Career
Barbarin began his academic career as an assistant professor in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Maryland from 1974 to 1979. He then served in the Department of Psychology and the School of Social Work, where he advanced from assistant professor to professor between 1979 and 2000. From 2000 to 2009, he held the L. Richardson and Emily Preyer Distinguished Professorship at the University of North Carolina School of Social Work and was a fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. [1] [2]
Barbarin served as chair of the U.S. National Committee for Psychology at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2010 and was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Union of Psychological Science in 2012. He then held the Lila L. and Douglas J. Hertz Endowed Chair in the Department of Psychology at Tulane University from 2009 to 2015. From 2015 to 2020, he was a professor of African American Studies and Psychology at the University of Maryland. [1]
At the University of Michigan, Barbarin served as director of the Family Development Project from 1979 to 2000, director of the University Center for the Child and Family within the Institute for Human Adjustment from 1992 to 1994, co-director of the Detroit Initiative in Psychology from 1995 to 2000, and executive director of the South African Initiative in the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Research from 1996 to 2000. He also served on the board of directors of the American Orthopsychiatric Association between 1988 and 1991 and again from 2000 to 2004, during which he was president from 2001 to 2003. [2] At the University of Maryland, he chaired the Department of African American Studies from 2015 to 2020. [1]
Research
Barbarin's research has emphasized how social factors and adverse conditions, such as life-threatening childhood illness, poverty, systemic racism, and community violence create disruptions and stress that affect family functioning and, consequently, children’s behavioral, emotional, and academic development. [3]
Life-threatening childhood illness
With colleague Mark Chesler, Barbarin examined the many stressors associated with serious pediatric illness, including the challenge of understanding and making treatment decisions, uncertainty about a child's survival, financial strain, and awkward social interactions with friends. [4] These themes were explored in their book, Childhood Cancer and the Family: Meeting the Challenge of Stress and Support. Their research highlighted the central role of mothers in children's well-being, showing that when mothers managed medical, financial, and interpersonal stress more effectively, their children tended to fare better. [5] It also identified the emotional challenges faced by siblings of seriously ill children, including feelings of loss, guilt, and loneliness. [6]
His studies on families of children with sickle cell disease underscored the importance of material and social support, revealing that addressing poverty-related needs was often as critical to effective disease management and child outcomes as access to quality medical care. [7]
Poverty, violence, and child development in South Africa
Barbarin collaborated on a longitudinal study examining child health and development in urban South Africa, culminating in the book Mandela's Children: Growing Up in Post-Apartheid South Africa. [8] The study demonstrated the negative effects of material hardship [9] and neighborhood violence on children's behavioral and emotional development. [10] His work found that children growing up in unsafe neighborhoods exhibited higher levels of behavioral and emotional difficulties. [11] Consistent with his earlier findings on families of ill children, effective maternal coping in these high-risk environments helped protect children from developing serious behavioral problems. [12] [5] He later extended his research to examine the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. [13]
Early childhood intervention
Barbarin's research on families focused on parental strategies that enhance children's language, literacy, numeracy, and social competence, particularly in low-income households. His work examined the impact of parental practices such as joint reading, [14] dialogic conversations, [15] enrichment activities, [14] and intentional parental instruction prior to school entry. [16]
He was also part of a multi-state study assessing the quality and outcomes of public pre-kindergarten programs. [17] Together with colleagues, he found that strong instructional and emotional support in preschool settings fostered academic and social growth while reducing behavioral issues. [18] In addition, he developed the ABLE screening tool, designed to support early identification and intervention for emotional and behavioral challenges in young children. [19]
Emotional and social development of Black boys and youth
Focusing on the Black-White achievement gap, Barbarin observed that African American boys often experience disproportionate discipline and stigmatization, which can lead to marginalization and placement in lower-track or special education programs that prioritize behavior management over academic development. [20]
His research emphasized positive youth development, demonstrating that high-quality emotional interactions foster stronger social skills and greater social competence in children. [21] He also explored how youth and their families employ adaptive coping strategies to navigate adversity. [22]
Barbarin concluded that positive adaptation to adversity can be achieved [23] when Black boys and youth are supported by networks of caring and affirming relationships, guided by structures that encourage accountability and direction, and grounded in frameworks of meaning and purpose that strengthen their identity. [24]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
