Emily Rothman, ScD

Scholarly, Research, and/or Practice Interests

Dr. Emily F. Rothman is professor and chair of the Occupational Therapy Department, with a secondary appointment at the BU School of Public Health where she has been a faculty member since 2004. Dr. Rothman is a social epidemiologist. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Wesleyan University and her doctorate in science from Harvard School of Public Health (’04). She began her professional career working in a domestic violence shelter, at a counseling program for men who perpetrated domestic violence, and volunteering for a sexual assault hotline in Vermont. Her public health research has focused on understanding the etiology of, and preventing, intimate partner and sexual violence, and has also involved research on firearm violence, human trafficking, and pornography. A through-line on these projects has been a focus on promoting health equity for marginalized populations, and in particular sexual and gender minority people, and Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC). In 2016, Dr. Rothman began a new line of research on autism, which takes a neurodiversity perspective and is conducted in partnership with autistic people. She has brought her scholarly interests together by developing interventions to prevent sexual and intimate partner violence for neurodiverse people. She has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers (as of May 2023). Her research has been published in journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, American Journal of Public Health, JAMA Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health, Prevention Science, Autism, OTJR, and AJOT.

Dr. Rothman has been a federally-funded principal investigator (PI) since 2009. She has been awarded more than $8M in external research funds, with grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), US Department of Defense (DoD), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Patient Centered Outcomes Institute (PCORI), Organization for Autism Research (OAR), and others. Her TED talk “How porn changes the way teens think about sex” has garnered more than 3.2 million views, and her research on pornography was a focus of a 2018 article in The New York Times Magazine. She is an appointed member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council on Sexual and Domestic Violence, and served on the Massachusetts Task Force on Sexual Assault Climate Surveys. She is the author of the book “Pornography and Public Health” (Oxford University Press, 2021). She is frequently consulted by media. She has appeared on the “Today” show on NBC, and her research has been featured on NPR and by The New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Teen Vogue, and other media outlets.

Recent Publications

• Rothman E.F., Graham Holmes L. Using formative research to develop HEARTS: A curriculum-based healthy relationships promoting intervention for individuals on the autism spectrum. Autism. 2021 Jun 12; 13623613211024521. PMID: 34120485. Read At: PubMed

• Rothman E.F., Campbell J.K., Quinn E, Smith S, Xuan Z. Evaluation of the One Love Escalation Workshop for Dating Abuse Prevention: a Randomized Controlled Trial Pilot Study with a Sample of US Navy Sailors. Prev Sci. 2021 Apr 14. PMID: 33855672. Read At: PubMed

• Taft C.T., Franz M.R., Cole HE, D’Avanzato C, Rothman E.F. Examining strength at home for preventing intimate partner violence in civilians. J Fam Psychol. 2021 Sep; 35(6):857-862. PMID: 33734765. Read At: PubMed

• Rothman E.F., Cuevas C.A., Mumford E.A., Bahrami E., Taylor B.G. The Psychometric Properties of the Measure of Adolescent Relationship Harassment and Abuse (MARSHA) With a Nationally Representative Sample of U.S. Youth. J Interpers Violence. 2021 Jan 05; 886260520985480. PMID: 33399026. Read At: PubMed

• Rothman E.F., Beckmeyer J.J., Herbenick D., Fu T.C., Dodge B., Fortenberry J.D. The Prevalence of Using Pornography for Information About How to Have Sex: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey of U.S. Adolescents and Young Adults. Arch Sex Behav. 2021 02; 50(2):629-646. PMID: 33398696. Read At: PubMed

• Adhia, A., Bair-Merritt, M., Broder-Fingert, S., Nunez Pepen, R.A., Suarez-Rocha, A.C., & Rothman, E.F. The Critical Lack of Data on Alcohol and Marijuana Use by U.S. Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism in Adulthood. 2020.Read At: Custom

• Banyard, V.L., Edwards, K.M., Rizzo, A.J., Rothman, E.F., Greenberg, P., Kearns, M.C. Improving social norms and actions to prevent sexual and intimate partner violence: A pilot study of the impact of Green Dot Community on youth. Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion. 2020. Read At: Custom

• Campbell J.K., Poage S.M., Godley S., Rothman E.F. Social Anxiety as a Consequence of Non-consensually Disseminated Sexually Explicit Media Victimization. J Interpers Violence. 2020 Oct 27; 886260520967150. PMID: 33107385. Read At: PubMed

• Stone R., Campbell J.K., Kinney D., Rothman E.F. “He Would Take My Shoes and All the Baby’s Warm Winter Gear so We Couldn’t Leave”: Barriers to Safety and Recovery Experienced by a Sample of Vermont Women With Partner Violence and Opioid Use Disorder Experiences. J Rural Health. 2021 01; 37(1):35-44. PMID: 32929780. Read At: PubMed

• Rothman, E.F., Bair-Merritt, M., Broder-Fingert, S. A feasibility test of an online class to prevent dating violence for autistic youth: Safer Dating for Youth on the Autism Spectrum. Journal of Family Violence. 2020.