Faculty Directory
Rebekah Levine Coley
Director, Center for Child and Family Policy
Professor
Florencia and Marc Gabelli Family Faculty Fellow
Rebekah Levine Coley
Ph.D.
Contact
Campion 239A
Telephone: 617-552-6018
Email: coleyre@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0001-7172-061X
Education
- Ph.D., University of Michigan
- Postdoctoral Training, University of Chicago
- Management Development Program, Harvard University
Courses
Education and Social Issues and Policy
Research Interests
Professor Coley's research focuses on delineating, evaluating, and counteracting economic, social, and racial inequities in mental and behavioral health and educational and economic attainment. Her research employs quantitative, qualitative, and evaluation methodologies to delineate key environmental forces driving these arenas of wellbeing, and to assess and inform social and educational policies and practices which seek to disrupt the transmission of inequities and improve opportunities for children, families, and communities.
Expertise
- Cognitive and Social Development
- Health and Well Being
- Social & Emotional Development
Professor Coley is seeking new doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars to participate in a multi-methods project evaluating the effects of housing and community redevelopment on children's and adults' health (mental, behavioral, and physical) and educational success. Candidates with native fluency in Spanish or Cantonese and experience working in minoritized and underserved communities are particularly welcomed.
Department
Profile
Rebekah Levine Coley, Ph.D. is Professor of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology and Director of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Boston College. She received her doctorate in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan and postdoctoral training in Demography and Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Professor Coley’s expertise lies in assessing and counteracting economic, social, and racial inequities in mental and behavioral health and educational and economic attainment. Her research employs quantitative, qualitative, and evaluation methodologies to assess and inform social and educational policies and practices at the federal, state, and local level which seek to disrupt the transmission of inequities to children, families, and communities. Professor Coley’s research has been published in dozens of leading journals and edited volumes, and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Australian Research Council, and numerous private foundations. She is the founding Editor of the Child Evidence Brief series published by the Society for Research in Child Development which seeks to translate developmental science to federal and state policy makers, and has held leadership positions in the Society for Research in Child Development, the Society for Research on Adolescence, the Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium, and the University-based Child and Family Policy Consortium. Her research excellence has been recognized through receipt of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, a Social Policy Award from the Society for Research in Adolescence, and the inaugural Mavis Hetherington Award in Applied Developmental Science from the American Psychological Association.
GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT
Investigator, Centre for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse, University of Queensland, Australia
Current Research Grants
2024-2026 Supporting Marginalized Youths' Educational Success: A Mixed-Methods Natural Experiment. (Brady Education Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $368,032. Multi-methods natural experiment to assess how public housing and community redevelopment bolster minoritized and economically disadvantaged children’s educational opportunities and success using a strengths-based perspective.
2021-2026 Targeting Health Disparities through Housing Redevelopment: A Natural Experiment of Housing Quality, Stability, and Economic Integration. (NIH/NIMHD 1R01MD015729). Coley & Teixeira, Principal Investigators. $3,030,584. Diversity Supplement (with Lacee Satcher). $250,000. Multi-method natural experiment of public housing redevelopment to address whether improving housing quality, limiting external displacement, and creating mixed-income communities improves physical, mental, and behavioral health.
2021-2025 Boston College Institute of Early Childhood Policy (Buffett Early Childhood fund). Coley, Principal Investigator. $322,707. Cross-disciplinary institute to increase training, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration in the realm of early childhood development, education, and policy.
2021-2023 Strengths, Assets, and Receipt of Social Services as Protective Factors in the Relationship between Racial Bias and Maternal and Child Health and Developmental Outcomes. (Annie E Casey Foundation). Sims, Principal Investigator. $175,000. Multi-methods, participatory study to assess how environmental racial bias is linked with maternal and child mental, behavioral, and physical health among Black families.
2021-2023 Impact Analysis of Flavor Restrictions and Tobacco 21 Policies on Youth Tobacco Use. (NIH/NCI R21CA268199). Hawkins, Principal Investigator. $430,375. Examine the impact of state flavor restrictions and state and federal age 21 tobacco restriction policies on disparities in tobacco use among 14-24 year-old youth.
2023-2025 Evaluating Rental Relief During the COVID-19 Pandemic (NIH R21HD111746). Fusaro, Principal Investigator. $430,375. Create, make publicly available, and analyze a dataset documenting the nature and timing of Emergency Rental Assistance Program implementation policy choices and their effects on eviction, material hardship, and mental health.
2023-2025 Early Childhood Policy and Leadership Fellowship Program (Bezos Family Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $177,475. Funds provision of fellowships to underrepresented graduate students participating in the Early Childhood Policy and Leadership graduate certificate program.
