Dr. Clayton earned his B.S. in Psychology in 2010 and M.A. in Health Psychology in 2012, both from Texas State University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 2015. His area of research is focused on the cognitive and emotional processing of health messages. Specifically, he examines how content and production features of media can be combined to create effective public health campaign messages that encourage cessation outcomes of unhealthy behaviors, and that promote quality of life and healthy development across all life stages. Other areas of interest include the psychological, social, and health implications of social media and mobile technology use.