Freshman class

Family matters

Eric Dearing, assistant professor of psychology

Ph.D., University of New Hampshire

Specialization: Child development

Representative publication: “The Developmental Implications of Restrictive and Supportive Parenting Across Neighborhoods and Ethnicities: Exceptions Are the Rule,” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

My scholarship is centered on the topic of child development within poor families and neighborhoods. In particular, I am interested in the family processes that transmit the developmental risks of poverty to children as well as the family processes that help protect children from these risks.

My interest in this line of research began prior to graduate school, when I was working in an early intervention program for poor children and families. That experience led me to question much of what I thought I knew about poverty. Now, through my research, I aim to answer those questions for the developmental science community, the policy makers, and myself.