2022-2026 The MetroWest Evidence-based Trauma-Informed Referral & Treatment Initiative for Children (METRIC) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SM84966). Franks, Principal Investigator. $1,599,070. Collaborative initiative to expand and evaluate trauma-focused, evidence-based mental health services for children aged 2 to 18 and their families.
2021-2027 ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Australian Research Council CE200100025). Baxter, Principal Investigator. $32,500,000AU. Collaborative research centre seeking to use evidence-based research to develop new knowledge, technology and practices to benefit people living in disadvantage.
Recent Publications
- Carey, N., Coley, R. L., Hawkins, S. S., & Baum, C. F. (2024). Emerging adult mental health during COVID: Exploring relationships between discrete and cumulative individual and contextual stressors and well-being. Journal of Adolescent Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.01.031
- Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Hwang, D., Spielvogel, B., & Henry, D. (2024). Racial inequities educationalopportunity: Variation across socioeconomic strata. Race and Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-024-09415-z
- Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Kruzik, C., Hawkins, S. S., & Baum, K. (2024). Recreational cannabis legalization, retail sales, and adolescent substance use through 2021. JAMA Pediatrics. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.0555
- Hawkins, S. S., Carey, N., Coley, R. L., Baum, C. F. (2024). Associations between tobacco 21 and state flavor restrictions with young adult tobacco use. Tobacco Control, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2023-058448.
- Hwang, D. & Coley, R. L. (2024). Examining how school resources contribute to income achievement disparities across race and ethnicity. Urban Education, 1-38. DOI: 10.1177/00420859241244770
- Kruzik, C., Coley, R. L., Votruba-Drzal, E., Spielvogel, B., Henry, D. & Betancur, L. (2024). The early emergence of SES achievement gaps: Disparities across race, ethnicity, and immigrant status. Race and Social Problems, 16, 116–132. DOI: 10.1007/s12552-023-09402-w
- Lanteri, L. & Coley, R. L. (2024). School connectedness and social exclusion: Can school contexts ameliorate parental depression risks for early adolescent behavior problems? Children and Youth Services Review, 164, 107848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107848
- Miller, P., Coley, R. L., Blatt, L. R., Spielvogel, B., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2024). Using fixed-effects analyses to examine how neighborhood structural, process, and physical characteristics predict children’s cognitive skills in a national cohort of elementary school students. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000860
- Teixeira, S., Spielvogel, B., Hwang, D., Lown, J., & Coley, R. L. (2024). Short- and long-term effects of HOPE VI redevelopment on neighborhood housing conditions. Housing Studies. DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2024.2423820.
- Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Baum, C. F., Hawkins, S. S. (2023). COVID-19 vaccinations and mental health among U.S. adults: Individual and spillover effects. Social Science and Medicine, 329, 116027. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116027
- Coley, R. L., Spielvogel, B., Hwang, D., Lown, J., & Teixeira, S. (2023). Did HOPE VI move communities to opportunity? How public housing redevelopment affected neighborhood poverty, racial composition, and resources 1990-2016. Housing Policy Debate, 4, 909-940. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2022.2121614
- Fusaro, V., Coley, R. L., & Carey, N. (2023). Shelter from the storm: State eviction moratoria, implementation context, & eviction filings during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing Policy Debate. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2023.2218840
- van Leer, K. F. & Coley, R. L. (2023). Early childhood education decision-making among Latinx foreign-born parents in the United States: A culturally-informed model of decision-making. Children and Youth Services Review, 151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107046
- Carey, N. & Coley, R. L. (2022). Prevalence of adolescent handgun carriage: 2002 2019. Pediatrics, 149(5):e2021054472. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-054472
- Coley, R. L. & Baum, C. (2022). Trends in mental health symptoms, service use, and unmet need for services among US adults through the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 12, 273-283. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibab133
- Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Baum, C. F., & Hawkins, S. S. (2022). COVID-19 related stressors and mental health disorders among US adults. Public Health Reports, 137, 1217–1226. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549221120451
- Hawkins, S., Kruzik, C., O’Brien, M., & Coley, R. L. (2022). Flavored tobacco product restrictions in Massachusetts associated with reductions in adolescent cigarette and e-cigarette use. Tobacco Control, 31, 576-579. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-056159
- Sims, J. & Coley, R. L. (2022). Examining economic risks in adolescents’ families, neighborhoods, and schools: Implications for mental and behavioral health in early adulthood. Journal of Adolescent Health, 70, 774-780. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.020.
Select Honors & Leadership Positions
Mavis Hetherington Award for Excellence in Applied Developmental Science, American Psychological Association
Fulbright Senior Scholar Award Recipient
Social Policy Award, Society for Research in Adolescence
Editor, Child Evidence Briefs
Co-Chair, Science and Social Policy Committee, Society for Research in Child Development
Steering Committee Member, University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium
Steering Committee Member, Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium
Consulting Editor, Child Development
Advisory Board Member, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy