Becoming an Antiracist Society: Setting A Developmental Research Agenda

The continued systemic racism occurring today underscores the need for an urgent call to action within our developmental science community. There is limited research on the origins of and contributors to the development and continuation of individualized and systemic racism in White communities. We also lack evidence on ways to systematically disrupt racism. Developmental science can play a key role in fostering an antiracist society. This webinar will discuss some reasons for limited research in this area and outline the next steps in a developmental research agenda. Experts will also discuss how to prepare, conduct, and support research in this area.

This webinar will address questions such as:

• What is racism and how does it manifest in the broader society?
• How can the research on discrimination experiences among children of color inform the kinds of questions developmental scientists ask about the development of racism?
• How and under what conditions are White researchers positioned to conduct this research?
• In what ways can White researchers conduct rigorous empirical research to understand how racism is socialized and transmitted within White families?
• What kinds of supports are necessary to implement this research agenda?
• In what ways can White research allies promote and amplify underrepresented ethnic-racial minority scholars who study racial constructs among populations of color?

Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance or may post them in real time during the event.

Closed captions will be available for attendees during the event. When the event begins, please select the "CC" button in the bottom left corner of your screen to turn on the closed captions.

Additional resources can be found on SRCD Commons, an online community platform for developmental scientists.

We hope you can also join us for two debriefing sessions on SRCD Commons with the webinar speakers during the below times.

• Wednesday, July 8, 4:00-5:00pm EDT with Drs. Gabriela Livas Stein and Margaret Caughy
• Tuesday, July 14, 2:00-3:00pm EDT with Drs. Eleanor Seaton and Rebecca White

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Meet the Experts:

Margaret O’Brien Caughy, Sc.D., is the Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Family Health Disparities in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Georgia. Dr. Caughy’s research combines the unique perspectives of developmental science, epidemiology, and public health in studying the contexts of risk and resilience affecting young children. She is particularly interested in race/ethnic disparities in health and development and how these disparities can be understood within the unique ecological niches of ethnic minority families. Dr. Caughy has been the principal investigator of a number of studies focused on how inequities in family and community processes affect the cognitive development, socioemotional functioning, and early academic achievement of young children in diverse race/ethnic groups. Another theme of her research has been methodological, specifically methods related to measuring neighborhood context and the utilization of these measures in models explaining child developmental competence using multilevel and structural equations modeling methods. Dr. Caughy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University, a Masters of Education degree in Human Development from the University of Maryland, and a Doctor of Science degree in Maternal and Child Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Eleanor K. Seaton, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University.  Dr. Seaton is a developmental psychologist using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods to examine the impact of racism on Black youth’s mental health and development. Dr. Seaton recently co-edited a special section on context and ethnic-racial identity in Child Development. Dr. Seaton served as an associate editor for Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, and serves on the editorial boards of Developmental Psychology and Child Development. Dr. Seaton is the former chair of SRCD’s Ethnic and Racial Issues Committee and SRA’s Diversity and Equity Committee. Currently, Dr. Seaton serves on the Rapid Assessment and Response Strategy (RARS) team for SRCD. Dr. Seaton has a tendency to journal, travel, bake desserts, shop, read, watch movies and dance to Chicago style house music when relaxing.

Gabriela Livas Stein, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Broadly, her research uses developmental psychopathology and cultural-ecological frameworks to investigate the impact of culturally relevant factors on the development of psychopathology for minoritized youth and their families. Dr. Stein’s program of research revolves around three themes: (1) understanding the role of familial cultural values in Latinx families and their impact on the development of Latinx youth, (2) identifying individual risk and protective processes for Latinx and other minoritized youth when facing cultural stressors (e.g., discrimination, acculturative stress), and (3) improving mental health treatment access for Latinx families in community mental health. Dr. Stein has been funded by NIMH, PCORI, and NIDA. She is a past Chair of the SRCD Latinx Caucus, and is currently a co-Chair of the Ethnic and Racial Issues Committee of SRCD. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for Journal of Research on Adolescence, and holds the office of Vice-President of Programming at the Society for Research on Adolescence.

Rebecca M. B. White, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Associate Professor of Family and Human Development in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University (ASU), where she is also Director of the Latino Resilience Enterprise. In this role and institution she has had the very good fortune to be surrounded by wonderful colleagues, collaborators, and thinkers. She trained in general studies and American Sign Language (New River Community College), human services counseling (Old Dominion University), public health (University of Arizona), and family and human development (ASU). Dr. White’s program of research examines U.S. Mexican adolescents’ development within cultural, neighborhood, and family contexts, with a special emphasis on the ethnic-racial structuring of neighborhood environments. Broadly, she aspires to engage in meaningful scholarship (research, mentoring, teaching, and service) geared toward promoting positive development among diverse youths, families, and neighborhoods. In terms of research, she was named a William T. Grant Foundation Scholar and has published research in American Psychologist, Child Development, and Developmental Psychology. She has engaged in mentoring young scholars, including those in the Society for Research in Child Development’s Frances Degen Horowitz Millennium Scholars Program and the Society for Research on Adolescence’s Undergraduate Scholars Program. She is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Research on Adolescence and a member of SRCD’s Ethnic Racial Issues committee. In these roles, she works to promote high-quality research and institutions for diverse children, youth, and families.