Fellowships at the Center for Developmental Science

Affiliated Postdoctoral Fellows

ARYN DOTTERER, Ph.D. in Human Development & Family Studies from The Pennsylvania State University in 2006.

Afflilated Posdoctoral Fellow, funded by a Post-Doctoral Research Training Fellowship in Education Sciences at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (Donna Bryant, PI)

Graduate Mentor: Susan M. McHale, Ph.D.
Postdoc Mentor: Peg Burchinal, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Aryn’s research interests center around school engagement and academic achievement among low-income and ethnic minority youth. As a graduate student at Penn State Aryn’s work focused on school engagement and academic achievement during adolescence and examined links among gender, parenting (i.e., racial socialization, relationship quality, educational expectations), socioeconomic status, and school-related competencies. As a postdoc, Aryn will extend this line of research to early childhood using longitudinal models of change and process to examine how school experiences and cognitive skills in early childhood are related to academic achievement and school engagement in adolescence.

Publications:
McHale, S., Crouter, A., Kim, J., Burton, L., Davis, K., Dotterer, A., & Swanson, D. (2006). Mothers’ and fathers’ racial socialization in African American families: Implications for youth. Child Development, 77, 1387-1402.

McHale, S., Dotterer, A., & Kim, J. (in press). An Ecological Approach to the study of youth and the media.

Dotterer, A., Hoffman, L., Crouter, A., & McHale, S. (under review). A longitudinal examination of the bi-directional links between academic achievement and parent-adolescent conflict.

Dotterer, A. McHale, S., & Crouter, A. (under review). Implication of out-of-school activities for school engagement in African American adolescencts.

Dotterer, A. McHale, S., & Crouter, A. (under review). Sociocultural factors and school engagement among African American youth: The roles of racial discrimination, racial socialization, and ethnic identity.

Dotterer, A. McHale, S., & Crouter, A. (under review). The development and correlates of academic interests from childhood through adolescence.

LIONEL HOWARD, Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University in June 2006.

Affiliated Post Doctoral Fellow, funded by a Pre and Post Doctoral Training Program in Research on Black Child Development through the National Institute for Child Development and Health (Vonnie McLoyd, PI).

Training Director: Vonnie McLloyd, Ph.D.
Faculty Mentors: Oscar Barbarin, Ph.D. & Beth Kurtz-Costes, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Lionel’s research interest include, broadly, gender identity development, motivation and academic achievement, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Currently, his research focuses on the ways in which adolescent African American boys in urban communities narrate, construct, and make sense of their masculine identity(ies). Lionel is particularly interested in the role of significant adult and peer relationships in the process of identity construction, and how adolescent African American boys negotiate the parameters of these relationships when receiving messages about “appropriate” ways of being masculine that challenge their authentic masculine self.

In addition, he continues to work on research projects that examine the influence of Catholic and Early-College High Schools on the learning motivation and achievement of Black (which broadly includes African Americans, Caribbean Americans and Haitian Americans) and Latino students. Lionel has also begun to expand his research to examine the relationship between gender identity development and psychological and physical health and stability.
During his postdoctoral fellowship, Lionel will continue to pursue his interest in boy’s development and achievement and motivation. With Dr. Barbarin, he will explore the familial, academic, and socio-emotional lives of African American boys during the formative years. With Dr. Kurtz-Costes, Lionel will explore the relationship of racial socialization, achievement and motivation, and race and gender stereotyping during adolescents.

Publications:
Howard, L.C. (Winter, 2005). Book Review: Adolescent Boys: Exploring the Diverse Cultures of Boyhood by Niobe Way and Judy Chu (NYU Press, 2004) Harvard Educational Review.

Anderson, S., Attwood, P. and Howard, L. (2004) Facing Racism in Education (3rd Edition). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Pennington, R., Burcham, J., Howard, L. & Rothhass, C. (2000). “A preliminary Examination of the Address List for Census 2000.” Proceedings of the Survey Research Methods Section, American Statistical Association, p.331-337.

Howard, L.C. & Vitrano, F. (1999). “The 2000 Dress Rehearsal Master Address File Building Process.” Proceedings of the Survey Research Methods Section, American Statistical Association, p. 755-760

Howard, L.C. “African American Boys’ Masculine Identity: Understanding the rules of Crying and Fighting.” (Under Review)

Howard, L.C. “Performing Masculinity: A qualitative examination of adolescent African American Boys’ response to gender scripting.” (Under Review)

Manuscripts in preparation (in order of completion):
Okeke, N., Howard, L.C., Kurtz-Costes, B., & Rowley, S. “Race stereotypes and self-perceptions in African American Youth: The moderating role of race centrality”

Howard, L.C. “Resistance, Internalization, Modification, and Conflict: Responding to cultural gender scripts. In Making Space for Diverse Masculinities in Urban Education, McCready, L. (Ed.).

