Welcome

 

Our research is concerned with the emotional and social skills development of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We are currently investigating what information is useful to counselors and educators who seek to improve outcomes for children at-risk for school failure and for juvenile justice system involvement. Also of interest to us, particularly in our work with preschoolers, is how emotion knowledge and social values develop and impact school adjustment.

 

Our partners include Benton Franklin Head Start, Educational Services District 105 (Yakima, Wa), and the Washington State Center for Court Research, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Thrive Washington, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

 

Representative Publications (*graduate student authors):

 

*Gonzales, A. & Strand, P.S. (in press). Sports self-efficacy and behavioral problems: A bidirectional, longitudinal investigation from middle childhood to early adolescence. International Journal of Sports Psychology.

*Trang, J.C. & Strand, P.S. (2025). Mother-child conflict, child social skills, and depression symptoms: Modeling state- and trait-level effects from mid-childhood to mid-adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 45, 699-723. https://doi.org/10.1177/02724316241273394

Strand, P.S., *Maxwell, P.D., *Trang, J. (2024). Daughter circumcision and maternal life satisfaction: A cultural moderation effect revealed across two multicountry studies. BMJ Global Health, e014200. https://doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-014200

*Savage, E., *Gonzales, A., & Strand, P.S. (2023). Generous, egalitarian, and competitive social values: An intercultural, intracommunity analysis of preschoolers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 88, 101580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2023.101580

Strand, P.S., French, B.F., & Austin, B.W. (2023). Assessment of the risks and needs of middle school students: Invariance properties related to gender and ethnicity. Assessment, 30, 580-591.

*Vo, T., *Cihan, C., French, B.F., Austin, B., & Strand, P.S. (2023). Latent profile similarity of middle and high school youth risk and needs. Journal of School Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2023.04.006

Strand, P. S. (2020). The security-seeking impulse and the unification of attachment and culture. Psychological Review, 127(5), 778-791.

Strand, P. S., *Vossen, J. J., & *Savage, E. (2019). Culture and child attachment patterns: A behavioral systems synthesis. [Special section: Emerging Cultural and Behavioral Systems Science]. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 42, 835-850.

Strand, P.S., & Downs, A. (2018). The social values development of preschoolers: An investigation of the joint impact hypothesis. Developmental Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1071.

 

Lab News

Faculty member earns state honor for community engagement

Grants help improve childhood literacy, reduce truancy