Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Eric Dearing

Description: This symposium brings together four projects in which developmental scientists use co-design methods to partner with families and communities. These co-design partnerships are used to innovate and investigate strategies for family engagement in young children’s learning. In each project, co-design is employed as a method for improving the ecological validity, equity, and impact of developmental science. The first paper reports feasibility testing of a co-designed family engagement program that leverages cooking and eating together as culturally powerful activities for supporting attitudes toward learning and literacy. The second paper describes a co-design research project to uncover and better understand variation in Latine caregivers’ culturally enriched mathematical explanations while using the Mexican craft of papel picado to support their children’s math learning. The third paper comes from a partnership of researchers, pediatric providers, and a community organization of early math advocates and designers/artists; the project is focused on co-design and impact testing of early math learning exhibits for a community health center. In the fourth paper, a community-based research methodology is presented that involves Latine families as (a) co-designers of community spaces (e.g., bus stops, parks, and grocery stores) to promote playful learning and (b) as co-researchers. Underscoring the co-design method, the symposium will include developmental scientists and a community organization leader as presenters. Together, the presentations will illustrate how co-design can improve the meaningfulness, relevance, and impact of early learning interventions by harnessing core principles of developmental science in tandem with the wisdom, skills, and lived experiences of families and communities.

Time: 10 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Yvonne (Ruoying) Zhang

Description: Path analysis results suggested that adolescents maintained their self-regulation skills and family social support from high school through the year following graduation. During late adolescence, individuals with higher self-regulation skills in high school were more likely to receive greater family support post-graduation. Moreover, higher levels of family support in adolescence were associated with increased positive well-being in young adulthood. These findings highlight the interrelationship between adolescents’ social support and intentional self-regulation, demonstrating how both contribute to well-being beyond adolescence. The results point to the important role of self-regulation in promoting later social support, and also emphasize the significance of family social support in fostering well-being in young adulthood.The current study highlights the broader applicability of PYD beyond adolescence, demonstrating that the benefits of internal strengths and ecological assets remain relevant as the contextual environment shifts from school settings to post-graduation and into young adulthood. Future research should explore these interrelationships in more diverse populations, as the current study's sample was relatively homogenous and highly educated. Additionally, further studies could deconstruct the social support network to examine different types of support in greater detail. Time 1 in this study focused solely on late adolescence, beginning around age 16, and future research should investigate how these interrelationships evolve across earlier developmental stages.

Time: 12:40 p.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Lindsay Lanteri, Rebekah Levine Coley

Description: Parents, children and youth’s beliefs about social and economic inequality and mobility have been under-investigated in developmental science research. This symposium focuses on socioeconomically, racially, and ethnically diverse samples within and outside the United States to present novel empirical evidence on children’s and parents’ beliefs about mobility and inequality. The first paper takes a mixed methods approach to examine parents’ beliefs on socioeconomic inequality and economic mobility and how parents from varying social classes accommodate and resist prevalent narratives when communicating these beliefs to youth. Paper two presents data from qualitative interviews with a sample of public housing residents to understand how parents and youth define success and social mobility, and what mechanisms are required to achieve success in a context of disadvantage. The third paper uses experimental methods to examine how parental mobility beliefs influenced parental decision making around time and monetary investments in their children’s futures. Lastly, paper four explores cross-cultural similarities and differences in children’s awareness of and explanations for disability-based disparities in social mobility in China and the U.S. As economic inequality continues to rise globally, findings from these papers highlight parents, children and youth’s views on social mobility and their perceptions on individual responsibility and structural processes that contribute to shaping these belief systems.

Time: 11:50 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Sarah Her, Yilin Wang, Rebekah Levine Coley, Samantha Teixeira

Description: We found direct and indirect (through warm parenting) links between social cohesion and children’s prosocial behaviors, although the mediational path from neighborhood problems to prosocial behaviors through social cohesion did not reach significance. We did not find evidence for social cohesion serving as mediator of links between neighborhood problems and children’s externalizing behaviors. On the other hand, a significant interaction between neighborhood problems and neighborhood social cohesion with externalizing behavior found that neighborhood problems were more strongly associated with children’s externalizing behaviors among families reporting high versus low levels of social cohesion.

In short, while social cohesion was positively linked with children’s prosocial behaviors, limited evidence suggested that it buffered or served as a process through which neighborhood problems were associated with worse behavioral health for children. More research on the community and family processes underlying strengths in disadvantaged communities is needed.

