Interests: My research focuses on children’s resilient and vulnerable responses to experiences of economic disadvantage and adversity, identifying protective factors that promote children’s social, emotional and behavioral well-being in the face of adversity. These protective factors include parenting and child characteristics, such as self-regulation, temperament and coping.
Research
My research uses a bioecological framework to understand children's emotional, social and behavioral adjustment, examining the complex relations among individual, interpersonal, and contextual factors in development. I am particularly interested in individual differences in children's responses to disadvantage and adversity with the goal of identifying children who are vulnerable or resilient in the face of risk. My research examines children's temperament, self-regulation, appraisals and coping as potential mediators and moderators of the effects of risk on children's adjustment. I'm also interested in the role of parents in protecting children who experience adversity and promoting well-being.
In addition, I have been studying children's individual differences in response to parenting by examining temperament as it interacts and transacts with parenting to predict children's adjustment.
My goal is to enhance our understanding of the etiology of adjustment problems and positive adjustment, both for basic knowledge about development and to inform interventions aimed at preventing adjustment problems and promoting positive adjustment.