Fellowships at the Center for Developmental Science

Current Postdoctoral Fellows

STEPHANIE D. BLOCK, Ph. D. in Developmental Psychology from University of California, Davis in 2008

Graduate mentor: Gail S. Goodman, Ph.D.
CCHD mentor: Desmond Runyan, M.D., Dr. P.H.

Research Interests:
Stephanie’s graduate research focused on issues involving children in the legal system and children’s memory for trauma. Her master’s research specifically examined children’s knowledge of and attitudes towards dependency court. Stephanie’s dissertation first involved forming Desse-Roediger McDermott word lists that were abuse specific so that she could then examine trauma specific false memory in maltreated populations. She then used these word lists, and other memory measures (e.g., autobiographical memory tests) and psychopathology measures (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder indices) to examine false memory in adolescents and adults with and without maltreatment histories. Additional work conducted during her graduate years involved how accurately adults can discern children’s true memory reports from their false memory reports. As a postdoctoral fellow at CDS, Stephanie is broadening her research in the field of child maltreatment. Taking a public health approach to some of her research, she is working on a project geared towards reducing incidences of shaken baby syndrome in the state of North Carolina. She is also taking the opportunity to examine different domains of resilience using an ecological-developmental theory approach.

Publications:
Block, S. D., Greenberg, S., & Goodman, G. S. (in press). Remembrance of victim testimony: Effects of emotional content, relevance, and tone. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Block, S. D., Segovia, D., & Goodman, G. S. (in press). Suggestibility of children. In Wiley encyclopedia of forensic sciences. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Perry, S., York, C., Bottoms, B. L., Block, S. D., & Goodman, G. S. (in press). Child witnesses. In Wiley encyclopedia of forensic sciences. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ogle, C., Block, S. D., Harris, L. T., Culver, M., Augusti, E., Timmer, S., Urquiza, A., & Goodman, G. S. (2008). Accuracy and specificity of autobiographical memory in childhood trauma victims: Developmental considerations. In M. L. Howe, G. S. Goodman, & D. Cicchetti (Eds.). Stress, trauma, and children's memory development: Neurobiological, cognitive, clinical, and legal perspectives (pp. 171-203). New York: Oxford University Press.

Malloy, L., Mitchell, E., Block, S. D., Quas, J., & Goodman, G. S. (2006). Children’s eyewitness memory: Balancing children’s needs and defendants’ rights when seeking the truth. In M. P. Toglia, J. D. Reed, D. F. Ross, & R. C. L. Lindsay (Eds.). The handbook of eyewitness memory (pp. 545-574). Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Manuscripts under review:
Block, S. D., Oran, H., Oran, D., Baumrind, N., & Goodman, G. S. (submitted). Child victims' reactions to and knowledge of dependency court. Child Abuse & Neglect.

Manuscripts in preparation:
Block, S. D., Dion, J., Melinder, A., Magnussen, S., & Goodman, G. S. (in prep.). Child maltreatment and law: Giving psychology away. In H. R. Schaffer & K. Durkin (Eds.), Handbook of developmental psychology in action. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Block, S. D., Ogle, C., Harris, L. T., & Goodman, G. S. (in prep.). False memory and autobiographical memory in sexually abused adolescents and adults.

Block, S. D., & Goodman, G. S. (in prep.). Trauma-related and non trauma-related DRM lists.

Block, S. D., Shestowsky, D. S., Segovia, D., Schaaf, J., Alexander, K., & Goodman, G. S. (in. prep.) Adults’ abilities to discern children’s true from false statements.

JENNIFER G. BOHANEK, Ph.D. in Cognition and Development from Emory University in 2006

Graduate mentor: Robyn Fivush, Ph.D.
CCHD mentors: Lynne Baker-Ward, Ph.D. and Patricia Bauer, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Jennifer’s research as a graduate student at Emory University focused on the social-emotional factors that shape the development of autobiographical narratives in preadolescent children, adolescents, and adults, and in turn, how autobiographical narratives themselves contribute to social-emotional well-being. More specifically, her research addressed the differential socialization of positive and negative emotional events, and how narratives differing by emotional valence and intensity may be related to different aspects of well-being for children, adolescents, adults, and families. As a postdoctoral fellow, Jennifer will broaden her research to examine the origins of autobiographical memory in younger children (e.g. preschool-age), and also plans to investigate the role of both social-emotional and cognitive variables involved in this developmental process. Further, Jennifer will also take part in research examining autobiographical memories in other age groups (middle-childhood, adults) and across different types of emotional events, and how these may be related to various psychological outcomes.

