Eva Meza, M.A.

she/her/hers
University of California, Davis
Office: Young Hall 148B
Phone: 408-841-1104
Email: emmeza@ucdavis.edu

Research Interests: Attraction, Relationship initiation, Partner preferences, Relationship development, Commitment processes, Long term relationship outcomes

Eva Meza is a fifth year PhD candidate in Social Psychology at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on close relationships, with a particular emphasis on jealousy, infidelity, narrative meaning-making, and the cultural and gendered factors that shape how people understand and navigate romantic experiences. Drawing from intersectional and community grounded frameworks, Eva studies how collectivism, familism, and cultural identity influence relationship processes across diverse populations.

Her current work examines how people make sense of infidelity through contamination and redemption narratives, how sexual and emotional jealousy differentially predict responses to relationship threats, and how cultural micro contexts shape attraction and commitment. She uses a mixed methods approach that includes large scale survey datasets, actor-partner models, qualitative coding, narrative analysis, and advanced statistical techniques such as structural equation modeling and measurement invariance testing.

Eva is equally committed to mentorship, teaching, and community building. She has designed and taught a large online Relationship Psychology course and serves as a Graduate Student Peer Advisor, Graduate Student Ambassador for Graduate Students of Color, and co-founder and president of the Latinx Success Network, an organization that supports Latinx graduate students through community, networking, and professional development.

Across her research, teaching, and leadership, Eva is dedicated to creating inclusive spaces where students and collaborators feel seen and valued. Her long term goal is to advance culturally informed relationship science and to translate her work into practical tools that strengthen relationships, families, and communities.