Time: 11:20 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Yilin Wang, Rebekah Levine Coley

Description: Paper symposium

Time: 10 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Kennedy Damoah, Marina Vasilyeva, Rebecca Lowenhaupt

Description: Due to wars, religious persecutions, and climate disasters, the number of refugees has increased dramatically (Clement et al., 2021; Thomas, 2016). The largest number of US refugees who arrived over the past decades are from Africa and the prevalent age group among them are under 18 years (United Nations, 2016). Like other refugee communities, African refugees experience family separation and the lack of economic and social resources (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2018), but in addition they experience the impacts of racialization as black immigrants to America, facing racial discrimination at the individual and systemic levels (Asante et al., 2016). One approach developed to meet the needs of refugee children is through afterschool programs embedded in the community; yet, the research on children’s experience in these programs is sparse. The current study explored the learning needs and goals of African refugee children and how these are supported in an afterschool program.

Time: 2 p.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Angela Yang

Description: Broadly, what children envisioned for their own futures converged with what their parents envisioned for them. Both generations prioritized Education & Career and Relationships in their expected and ideal futures, although parents more often mentioned concerns around their children’s Health & Wellbeing in the futures they feared. Generational differences also emerged in the sub-themes. For example, within the broad theme of Education & Career, parents more often mentioned the sub-theme of Stability, whereas children more often mentioned Self-Improvement and Social Impact. Within the broad theme of Health & Wellbeing, children more often mentioned the sub-theme of Mental Health, whereas parents more often mentioned Physical Health. Members of both generations drew upon their cultural values, immigration stories, socioeconomic backgrounds, and racialized and gendered experiences as rationale for the futures they expected, hoped for, and feared.

Our findings suggest that within Chinese immigrant families, generations may envision the same broad priorities for the children’s futures; however, generations may diverge in the more specific ways they imagine these broad priorities unfolding. We emphasize the importance of understanding how ecological factors shape the values and priorities of each generation.

Time: 11:30 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Cayley Bliss, Paul Poteat

Description: Recent estimates indicate that transgender and gender expansive (TGE) people make up 1.6% of the United States population and up to 3% globally, with youth aged 13 to 17 more likely to identify as TGE than older generations (Ipsos, 2023; Pew, 2022; Williams, 2022). As more youth are reporting TGE identities, there has been a wave of anti-trans legislation and disinformation, negatively impacting youth mental health (Trevor Project, 2023). Much of this discrimination stems from ignorance and misunderstandings of who TGE people are (Pew, 2022), highlighting the need for researchers to establish best practices for gathering data on TGE youth experiences. This symposium presents three projects exploring how to accurately capture TGE identities with complexity and fluidity. Paper 1 analyzes a state-wide public health survey of middle and high school students to identify flexible means of categorizing gender and the implications of the use of different categorization schemes on our understanding of TGE youth experiences (e.g., changes in bullying prevalence rates based on different categorization methods). Paper 2 employs a three-wave national probability sample of LGB people to explore the changes in youth gender identification over time. Paper 3 uses longitudinal data from middle and high school students in 3 states to explore the implications of different means of asking about and categorizing gender identity. Taken together, these projects provide researchers and practitioners with important insights for conceptualizing and measuring gender identity to advance science and improve the lives of TGE youth.

Time: 1:20 p.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Kaila Daza, Marisa Huang, Babatunde Alford, Scott Seider

Description: Why do some young people become catalysts for change while others remain silent in the face of injustice? This symposium explores the vital role that sociocultural contexts—such as family, education, and community—play in developing critical consciousness and civic action among youth. It highlights how ethnic-racial socialization, educational frameworks, and community engagement shape youth responses to systemic inequities, offering strategies to foster more informed and active citizens.

The first paper examines the role of family ethnic-racial socialization in fostering critical action among Black and Latine youth, focusing on how cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and egalitarianism build resilience and agency. The second paper investigates how cultural socialization influences the development of critical consciousness in both BIPOC and White youth, exploring how parental messages shape awareness of social inequalities, motivation, and sociopolitical engagement. The third paper highlights how place-based environmental civic science in schools cultivates civic skills and agency, teaching youth to engage with local issues and take action. The final paper explores the impact of youth activist training programs on the development of critical consciousness, focusing on how structured civic engagement fosters reflection, agency, and action.

Together, these findings underscore the need for multi-dimensional approaches that incorporate family, education, and community contexts in fostering critical consciousness. This symposium contributes to the dialogue on youth empowerment by emphasizing the sociocultural and contextual factors that shape critical action and resistance to systemic injustice.