Publications:
Fivush, R., Bohanek, J.G., Robertson, R., & Duke, M.P. (2004). Family narratives and the development of children’s emotional well-being. In M.W. Pratt and B.E. Fiese (Eds.), Family stories and the lifecourse: Across time and generations. (pp.55-76). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Bohanek, J.G., Fivush, R., & Walker, E. (2005). Memories of positive and negative emotional events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 51-66.

Bohanek, J.G., Marin, K.A., Fivush, R., & Duke, M.P. (2006). Family narrative interaction and children’s sense of self. Family Process, 45, 39-54.

Bohanek, J.G., Marin, K.A., & Fivush, R. (in press). Family narratives, self, and gender in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence.

Duke, M.P., Fivush R., Lazarus, A., & Bohanek, J.G. (in press). Of ketchup and kin: Dinnertime conversations as a major source of family knowledge, family adjustment, and family resilience. To appear in B. Shore and M. Auslander (Eds.), Family Time. (also published as a working paper for the Emory Center for the study of Myth and Ritual in American Life).

Fivush, R., Bohanek. J.G., & Duke, M.P. (in press). The self in time: Subjective perspective and intergenerational history. To appear in F. Sani (Ed.), Continuity and self.

Fivush, R., Bohanek, J.G., Marin, K., & Sales, J.M. (in press). Emotional memory and memory for emotions. To appear in O. Luminet, A. Curci and M. Conway (Eds.), Flashbulb memories: New issues and new perspectives.

Marin, K.A., Bohanek, J.G., & Fivush, R. (in press). Positive effects of talking about the negative: Family narratives of negative experiences and preadolescents’ perceived competence. Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Manuscripts under review:
Bohanek, J.G., Fivush, R., Zaman, W., Thomas-Lepore, C.E., Merchant, S., & Duke, M.P. (submitted). Narrative interaction in family dinnertime conversations.

Fivush, R., Sales, J.M., & Bohanek, J.G. (submitted). Meaning-making in mothers’ and children’s narratives of emotional events.

Bohanek, J.G., & Fivush, R. (submitted). Do different narrative characteristics predict different outcomes? Relations between narrative structure, linguistic structure, narrative content, and psychological well-being across positive and negative emotional events.

Manuscripts in preparation:
Bohanek, J.G. & Fivush, R. Change in the content and structure of women’s narratives of emotional events over time predicts psychological outcomes.

Bohanek, J.G. & Fivush, R. Relations between narratives of positive and negative events and psychological outcomes in childhood.

Marin, K.A., Bohanek, J.G., McWilliams, K., & Fivush, R. Family reminiscing style in positive and negative shared experiences: Relations to child well-being.

GEOFFREY L. BROWN, Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008

Graduate mentors: Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, Ph.D. and Brent A. McBride, Ph.D.
CCHD mentors: Martha J. Cox, Ph.D. and Amy G. Halberstadt, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Geoffrey’s research focuses on social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood from a family systems perspective, with an interest in how all family members and family relationships may mutually influence one another. More specifically, his research has concentrated on the role of the father in the family, and the development of the father-child relationship in the early years of life. His past work has explored the correlates of father involvement, paternal sensitivity, and father-child attachment security in early childhood. He is also interested in the role that family relationships play in the development of young children’s self-concepts, and how the child’s emergent personality develops within the context of the family. As a postdoctoral fellow, Geoffrey plans to further pursue his interests in fathering by examining the construction of the paternal role and the developmental consequences of fathering behavior in diverse populations. This work is intended to reach a greater understanding of the different forms that the paternal role may take, and the contributions of fathers and father-figures to child and family development. More broadly, he also hopes to further examine the developmental trajectories of parent-child interactions, parents’ and children’s beliefs about emotion, and the processes of emotion socialization within the family.

Publications:
Mangelsdorf, S. C., & Brown, G. L. (in press). “Infant Attachment”. Chapter to appear in R. Shweder, T. Bidell, A. Dailey, S. Dixon, P. Miller & J. Modell (Eds.), The Chicago Companion to the Child. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Cannon, E. A., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Brown, G. L., & Sokolowski, M. S. (in press). Parent characteristics as antecedents of maternal gatekeeping and fathering behavior. Family Process.

