Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis
About
Maciel M. Hernández (PhD, University of California, Davis) is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology at UC Davis. Dr. Hernández studies the role of families and schools in the education and development of young children from Latino and immigrant backgrounds. Specifically, Hernández examines how children's emotion and regulatory behaviors, as well as social relationships in school, relate to their academic, social, and psychological adjustment. Hernández also investigates factors that promote resilience in academic and behavioral domains of development, with attention to culturally relevant processes such as familism and ethnic identity. Hernández's research has been published in outlets such as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Emotion, Journal of Educational Psychology, and the International Journal of Behavioral Development.
Current Work:
Dr. Hernández's current research projects investigate: (1) the development of Latino children and families and factors that promote resilience in academic and behavioral domains of development, with attention to cultural contexts and relevant processes; (2) how emotion-related self-regulation and emotions exhibited in school (i.e., how children express and regulate their emotions) predict academic outcomes and socioemotional adjustment in childhood; and (3) the ways in which social relationships with teachers and peers predict academic adjustment, particularly for children at risk of academic difficulties.
Research Area Keyword(s):
Academic achievement and engagement; Latinx children; development of self-regulation; developmental psychology; social-emotional development