Time: 8:30 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Yilin (Elaine) Liu, Eric Dearing

Description: Parent-child shared reading provides valuable opportunities to promote mathematical language skills in young children (e.g., Purpura et al., 2021), even with storybooks not explicitly designed for math learning (e.g., Uscianowski et al., 2020). Intervention studies providing math talk tips have suggested increased parental engagement in math talk during shared reading (e.g., Hojnoski et al., 2014). However, there is limited evidence on whether parents can generalize from tips provided for a specific storybook to other learning contexts. The current study employs an experimental design to examine: (1) parents’ use of math talk tips while reading a storybook for which the tips were specifically designed, and (2) whether parents extend their use of these tips to reading a wordless storybook with their child two weeks later.

Time: 12:50 p.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Rebekah Levine Coley

Description: Advancing the Research to Policy Pipeline: Building Effective Bridges for Actionable Children’s Policy, is designed to examine the challenges and opportunities in translating child development research into effective policy action. Drawing on our panelists’ expertise in early childhood development and social policy, this session aligns with Society for Research in Child Development’s Strategic Goal #2, which aims to bridge the gap between research, practice, and policy to positively impact child development outcomes. Our discussion will concentrate on real-world strategies for improving the research-to-policy continuum, with an emphasis on equity, evidence-based decision-making, and sustainable policy change.

The panelists will discuss strategies to better connect academic research with policy development to ensure that research findings inform policies that lead to improved outcomes for children and families, particularly those from underserved communities, and strategies for enhancing advocacy and policy development of scholars and practitioners.

Time: 4:40 p.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Rosie Rohrs, Juyun Lee, Juliana Moreno, David B. Miele

Description: Findings suggest that parents tend to define their motivational role in terms of the type of information and support they impart to their children. Emotional support was the most common code (n = 40), followed by practical support, regulatory approach, and logical reasoning (see Table 2 for code definitions and frequencies). Additionally, emotional support was frequently combined with other codes, such as regulatory approach (n = 13) and practical support (n = 13).Many parents see emotional support as central to their role when their child lacks motivation, but substantial numbers are also focused on providing practical support, effectively implementing motivational strategies, and reasoning with their child. Existing research suggests that interacting with children in these ways is generally adaptive and may contribute to a warm relationship between adolescents and their parents (Gniewosz et al., 2023). Future work should ask adolescents how effective they perceive these approaches to be. It may be that adolescents interpret well-intentioned approaches as undermining their autonomy – and this may depend in part on how the approach is implemented (e.g., parent’s tone).

Time: 11:30 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Paul Poteat

Description: As LGBTQ+ youth face ongoing marginalization through individual and structural oppression, it is crucial to highlight the active roles that youth themselves take to resist such oppression. Likewise, it is essential to identify how adults and institutions take on responsibility to affirm LGBTQ+ youth. Although research has suggested the value of youth action, such as through advocacy or bystander intervention against discrimination, there remains limited research on what factors underlie youth’s engagement in these efforts. Similarly, scholarship emphasizes the importance of affirming adults and LGBTQ+ inclusive school policies, but there remains limited understanding of how they may promote positive outcomes for youth or any indication of their potential scope of impact. To address these limitations, this symposium brings together research that identifies how LGBTQ+ youth, peer allies, adults, and institutions work to foster conditions that affirm LGBTQ+ youth and enable them to thrive. The four papers draw from data that are longitudinal, multinational (across the U.S. and multiple European countries), and multilevel in nature. They provide a nuanced understanding of factors that facilitate LGBTQ+ youth advocacy (Paper 1) and ally bystander intervention against discrimination (Paper 2), how Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) and GSA adult advisors in particular could foster LGBTQ+ youth belonging (Paper 3), and how LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and school climates play a role in school retention or dropout for LGBTQ+ youth (Paper 4). Implications for future research and translational issues for policy and practice to facilitate LGBTQ+ youth development will be discussed.