McBride, B. A., Dyer, W. J., Liu, Y., & Brown, G. L. (in press). The differential impact of early father and mother involvement on later student achievement. Journal of Educational Pscyhology.

Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Brown, G. L., Cannon, E. A., Mangelsdorf, S. C., & Sokolowski, M. S. (2008). Maternal gatekeeping, coparenting quality, and father involvement in families with infants. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 389-398.

Brown, G. L., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Agathen, J. M., & Ho, R. M. (2008). Young children’s psychological selves: Convergence with maternal reports of child personality. Social Development, 17, 161-182.

Brown, G. L., McBride, B. A., Shin, N., & Bost, K. K. (2007). Parenting predictors of father-child attachment security: Interactive effects of father involvement and fathering quality. Fathering, 5, 197-219.

Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Brown, G. L., & Sokolowski, M. S. (2007). Goodness-of-fit in family context: Infant temperament, marital quality, and early coparenting behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 30, 82-96.

Bost, K. K., Shin, N., McBride, B. A., Brown, G. L., Vaughn, B. E., Coppola, G., Verissimo, M., & Korth, B. (2006). Maternal secure-base scripts, children’s attachment security, and mother-child narrative styles. Attachment and Human Development, 8, 241-260.

Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Diener, M., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Brown, G. L., McHale, J. L., & Frosch, C. F. (2006). Attachment and sensitivity in family context: The roles of parent and infant gender. Infant and Child Development, 15, 367-385.

McBride, B. A., Brown, G. L., Bost, K. K., & Shin, N., Vaughn, B., & Korth, B. (2005). Paternal identity, maternal gatekeeping, and father involvement. Family Relations, 54, 360-372.

Manuscripts under review:
Brown, G. L., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Neff, C., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Frosch, C. A. (under review). Young children’s self-concepts: Direct and interactive contributions of child temperament, mothers’ and fathers’ parenting, and triadic family interaction.

Brown, G. L., McBride, B. A., Bost, K. K., & Shin, N. (under review). Parental involvement, temperament, and child gender: Differential relations for fathers and mothers.

Bost, K. K., Shin, N., McBride, B. A., & Brown, G. L. (under review). Mutual friendship, social support networks, and preschool children’s social behavior.
Davis, E., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Brown, G. L., & Mangelsdorf, S. C. (under review). Stability in early coparenting: The moderating role of infant temperament.

Shigeto, A., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Brown, G. L., & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (under review). Familial and social-contextual influences on family interaction patterns at 13 months postpartum.

Manuscripts in preparation:
Brown, G. L., Mangelsdorf, S. C., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Neff, C. (in preparation). Coparenting as a predictor of mother-child and father-child attachment.
Brown, G. L., & Mangelsdorf, S. C. (in preparation). Father involvement, paternal sensitivity, and father-child attachment in the first three years.

SOO-YONG BYUN, Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration from University of Minnesota at Twin Cities in 2007

Postdoctoral fellow, funded by Rural High School Aspirations Study through the National Research Center on Rural Education Support (Judith Meece, PI).

Mentor: Judith Meece, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Soo-yong’s research interests include international educational policy analysis, program design and evaluation, comparative education, sociology of education, and quantitative methods and statistics. Soo-yong is interested in examining how family resources are linked to children’s educational outcomes and how educational policy and programs mediate the relationship between family and children’s school success from a comparative perspective. More specifically, he has studied how various forms of family resources often referred to as capital (e.g., cultural capital, social capital) in social sciences operate in different social and cultural settings with respect to school success. His dissertation at the University of Minnesota examines the impact of cultural capital on school success in his home country of South Korea.

Most of Soo-yong’s research experiences have involved research design and quantitative analysis. As a research assistant at the Research and Training Center on Community Living / Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, he was involved in assessing the program of the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Institutional Care Facility (ICF/MR). Upon graduating from the University of Minnesota, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Teacher Education Study in Mathematics (IEA/TEDS-M) in the Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University (MSU). During his stay in MSU, he also worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Education and the Department of Sociology. For the latter postdoctoral MSU fellowship, he conducted a comparative study to examine South Korean and American adolescents’ transition to postsecondary education. During his postdoctoral fellowship in UNC-Chapel Hill, Soo-yong will continue to pursue his interest in adolescents’ development and achievement. With Dr. Meece, he will examine needs of rural high school students with respect to their educational opportunities and preparation for adulthood.

