Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan
About
Dr. Carter received her PhD in applied developmental psychology at Florida International University and her post-doctoral training at the Institute for Social Research (ISR) and Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Carter's research bridges biological transitions with critical developmental tasks (e.g., racial identity) amid specific contexts (e.g., schools) to elucidate the socialization experiences of girls elicited by biological transitions, particularly African American and Latina girls. The mutual implications of these developmental processes for girls' psychosocial outcomes are also examined. Dr. Carter draws upon both secondary data analysis and original data collection and uses a multi-method (i.e., survey, experimental, observational), multi-informant (i.e., the adolescent, their close friend, parent, and teacher) design framework to address her research questions.
Current Work:
Transformations in family relationships at puberty are assumed to be due to the biological, social, and psychological changes of early adolescence. Little research has considered how the interplay between these processes underlies relational changes or ways that preexisting individual characteristics are linked to variations in the parent-child relationship during puberty. This interdisciplinary project examines several processes implicated in the perceptions of and actual behaviors exhibited in family relationships at puberty. These include responses to biological change, individual or familial characteristics (e.g., ethnic and racial solization), race/ethnicity, and changes in social cognitive processes, other social relationships. The project is conducted by coding videotaped interactions of Latino and African-American mothers and daughters. Survey data is also collected.
GOALS OF THE PROJECT
- Understand the pubertal processes that influence Latino and African American mother-daughter relationships, including endogenous biological changes as well as the social stimulus value of biological change to mothers' and daughters'.
- Understand associations between Latino and African American mother-daughter relationships at puberty and other developmental processes (e.g., gender, ethnic and racial identity).
- Understand associations between Latino and African American mother-daughter relationships at puberty and individual or familial characteristics (e.g., parenting behavior and interactional styles).
- Understand what messages Latino and African American pubertal girls receive about gender, ethnicity, and race from their parents and how these messages contribute to girls' accommodation to pubertal changes.
- Examine the discourse patterns in Latino and African American mother-daughter conversations about puberty and the impact of this communication on girls' responses to their developing bodies.
The approach taken in this project will provide a microanalytic examination of Latino and African American mother-daughter conversations about pubertal development. Natural language conversations are a valuable tool for telling us how the biological events of puberty are made meaningful to and interpreted by girls. Moreover, we are able to gain new insight on what mothers say to pubertal girls about gender, ethnicity, and race and how such talk contributes to girls' accommodation to their pubertal changes. While altering the timing of pubertal development in order to decrease the number of early maturing girls is not possible, tailored interventions may assist in the appropriate delivery of preventive intervention messages to girls who are on different developmental trajectories. This is particularly important for Latino and African American girls because they are the first in their cohort to begin puberty. Tailored communication for allows for the delivery of select messages and materials relevant to individuals within a target population based on each person's behavioral, attitudinal, or environmental characteristics (Kreuter et al., 2000). This approach uses individual assessments to create messages and feedback written specifically for the individual. By assessing where Latino and African American girl's development lies relative to their peers prior to the delivery of a preventive intervention, messages and materials can be designed to address the unique contextual issues that are associated with pubertal timing.
Research Area Keyword(s):
biological processes, race/ethnicicity, girls, identity, interpersonal relationships
