Dr. Doyle P. Tate

Dr. Doyle P. Tate is an assistant professor of psychology and contributes to the women and gender studies major through teaching. His training is in community and developmental psychology, and he uses survey methods to investigate mental health and issues surrounding family formation, such as infertility and involuntary childlessness, within and between heterosexual and sexual minority populations. Dr. Tate is the principal investigator of the P.S.I.F.I. (Psychopathology, Sexual Identity, and Family Issues) lab and teaches courses related to research methods and statistics, gender, and clinical psychology. He invites any interested students to reach out and become involved in research.

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology, Concentrations in Community and Developmental Psychology, University of Virginia
• M.A., Psychology, Concentrations in Community and Developmental Psychology, University of Virginia
• B.A., Experimental Psychology, University of South Carolina

Specialty

Community and developmental psychology and LGBTQ populations.

Professional Interests

Dr. Tate’s research uses survey data to assess questions surrounding mental health and issues surrounding family formation as a function of gender and sexual identity. These are significantly under investigated issues impacting the lives of both heterosexual and sexual minority people. Infertility has historically been examined within heterosexual contexts as the diagnosis of infertility centers on heterosexual intercourse not leading to a pregnancy or live birth. However, Dr. Tate’s work is finding that sexual minority people may be similarly impacted by being unable to achieve a desired parenthood as heterosexual people. This has major implications for public policy, law, and fertility medicine.

In addition, Dr. Tate is passionate about helping students achieve their career goals. He is working on creating a series of courses and events geared toward helping undergraduate students get into their dream graduate programs and careers.

Other Interests

Dr. Tate enjoys weightlifting, and you will often see him at the campus gym. Apart from physical exercise, Dr. Tate enjoys playing video games and spending time with his daughter through surrogacy, Aphrodite.

Recent Publications

• Tate, D.P., & Shenkman, G. (In Press). “Sexual Orientation, parenthood aspirations, and involuntary childlessness in Israel and the USA.” Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research
• Tate, D. P., & Shenkman, G. (2024). “Involuntary childlessness in the U.S. and Israel: Pronatalism, gender, and sexual identity.” Journal of Marriage and Family, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.13038
• Tate, D.P. (2023). “Independently planned parenthood: Sexual identity and evaluations of single-parenthood-by-choice.” Journal of Family Psychology. 37(8), 1266–1271. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001146
• Tate, D.P. (2022). “United States normative attitudes for pursuing parenthood as a function of gender, sexual orientation, and age.” Frontiers in Psychology, 12. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772252
• Potter, E.C., Tate, D.P., & Patterson, C.J. (2021). “Perceived threat of COVID-19 among sexual minority and heterosexual women.” Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. 8(2), 188–200. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000454

Contact Dr. Doyle P. Tate

(478) 301-2949
tate_d@mercer.edu
Office: Willet Science Center, Room 134