Publications:
Stancliffe, R., Lakin, K. C., Taub, S., Giuseppina, C, & Byun, S.-y. (in press). Satisfaction and sense of well-being among Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Institutional Care Facility (ICF/MR) recipients in six States. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Taub, S., Giuseppina, C., Lakin, K.C., Doljanac, R., Byun, S.-y., & Stancliffe, R.J. (in press). Differential utilization of community services by Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Institutional Care Facility (ICF/MR) recipients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. American Journal on Mental Retardation.

Lakin, K. C., Doljanac, R., Byun, S.-y., Stancliffe, R., Taub, S., & Giuseppina, C. (2008). Choice-making among Medicaid HCBS and ICF/MR recipients in six states. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 113(5), 325-342.

Byun, S.-y. & Kim, K.-k. (2008). The impact of cultural capital on educational outcomes of high school students in South Korea. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 18(2), 53-82. (in Korean)

Lakin, K.C., Doljanac, R., Byun, S.-y., Stancliffe, R., Taub, S., & Giuseppina, C. (2008). Factors associated with expenditures for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Intermediate Care Facility for persons with mental retardation (ICF/MR) services for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 46(3), 200-214.

Byun, S.-y. & Kim, K.-k. (2008). Parental involvement and student achievement: Focusing on differential effects by family socioeconomic status. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 18(1), 39-66. (in Korean)

Stancliffe, R., Lakin, K. C., Doljanac, R., Byun, S.-y., Taub, S., & Giuseppina, C. (2007). Loneliness and living arrangements. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 45(6), 380-390.

Lakin, K. C., Doljanac, R., Taub, S., Giuseppina, C, & Byun, S.-y. (2007). Adults with dual diagnoses of intellectual and psychiatric disability receiving Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Institutional Care Facility (ICF/MR) recipients in six states. Mental Health Aspects of Developmental Disabilities, 10(3), 78-90.

Kim, K.-k. & Byun, S.-y. (2007). The impact of cultural capital on student achievement in South Korea. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 17(1), 23-51. (in Korean)

Kim, K.-k. & Byun, S.-y. (2006). Determinants of children’s educational transition in South Korea. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 16(4), 1-27. (in Korean)

Byun, S.-y., & Kim, K.-k. (2004). Determinants of parental views toward the High School Equalization Policy: Focusing on the differences between the South Bank and the North Bank in Seoul. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 14(2), 81-100. (in Korean)

Manuscripts under Review and in Preparation:
Byun, S.-y. Kim, K.-k., & Schofer, E. Cultural capital and school success: The case of South Korea. Sociology of Education. [Revise and Resubmit]

Byun, S.-y., Kim, D.H., Schneider, B., & Kim, K.-k. Dropouts in higher education: A comparative study between South Korea and the United States.

Byun, S.-y., Kim, K.-k., & Schofer, E. High-brow cultural activities and student achievement in East Asian countries: An analysis from PISA 2000.

Byun, S.-y., & Kim, K.-k. Gender differences in transition to postsecondary education: The case of South Korea.

SHARON L. CHRIST, Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2008

Graduate mentor: Kenneth Bollen, Ph.D.
CCHD mentors: Daniel Bauer, Ph.D. and Carolyn Halpern, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Sharon’s research focuses on the effects of trauma on child and adolescent development, especially social mediators and moderators of this relationship. Her research specifically focuses on the mitigating effects of participation in both formal social organizations and informal social groups on anxiety; depression; withdrawal; delinquency and aggression; and, social, thought, and attention disorder trajectories. She will be studying a nationally representative cohort of children involved with the U.S. child protective services system using the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW).

Sharon is also a methodologist interested in structural equation modeling with latent variables, longitudinal modeling, and analysis of complex survey data. Sharon has published articles on sampling weights and her dissertation research includes research on applying sampling weights in multilevel and longitudinal models. Her publications and manuscripts apply such methods as mixture modeling, latent class analysis, latent transition analysis, generalized structural equation modeling, and latent trajectory analysis. Several of these modeling methods are combined with estimation using sampling weights and corrections for nested data. Sharon’s research at the CDS includes applying structural equation modeling with latent variable and complex sample estimation to the evaluation of the relationship between trauma and development with special emphasis on accounting for error in the measurement of well-being outcomes and the experience of trauma.

