UC Davis experts: Pre-teens and adolescents

The following University of California, Davis, faculty members are available to comment on aspects child development and psychology for older children and teenagers.

• The culture of American youth
• Family relations
• Siblings
• Self-esteem
• Bullying and race relations
• Precocious children and genius
• How the brain matures

The culture of American youth

American studies professor Jay Mechling, considered one of the most influential academics in American studies, has devoted himself to studying the culture of American youth. He can discuss broad issues in popular culture, ranging from children's programs on television and in films to the real impact of video games. Besides the broader topic of American youth, Mechling writes and teaches about the construction of masculinity in American culture, from the socialization of boys in families and organizations to the representations of masculinity in film and television.  His book On My Honor: The Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth was published in fall 2001 by the University of Chicago Press. Contact: Jay Mechling, American Studies, (530) 752-9043 (office) or (510) 865-8858 (home), jemechling@ucdavis.edu.

Family relations

UC Davis human development professor Rand Conger studies family interrelationships over long periods. He challenges a number of long-held views about our closest relationships. He reports that relationships between couples, siblings, and between parents and children all seem to follow similar dynamics. "We think of divorce and separation as happening within a marriage, but it also happens in these other family relationships." He also studies families under economic and social stress and also has done focused studies on ethnic populations. Conger is editor of the 2004 book Continuity and Change in Family Relations. Rand Conger, Human and Community Development, (530) 757-8454, rdconger@ucdavis.edu.

Siblings

UC Davis human development professor Katherine Conger studies siblings. She says the quality of lifelong relationships between siblings influences their individual mental and physical health, social functioning and general well-being. She can also talk about the changing nature of sibling relationships over time, how both parents and siblings affect delinquency, and how economic pressure on parents affects their children. Katherine Conger, Human and Community Development, (530) 757-8453, kjconger@ucdavis.edu.

Self-esteem

Self-esteem across a life span can be like riding a roller coaster, starting with an inflated sense of self-approval in late childhood, dropping precipitously in adolescence and then rising steadily through adulthood only to plummet to the lowest point in late old age, according to  psychologist Richard Robins. He has looked at the issue from the time children are 5 years old.  In perhaps the largest global study of self-esteem, Robins and other researchers have also created the most comprehensive picture to date of differences in self-esteem from ages 9 to 90. More than 350,000 participants completed a questionnaire by visiting a Web site in 1999 and 2000. Women, in general, had lower self-esteem than men, although both genders have identical high levels between the ages of 9 and 12. "During adolescence, girls' self-esteem dropped about twice as much as boys'," Robins says. Contact: Richard Robins, Psychology, (530) 754-8299, rwrobins@ucdavis.edu.

Bullying and race relations

Adrienne Nishina, an assistant professor of human development at UC Davis, focuses on peer relations from sixth grade through high school. The clinical psychologist studies short-term and long-term effects of victimization, coping strategies, psychological and physical health issues, and academic adjustments. She is also researching how schools can help students feel engaged academically and socially. Nishina also can talk about how the balance of ethnicities affects students' feelings of safety at school. She is involved in an ongoing UCLA study in the Los Angeles school district following the paths of students as they transition from 11 middle schools to 140 high schools and beyond. The study hopes to find the keys to success for low-income, ethnically diverse school populations.  Contact: Adrienne Nishina, Human and Community Development, (530) 752-7003, anishina@ucdavis.edu.

Precocious children and genius

Dean Keith Simonton, professor of psychology, who has devoted over a quarter century to studying the relation between age and creative achievement in the arts and sciences. Simonton, who conducts retrospective studies of well-known geniuses such as Mozart, Pascal and J. S. Mill, can talk about the relation between precocious children and adulthood success.Among his books are: Origins of Genius, Why Presidents Succeed: A Political Psychology of Leadership, Scientific Genius: A Psychology of Science, Greatness: Who Makes History and Why, Origins of Genius: Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity and Great Psychologists and Their Times: Scientific Insights into Psychology's History. Contact: Dean Keith Simonton, Psychology, (530) 752-1677, dksimonton@ucdavis.edu.

How the brain matures

Silvia Bunge, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscientist at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, uses fMRI scans to examine brain development in late childhood and adolescence.  The scans allow her to visualize how the brain matures.  In particular, Bunge studies how the brain uses rules to guide decisions and actions. She can discuss how the brains of children and adolescents differ from adults in areas such as working memory and cognitive control.  Bunge is also exploring brain development for children who have Tourette's syndrome and other related disorders. Contact: Silvia Bunge, Psychology, (530) 297 4411, sabunge@ucdavis.edu.

• Claudia Morain, News Service, (530) 752-9841, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu

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