CYFAR 2009 Conference Proceedings
Research Sessions
From Video Games to Facebook: Teens’ Health and the Media
Jane Brown, Ph.D., discusses current research on how the media acts as a source of norms and expectations for youth, shaping their developing identities and impacting their behavior. Brown is the James L. Knight Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is the co-editor or co-author of four books, including Sexual Teens, Sexual Media (Erlbaum, 2002),and the Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media (Sage, 2008). She serves on the research advisory board of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy, the Trojan Sexual Health Advisory Council, and the Institute of Medicine Board on Children, Youth and Families.
Self-Regulation and School Readiness: What Neuroscience Tells Us and How to Support its Development in the Early Childhood Classroom
Deborah J. Leong discusses self-regulation or the executive function of young children from a number of theoretical perspectives, the challenges preschool teachers face in its absence, and its importance for later academic achievement. Leong is professor emerita of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver, and director for the Center for Improving Early Learning. She is also a research fellow at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. Dr. Leong developed Tools of the Mind approach with Dr. Elena Bodrova, with whom she has written numerous books and articles on the Vygotskian approach.
The Environment of Childhood Poverty
Gary Evans examines the role of physical and social factors in the lives of children growing up in poverty, arguing that the confluence of risks add up to a toxic mix for child development. Evans is the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor of Human Ecology at Cornell University and a member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health and the National Academy of Sciences Board on Children, Youth, and Families. For the past two decades he has been examining cumulative risk exposure among a sample of low- and middle- income children growing up in rural New York areas.
Empowerment Theory and Adolescent Resilience: Applications for Prevention
Marc A. Zimmerman presents empirical evidence to support linkages between empowerment and resiliency theories and their overlap to inform intervention, closing with the application of his ideas in a prevention project. Zimmerman is professor and chair of the department of health behavior and health education in the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is also a professor in the department of psychology, and the combined program in education and psychology, and a research scientist in the Center for Human Growth and Development. He directs the Centers for Disease Control-funded Prevention Research Center of Michigan, and is the editor of Health Education & Behavior and a member of the editorial board for Health Education Research and Psyche.