Howard, L.C. “Responding to gender scripts: The role of peers in the socialization of masculinity.”

Howard, L.C. “Defining African American Boys’ Masculine Identity: It Takes a Village!”

Howard, L.C. “Masculine identities: A historical understanding of their construction.”

Olson, C., Warner, D., Howard, L.C., & Kutner, L. “The influence of parental rules and supervision on children’s M-rated game play.

IHEOMA U. IRUKA, Ph.D. in Applied Child Development from University of Miami, FL in 2005.

Afflilated Posdoctoral Fellow, funded by a Post-Doctoral Research Training Fellowship in Education Sciences at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (Donna Bryant, PI)

Graduate Mentor: Daryl B. Greenfield, Ph.D.
Postdoc Mentors: Donna Bryant, Ph.D. and Peg Burchinal, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Iheoma’s research interests center on school readiness, academic and social success in low-income minority children; and the role of the family and preschool environment in this process. As a graduate student at the University of Miami (UM), Iheoma was involved in the development of a direct assessment to measure preschooler’s approaches to learning, a school readiness domain. Her thesis and dissertation work at UM focused on parental processes (i. e., parent efficacy and involvement) and its effect on Head Start children’s school readiness. As a postdoc at Frank Porter Graham, Iheoma will extend this line of research by examining additional parenting processes, such as parental attitudes, parent-child interactions, and the home environment on children’s school readiness and academic and social competence.

Publications:
Greenfield, D.B., Iruka, I. U., & Munis, P. (2004). Assessment of social competence in high risk preschooler: Evaluation of the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory (ASBI) across home and school settings. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 22(3), 220-232.

Iruka, I. U. and Carver, P. (2006). Early Childhood Program Participation in 2005 (NCES 2006-075). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Carver, P. R., and Iruka, I. U. (2006). After-School Programs and Activities: 2005 (NCES 2006-076). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Iruka, I. U. (under review). Development and validation of a measure assessing parents’ involvement in preschoolers’ approaches to learning: The Home Education Questionnaire. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.

Iruka, I. U. (under review). Home and school characteristics as protective factors during transition across risk groups. Journal of School Psychology.

Iruka, I.U., Cai, K., & Burchinal, M.R. (under review). Long-term Effect of adult-child relationships for African American children’s development from kindergarten to elementary school. Journal of School Psychology.

Pungello, L. P., Iruka, I. U., Dotterer, A. M., Mills-Koonce, R., & Reznick, J. S. (under review). The effects of income, race, and sensitive and harsh parenting on receptive and expressive language development in early childhood. Developmental Psychology.

RACHEL KAPLAN, Ph.D. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Albany in 2003.

Affiliated Postdoctoral fellow, funded by a Pre and Postdoctoral Training Program in Research on Black Child Development through the National Institute for Child Development and Health (Vonnie McLoyd, PI).

Mentor: Vonnie C. McLoyd, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
While Rachel comes from a sociological background, she has consistently found herself immersed in the developmental psychology literature, which she incorporates into a sociological perspective. She has always been interested in the larger social structural explanations of human behavior while also desiring to understand the social psychological mediating processes. The central focus of her research has consistently been child and adolescent mental health and behavior concentrating on the mechanisms that impact children’s behavior, primarily in the realms of family processes and parenting practices, and to a lesser extent, on neighborhood and school level factors as important influences on children’s behavior. Current projects and future research will investigate further potential mediating and moderating influences on these relationships. She has a particular interest in exploring the moderating influence of household structure (two-parent versus single parent households) on relationships between family practices and children’s outcomes. She also wishes to explore how social networks mediate the effects of SES manifested in poor neighborhoods and school environments on children’s future orientations in educational pursuits and employment. She hopes in the future to apply her research skills to the development and evaluation of intervention programs.

Publications:
McLoyd, V.C., Kaplan, R., Hardaway, C.R &. Wood, D. (2007). Does Endorsement of Physical Discipline Matter? Assessing Moderating Influences on the Maternal and Child Psychological Correlates of Physical Discipline in African American Families. Journal of Family Psychology, 21 (2), 165-175.

McLoyd, V.C., Toyokawa, T., & Kaplan, R. (In Press).Work Demands, Work-Family Conflict, and Child Adjustment in African American Families: The Mediating Role of Family Routines. Journal of Family Issues

Wood, D., Kaplan, R., & McLoyd, V.C. (2007). Gender Differences in the Educational Expectations of Urban, Low-income African American Youth: The Role of Parents and the School. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 417-427.

Submitted Manuscripts:
McLoyd, V.C., Kaplan, R., & Hardaway, C.R. Parental psychological distress, child management, delinquent behavior, and the moderating influence of perceived neighborhood social control.

Pienik, J., Shanahan, M.J., & Kaplan, R. Race, Social Class, and Parental Involvement with Children’s Cognitive Development.

