Racial, ethnic, and cultural influences on youth development and family functioning; Racial socialization processes, racial identity development; Prevention of youth problem behavior and promotion of resilience; Culturally relevant and evidenced-based approaches to parenting; Intervention development and community dissemination in diverse cultural contexts
My program of research is directed toward understanding mechanisms of change in cognitive development and is directly influenced by my experiences as an elementary school teacher. I am interested in the socialization of cognitive and affective functioning in young children.
My lab leverages novel methodologies and modern tools (i.e. Ecological Momentary Assessment via smartphone, text message analysis, social media) to better understand the ways in which young people’s social contexts and relationships impact their mental health and risk taking behaviors. We focus closely on the role of parents and the cultural environments within which families are embedded.
My work focuses on teaching and teacher education, community engagement, and language, literacy and culture, particularly with minoritized communities.
My area of research is teacher preparation, professional development and high quality early education settings.
Parent-toddler emotional and verbal communication, especially in the context of risk; Early emotional and language development; Child effects on parenting
children’s social attitudes, their reasoning about social and cultural groups, food preferences and eating behavior, and early health concepts.
origins and outcomes of parenting, particularly in response to child negative emotions; emotional development in the family; inter generational transmission of parenting
I study risk and protective factors for low-income and ethnic minority children including school readiness, family engagement in education and ECE utilization by Hispanic families.