Publications:
Biemer, Paul P., Christ, Sharon L. (2008). Constructing the Survey Weights. in Levy, Paul S. and Lemeshow, Stanley (ed.s) Sampling of Populations: Methods and Applications. 4th Ed. New York: Wiley.

Christ, S. L., Lee, D. J., Lam, B. L., Zheng, D. D., & Arheart, K. L. (2008). Assessment of the effect of visual impairment on Mortality through multiple pathways. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 49, 3318-3323.

Barth, R.P., Lloyd, E.C., Christ, S., Chapman, M. & Dickinson, N.S. (2008). Child welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: A national study. Social Work. 53(3), 199-209.

Byron L. Lam, Sharon L. Christ, D. Diane Zheng, David J. Lee, Kristopher L. Arheart. (2008). Reported Visual Impairment and Risk of Suicide: The 1986-1996 National Health Interview Survey. Archives of Ophthalmology. 126(7), 975-980.

Biemer, Paul P., Sharon L. Christ. (2008). Weighting Survey Data, in Hox, J., de Leeuw, E. and Dillman, D.A. (ed.s) The International Handbook of Survey Methodology, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Christ S. L., Lee D., Fleming L. E., LeBlanc W. G., Arheart K., Chung-Bridges K., Caban A. J., & McCollister, K. E. (2007) Employment and Occupation Effects on Depressive Symptoms in Older Americans: Does Working Past Age 65 Protect Against Depression? J Gerontology B: Social Sciences, 62(6):S399-403.

McCrae, J.S., Chapman, M.V., & Christ, S.L. (2006). Profile of children investigated for sexual abuse: Association with psychopathology symptoms and services. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76(4), 468-481.

Bollen, Kenneth A., Sharon L. Christ, John R. Hipp (2003). “Growth Curve Models.” Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods, edited by Michael Lewis-Beck, Alan Bryan and Tim Futing Liao. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Other collaborative publications:
In Occupational Health can be found at the following website:
http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/niehs/niosh/monographs.html

In Ocular Epidemiology can be found at the following website:
http://www.bpei.med.miami.edu/site/current/OERG/Publications.asp

In Press:
Chapman, Mimi V. and Christ, Sharon L. Contentment in Care Over 18 Months: Profiles of Youth in Foster Care. Social Work Research.

Bollen, K.A., Bauer, D.J., Christ, S.L., and Edwards, M.C. An Overview of Structural Equation Models and Recent Extensions. Recent Developments in Social Science Statistics Edited Volume. Wiley.

Manuscripts under review:
Barth, R. P., Guo, S., Caplick, E., Christ, S. L., Green, R. L. Explaining Reunification and Reentry Three-Years after Placement in Out of Home Care. NSCAW Book.

Izzo, C. V., Smith, E. G., Echenrode, J. J., Biemer, P. P., Christ, S. L. Latent Classification of Physical Abuse as a Predictor of Adolescent Functioning. NSCAW Book.

Biemer, P. P., Christ, S. L., Wiesen, C. A. A General Approach for Estimating Scale-Score Reliability for Panel Data. Psychological Methods.

Casanueva, C., Cross, T., Ringeisen, H., and Christ, S. Prevalence, Trajectories, and Risk Factors for Depression Recurrence among Caregivers of Young Children Involved in Child Maltreatment Investigations. Child Abuse and Neglect.

Manuscripts in preparation:
Christ, S. L. Scale Reliability Estimation and Testing using Longitudinal, Latent Variable Models

Christ, S. L. Multilevel Modeling of Samples with Unequal Selection Probabilities

Christ, S. L. Optimal Probability Weighting Methods in Trajectory Models for Data with Unequal Selection Probabilities and Attrition

LAURA G. MCKEE, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Vermont in 2008

