I received my BA from Seattle Pacific University and my PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
My research focuses on adolescence and emerging adulthood, and has addressed how characteristics of the family (e.g., family structure, family relationships, parenting practices, ethnicity) and of the individual (e.g., beliefs about development, biological change) are associated with one another and with adjustment during this time of life. I have a special interest in predictors of parenting and parent-child relationships during adolescence.
I teach courses in life-span developmental psychology (grad and undergrad), parent-child relationships, and adolescent development. I am also in the process of resurrecting and expanding a course I last taught in 1998 on child development and social policy.
Outside of work, I can usually be found doing something active (especially swimming), reading historical fiction, reading or listening to podcasts on social and political issues past and present, or doing what I can in my community to help promote social and racial justice, as well as a healthy democracy that works for all.