As income inequality and the intergenerational transmission of advantage continue to grow, it becomes ever more important to understand the mechanisms through which income inequality are transmitted to children’s development.
Using longitudinal surveys and a variety of administrative data sets, we seek to assess how disparities in family income alter the community and family contexts in which children are raised and in turn promote or inhibit young children’s cognitive and behavioral development.
Results inform theoretical models of the transmission of inequality and identify key targets for policy intervention.
Presenter
Rebekah Levine Coley, Ph.D. is Professor and Department Chair of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College. She received her doctorate in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan and postdoctoral training in Demography and Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Dr. Coley’s expertise lies in delineating the processes through which economic and social inequality affect children and families, employing quantitative, qualitative, and evaluation methodologies to inform social and educational practice and policy at the local, state, and federal level.
Professor Coley’s research has been published in dozens of leading journals and edited volumes, and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Australian Research Council, and numerous private foundations. She is the founding Editor of the new Child Evidence Brief series published by the Society for Research in Child Development which seeks to translate developmental science to federal and state policy makers, and holds leadership positions in the Society for Research in Child Development, the Society for Research on Adolescence, the Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium, and the University-based Child and Family Policy Consortium. Her research excellence has been recognized through receipt of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, a Social Policy Award from the Society for Research in Adolescence, and the inaugural Mavis Hetherington Award in Applied Developmental Science form the American Psychological Association.