Faculty Directory
Rebekah Levine Coley
Department Chair, Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology; Professor, Applied Developmental & Educational Psychology
Rebekah Levine Coley
Ph.D.
Contact
Campion Hall Room 308
Telephone: 617-552-6018
Email: rebekah.coley@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0001-7172-061X
Education
- Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan
- Postdoctoral Training, Demography & Public Policy, University of Chicago
Research Interests
Primary focus on delineating the key family, school, and community processes which transmit economic and social inequality to children's and adolescents' development. Incorporate longitudinal, multi-method, and evaluation methodologies to inform social and educational policies at the local, state, and federal level. Specific research foci include: family and community poverty; housing and community development; family structure and parenting; father involvement; early childhood education; and youth health risk behaviors.
Expertise
- Poverty
- Childhood & Adolescence
- Social & Emotional Development
- Gender & Sexual Orientation
- Health
- Early Childhood Education
Department
Biography
By examining how our earliest encounters with families and educational systems shape development—and how inequality affects these encounters—Rebekah Levine Coley’s work speaks to researchers, students, and community members alike.
Her recent research in economic inequality builds on a career of investigating areas critical to advancing the greater good: family and community poverty; housing and community development; family structure and parenting; father involvement; early childhood education; and youth health risk behaviors.
Coley is a compelling presenter on these topics, chairs and organizes multiple symposia, and serves as principal investigator on several research grants. Her work has appeared in publications as diverse as Science and Teen Vogue.
A leader with several international professional associations, Coley was recently elected co-chair of the Policy and Communications Committee at the Society for Research in Child Development. She’s also co-chair of the Social Policy Committee at the Society for Research on Adolescence and a Consulting Editor with Child Development.
Students working under her leadership know they’ll encounter an environment that challenges them to get beyond “academic journals that only academics read,” as Coley said in an interview. They will have and create opportunities for research that translate into real-world practice that benefits communities.
GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT
Investigator, Centre for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse, University of Queensland, Australia
Current Research Grants
Resource and Stress Processes Underlying Economic Disparities in Early School
Success (National Science Foundation). Principal Investigator. Combines longitudinal data on children’s development and family processes with geocoded data from numerous administrative data sources to delineate resource and stress processes underlying economic disparities in young children’s academic and behavioral success.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Australian Research Council CE200100025). Co-Investigator. Collaborative research centre seeking to use evidence-based research to reduce intergenerational and long-term economic disadvantage and improve the life chances of poor children and families.
Moving Communities to Opportunity: Exploring Public Housing Redevelopment as a Strategy for Addressing Structural Barriers to Economic Mobility (Russell Sage Foundation & Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Principal Investigator. Quasi-experimental analysis of whether redeveloping public housing into mixed-income communities affect community resources, stressors, and concentrated disadvantage.
Paternal Influence on Children’s Weight Outcomes (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Co-Investigator. Uses longitudinal cohort data to examine predictors of fathers’ parenting behaviors and effects on children’s diet, nutrition, and healthy weight.
Honors and 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