Manuscripts in Preparation:
Kaplan, R. Social Networks and Low-SES African American Adolescents’ Future College Orientations.

Kaplan, R., Cooper, S.M., & McLoyd, V.C. Interraical Contact and its Relation to Present and Projected Interracial Interactions for White High School Seniors.

Kaplan, R., Pienik, J.A., & McLoyd, V.C. Race, School Success and Self-Concept: A Reexamination and Elaboration of Disidentification Theory

Kaplan, R., Purtell, K., & McLoyd, V.C. Effects of New Hope on Adolescent Employment and Perceptions of Future Prospects

CIARA P. SMALLS, Ph.D. in Personality and Social Context from the University of Michigan in 2007.

Affiliated Postdoctoral fellow, funded by a Pre and Postdoctoral Training Program in Research on Black Child Development through the National Institute for Child Development and Health (Vonnie McLoyd, PI).

Graduate Mentor: Robert Sellers, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Mentor: Vonnie McLoyd, Ph.D. & Beth Kurtz-Costes, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Ciara’s research investigates the impact of parenting practices and youth identity on the academic achievement, socioemotional, and sociocultural development of African American youth. This work has primarily concentrated on African American youth in middle and high school.

Ciara’s current work explores the joint nature of general parenting practices (e.g., democratic parenting, disciplinarian parenting) and culturally specific practices (e.g., racial socialization) in the context of African American families. Her research further explores other dimensions associated with parent and youth racial group membership that have implications for the academic and social adjustment of youth of color such as parent and youth discrimination experiences and racial identity attitudes.

Publications:
Bowen- Reid, T.L. & Smalls, C. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of spirituality, stress levels and health promoting behaviors amongst African-American college students. Journal of Black Western Studies, 28, 283-291.

Chavous, T., Rivas, D., Smalls, C., Griffin, T., & Cogburn, C. (accepted for publication). Gender matters: The influence of school racial discrimination experiences and racial identity on African American adolescents' academic engagement. Developmental Psychology.

Scottham, K.M. & Smalls, C. (under review). Racial centrality and regard as antecedents of African American parent race socialization emphases: A profile approach.

Smalls, C., White, R., Chavous, T., & Sellers, R. (2007). Racial ideological beliefs and racial discrimination experiences as predictors of academic engagement among African American adolescents. Journal of Black Psychology, 33, 299-330.

Manuscripts in Preparation:
Neblett, E., Smalls, C., Ford, K., & Sellers, R. Patterns of racial socialization and African American adolescent racial identity.

Smalls, C., Rowley, S., & Sellers. What impacts parent racial trust in school? The roles of school characteristics and profiles of parent racial identity and discrimination experiences.

Smalls, C. Self-regulation in the classroom and beyond: The joint roles of parenting practices and racial socialization in African American families.

STEPHANIE ZERWAS, Ph.D. in Clinical and Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2007.

Graduate Mentor: Celia Brownell, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Lynne Vernon-Feagans, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Stephanie’s graduate research focused on early social cognitive development in toddlers and preschoolers. With her graduate mentor Celia Brownell, she examined the relationship between social skill and social understanding in toddlers’ emerging capacity for cooperation, self understanding and pretend play. Specifically, Stephanie theoretically and empirically integrated theories of embodied cognition into theories of social cognitive development. Stephanie recently completed her clinical internship at San Diego Children’s Hospital. Her clinical experience with children and families in poverty led her to extend her research to individual differences in social cognitive development for at risk children. With Lynne Vernon-Feagans, Stephanie will examine predictors and correlates of social and emotional understanding for high risk children using Family Life Project data. Stephanie is also interested in the relationship between social cognitive understanding and preschoolers’ emergent literacy. Another goal of her current research is to examine the role of early childcare experiences for children’s cognitive and social development.

Publications:
Greene, R.W., Biederman, J. Zerwas, S., Monuteaux, M., Goring, J., Faraone, S. (2002). Psychiatric comorbidity, family dysfunction, and social impairment in referred youth with oppositional defiant disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1214-1224.

Brownell, C., Zerwas, S., Balaraman, G. (2002). Peers, cooperative play, and the development of empathy in children. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 25, 28-29

Zerwas, S., Balaraman, G., Brownell, C. (2004). Constructing an understanding of mind with peers. Behavioral & Brain Science, 27, 147

Brownell, C.A., Balaraman, G., & Zerwas, S. (2006). Becoming a Social Partner: Cooperation and Social Understanding in Toddler Peers. Child Development

Brownell, C.A., Zerwas, S., Balaraman, G. (in press). So big!: The development of bodily self-awareness in toddlers. Child Development

Zerwas, S., Brownell, C., Campbell, S. (submitted). Partners in pretense: Associations with peer experience in early development.