Fellowships at the Center for Developmental Science
2011-2012 Predoctoral Fellows of the Carolina Consortium on Human Development
AMANDA CLINCY: Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, UNC-Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Martha Cox, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Martha Cox, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Amanda’s research focuses on understanding child development within family, cultural, and community contexts. Specifically, she investigates whether the effects of certain parenting practices on African American children’s outcomes and the developmental mechanism that underlie these linkages are moderated by specific contextual factors. Her dissertation research will examine whether effortful control, a key self-regulatory mechanism, mediates the association between physical discipline and child behavior among African American families. Furthermore, she is interested in whether this mediational relationship varies as a function of the overall parenting style and the neighborhood environment.
JASON FREEMAN: Ph.D. Student in Sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Michael Shanahan, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentors: Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D., Terrie Moffitt Ph.D. & Michael Shanahan, Ph.D.
Research Interests:
Jason’s research explores the interplay between biological factors and religious environments (i.e. religious service attendance) in the etiology of health and behavioral outcomes. Specifically he explores how religious environments 1) influence genetic expression by regulating behaviors associated with specific genetic polymorphisms and 2) reduce stress by providing social support and resources to cope with negative life events. His dissertation research builds on these themes by reexamining three fundamental questions within the sociology of religion and exploring whether incorporating genetic explanations based on animal studies, candidate gene studies and twin studies affects what is known about the relationship between religious factors and outcomes that have been traditionally linked to those factors (i.e. depression and educational attainment).
TANEE HUDGENS: Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, UNC-Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Beth Kurtz-Costes, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Beth Kurtz-Costes, Ph.D.
Research Interests:
Tanee’s research focuses on the extent to which beliefs, attitudes, and socialization experiences promote or hinder minority student academic success. One of her primary interests lies in the nature and consequences of minority parents’ race-related beliefs and practices. She investigates how age and gender differences in parental race socialization practices may contribute to differential outcomes in academic and social domains for African American adolescents. For her dissertation research, she will utilize data from the Youth Identity Project to examine individual, familial, and contextual predictors of the content and frequency of parental racial socialization practices using both variable-centered and person-centered analytical strategies.
IRINA MOKROVA: PhD student in Human Development and Family Studies, UNC-Greensboro
PhD advisor: Marion O'Brien, PhD.
CCHD mentors: Marion O'Brien, PhD. & Martha Cox, PhD.Research interests:
Irina's research interests focus on the development of achievement motivation in preschool and elementary school age children. Specifically, she is interested in the interconnections among family processes, parenting, and individual characteristics as predictors of children's motivational trajectories. Her program of research aims to contribute to the understanding of the role of motivation in various domains of achievement, such as academics, extracurricular activities, and sport; to highlight specific aspects of family functioning and individual characteristics that explain motivational tendencies; and to inform educational and intervention programs and policy to provide children with favorable environments for the development of achievement motivation. For her dissertation, Irina will examine the interactions between maternal parenting and children's temperament as predictors of achievement motivation and subsequent academic success.
JULIA SHADUR: Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology, UNC-Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Andrea Hussong, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Andrea Hussong, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Julia is interested in substance use disorders across the lifespan, drug use as a mechanism for coping with negative affect (i.e., self-medication), parent emotion socialization within the context of families where substance use is occurring, and prevention work targeting young children with substance-abusing parents. Her current research focus involves examining the mechanisms by which parental substance use impacts the development of emotion regulation in young children, including the potential role of parent emotion socialization. Julia’s dissertation is focused on characterizing parent emotion socialization among mothers in treatment for substance abuse, testing which substance use factors predict variability in parent emotion socialization practices, and assessing emotion regulation in their children. An overarching goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of one mechanism that may help explain the intergenerational transmission of deficits in emotion regulation and substance abuse. Julia is also involved in helping develop a prevention program (PI: Andrea Hussong) which aims to target risk factors across early development in an effort to improve emotion regulation in young children and minimize their risk for substance use in adolescence and into adulthood.