Time: 11:30 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Paul Poteat

Description: For this conversation roundtable, we discuss opportunities and challenges for creating LGBTQ+ inclusive educational environments, and aim to move beyond theoretical discussion and focus on translating research findings into actual school practices. The panelists include four scholars that are experts on inclusive school practices from both the U.S. and Europe, representing different academic levels. Joining them are three panelists who are involved in educational practice (e.g., student; teacher; school leader), who provide insights from their personal and professional experiences. The conversation is divided into four topics, moving from top-down strategies to more bottom-up approaches. We address national inclusive educational policies, parental attitudes toward inclusive school practices, the working mechanisms of Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs), and the importance of community context. The moderator introduces each topic by interviewing one of the invited scholars about their empirical findings. Following, the conversation shifts toward inviting the panelists from educational settings to share how they receive these findings and implement them in practice. Each part of the roundtable is designed to foster engaging conversation between all panelists and the audience, with all participants regarded as equally knowledgeable. The audience is encouraged to ask questions and engage at any time during the discussion, but will be given at least ten minutes to pose questions and suggestions before the conversation moves to the next topic. Ultimately, through this dialogue between scholars and schools, addressing the opportunities and challenges of creating inclusive school environments, we aim to bridge the gap between research and educational practice.

Time: 4:40 p.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Naoka Carey

Description: Approximately 4 in 10 U.S. children will experience an adult household member’s arrest, prosecution in court, or incarceration during their childhood (Finlay et. al, 2023). For BIPOC children, these rates are even higher, with nearly 2 out of 3 Black children experiencing the prosecution of a household member before they turn eighteen (Finlay et. al, 2023). Given the ubiquity of U.S. children’s exposure to the criminal legal system, it is critical that developmental scientists give due attention to the ways that criminal legal systems shape children’s and families’ lives, and how individual or systemic-level interventions might better support them.

Given long-standing inequities in which communities are policed, charged, and incarcerated, criminal legal systems can also be understood as both a key mechanism of structural racism and critical context for development that varies across racial/ethnic and economic strata, and acrossplace and time. Incorporating a variety of state and localized datasets and assessing both current populations and historical trends, this panel presents new research on patterns and inequities in children’s family exposure to the criminal system, the consequences of that exposure for children and parents, and individual and policy factors that can reduce harm or support resilience among children whose households are brought into the criminal legal system. Implications for children’s development, family stability, and practice and policy will also be discussed.

Time: 8:30 a.m.

Boston College Lynch School Contributor(s): Aysenur Ozgoztasi

Description: School attachment plays a crucial role in children's development, influencing their interpersonal skills, social interactions, academic engagement, and sense of identity (Henry & Slater, 2007; Liljeberg, Eklund, Fritz, & Klinteberg, 2011). Defined as students' emotional connection, satisfaction, and positive feelings toward their school, school attachment encompasses relationships with teachers and peers, fostering a sense of belonging within the school context (Cernkovich & Giordano, 1992; Hill & Werner, 2006; Libbey, 2004). Understanding the predictors of school attachment is essential for supporting children's development. The aim of this study was to examine the predictors of school attachment in four key domains: child characteristics (grade level, gender, temperament, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms), parenting attitudes (modern and traditional), and behaviors (maternal and paternal warmth and rejection), peer relations (acceptance and rejection), and socioeconomic factors (economic hardship, economic anxiety, and socioeconomic status), using Ecological Systems Theory as a framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The study included 6,932 mothers and their children in grades 1 to 11, recruited from 61 cities across Turkey as part of a nationally representative project conducted at two-time points. In a context, Turkey is an upper-middle income country with high levels of income inequality, but also with recent large increases in national school achievement levels among children (e.g., Mullis, Martin, Foy, Kelly, & Fishbein, 2020).

Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the predictors of school attachment, with each step significantly improving the model fit (see Table 1). In addition, interactions with child gender were examined. In total, in the final step, the predictors explained 37% of the variance in attachment to school, with each of the four domains having significant individual predictors. For child characteristics, younger children, girls, and children with less negative affect temperaments and lower levels of depressive symptoms had stronger school attachment than their peers; higher anxiety levels were also, somewhat surprisingly, positively related to stronger school attachment. Among the parenting variables, traditional attitudes and warmth were positively associated with school attachment. For peer relations, acceptance was positively associated with school attachment, and rejection was negatively associated with this outcome. Finally, among the socioeconomic predictors, economic hardship and perceived socioeconomic status were both negatively related to school attachment. One interaction was also statistically significant (see Figure 1): peer acceptance was more strongly linked with school attachment for boys than girls.

Given the significant predictors across four domains, these results point to the complex interplay between child, family, and school factors that may contribute to a child’s attachment to school. In the poster, study results will be addressed with attention to the theoretical underpinnings of school attachment as a construct that is multiply determined by child, home, and school context factors. The complexity of this for designing interventions will also be addressed.

Time: 12:30 p.m.