sex therapist.
Her program of research focuses on how attachment relationships and their disruption, affects social and emotional development. Her current research comprises two primary themes: the role of oxytocin in mediating the effects of early experience on adult behavior. Recently her research has explored the effects of early parental loss, operationalized as divorce, on later oxytocin levels and attachment styles, as well as exploring attachment to God and relating it to the effects of faith on health by examining oxytocin, which is implicated in stress responses that mediate the effects of faith on health. A second area of her research explores the impact of brain tumors on relationship and sexual functions in patients and their families.
Current Research Interests:
- Impact of parental divorce on adult neurobiology of socio-emotional functioning
- Quality of life and survivorship in patients with brain tumors and their families
Current Courses Taught:
- Introduction to Research
- Theories of Family Development
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Family Transitions, Stress, and Resilience