Graduate Mentor: Rex L. Forehand, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentors: Deborah Jones, Ph.D. and Oscar Barbarin, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Laura’s research interests focus on the psychosocial familial transmission of depression from caregivers to offspring. During her graduate training, she was involved in a family-based, cognitive behavioral intervention trial (Raising Healthy Children) aimed at preventing externalizing and internalizing disorders among offspring of depressed caregivers. Her dissertation work with the families participating in the intervention focused on the specificity of the relations between targeted parenting behaviors and child outcomes. As a postdoctoral fellow at CCHD, Laura plans to distil the focus of her work to the examination of risk factors for internalizing psychopathology and a further exploration of the contributions of the parent-child relationship to that risk. In collaboration with Drs. Jones and Barbarin, she plans to investigate the construct of depression in African American families, examine the link between parent and child depression, and explore dimensions of family functioning that may serve as mechanisms transmitting the risk. The final piece of Laura’s proposed program of study would build upon her experience with prevention research to explore the development and refinement of culturally-informed prevention/intervention programs for African-American children and families identified as at-risk for the development of internalizing problems.

Publications:
McKee, L., Colletti, C., Rakow, A., & Forehand, R (2008). Do parenting behaviors have specific or diffuse associations with externalizing and internalizing childhood problem behaviors? Aggression & Violent Behavior, 13, 201-215.

Jones, D. J., Forehand, R., Rakow, A., Colletti, C., McKee, L., & Zalot, A. (2008). The specificity of maternal parenting behavior and child adjustment difficulties: A study of inner-city African American families. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 181-192.

McKee, L., Jones, D. J., Roland, E., Coffelt, N., Rakow, A., & Forehand, R. (2007). Maternal HIV/AIDS and depressive symptoms among inner-city African American youth: The role of maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child relationship quality, and child coping. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Mental Health and Social Justice, 77, 259-266.

McKee, L., Roland, E., Coffelt, N., Olson, A.L., Forehand, R., Massari, C., Jones, D.J., Gaffney, C.A., & Zens, M.S. (2007). Harsh discipline and child problem behaviors: The role of positive parenting and gender. Journal of Family Violence, 22, 187-196.

Rettew, D. C., Stanger, C., McKee, L., Doyle, A., & Hudziak, J. (2006). Interactions between child and parent temperament and child behavior problems. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 47 (5), 412-420.

Rettew, D., & McKee, L. (2005). Temperament and its role in developmental psychopathology. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 13(1), 14-27.

DAWN WITHERSPOON, Ph.D. in Community Psychology from New York University in January 2008

Graduate Mentor: Diane Hughes, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentors: Nancy Hill, Ph.D. and Linda Burton, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Dawn’s research interests focus on how contextual factors affect adolescent academic, psycho-social, and behavioral well-being. During her graduate training, she was involved with the Early Adolescent Cohort Project RAP of the Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education which entails a longitudinal exploration of individual and contextual factors related to academic achievement, motivation, and beliefs for urban ethnically diverse youth. Her dissertation work focused on positive neighborhood characteristics (i.e., collective efficacy and connection) as potential protective factors for urban adolescent well-being. Specifically, Dawn explored how these positive neighborhood characteristics might compensate for or buffer the effects of neighborhood stressors (i.e., neighborhood disadvantage, violence, and crime) on adolescent well-being. While participating in the CCHD training program, Dawn will continue to examine these relationships in rural and suburban samples of adolescents and young children using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Additionally, Dawn will explore these relationships longitudinally to determine how adolescents’ perceptions of neighborhoods change over time using several existing projects of Drs. Hill, Burton, and Ennett. She also hopes that these empirical investigations will have implications for community-based interventions which seek to enhance the lives of youth living in stressful environments.

Publications:
Schotland, M., & Witherspoon, D. (2005). Social support systems of urban
adolescents. In C. Fisher & R. Lerner (Eds). Encyclopedia of Applied
Developmental Science Vol. 2 (pp. 1027-1029). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hughes, D., Witherspoon, D., & Rivas, D. (under review). Received
ethnic/racial socialization messages and youth’s academic and behavioral
outcomes: Examining the mediating role of ethnic identity and self-esteem.

Witherspoon, D., Schotland, M., Way, N., & Hughes, D. (under review). Urban
youths’ cumulative connection to family, school, and neighborhood contexts.

Manuscripts in preparation:
Becker, B., & Witherspoon. (in preparation).  Cross-ethnic friendship
formation in school and neighborhood contexts: A study of African American,
Puerto Rican, Dominican, Chinese, and White adolescents

Witherspoon, D. P. (in preparation). Modeling the structure of family, peer,
and school microsystems of social support over time among low-income urban
adolescents.