CIE Researcher of Distinction, October 2022
Daneele Thorpe
Each month, the Center for Inclusive Education showcases the outstanding research being conducted by one of our talented scholars in our Research Café series. In addition, we recognize this scholar as a Researcher of Distinction and share the details of his/her journey to becoming an accomplished scholar. This month's Researcher of Distinction is Daneele ThorpePh.D., Department of Psychology. Daneele presented their work, ‘Exposure to Community Voilenve and Parenting Behaviours: A Meta-Analysis’ on Thursday, October 1, 2022.
DANEELE'S PATH INTO RESEARCH
Although my early introduction to research was in the context of a preclinical lab, I consider my research trajectory from “neurons to neighborhoods” an essential aspect of my current research aims and questions. Specifically, studying both has allowed me to understand how stress, including neighborhood adversities, can “get under the skin” and interact with gene development and expression to influence parent and child outcomes. In my sophomore year of college, I became a research assistant working on projects using rodent models to investigate the effects of hormonal changes on drug self-administration and misuse of amphetamine as a risk factor for developing cocaine use. In this lab, I learned new methodological tools such as brain staining and sectioning, which served as the basis of a project investigating dendritic branching in the nucleus accumbens in response to maternal exercise in utero. In addition to serving as an early introduction to experimental methods in behavioral neuroscience, this study furthered my interest in physiological processes that shape risk for long-term maladaptive outcomes. As a graduate student in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Stony Brook University, I have expanded my research to focus on ecological predictors of child development in human models. Specifically, my research seeks to identify socio-ecological parent and child outcomes predictors by employing geospatial analyses to examine exposure and access to the neighborhood environment, such as crime, parks/playgrounds, resources, healthy foods, etc.
DANEELE'S Current Research
Describe the work you presented for your Research Café.
My second-year Master’s thesis drove the work I presented for the Research cafe. In my master’s thesis, I found that greater exposure to individual burden indicators (e.g., parents’ financial strain, depression, and education) and greater neighborhood crime density predicted maladaptive parent beliefs about infant crying, suggesting that contextual factors outside the household are associated with parenting cognitions. I was interested in how exposure to community violence influences parenting behaviors. As such, I decided to conduct a large meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between exposure to community violence and parenting behaviors (i.e., positive parenting behaviors, harsh/neglectful parenting, parent-child relationship quality, and parents’ control of children’s behaviors). I was also interested in how factors specific to the child (biological sex, race/ethnicity, age) influence the relationship between community violence and parenting. The paper received an invitation to resubmit with revisions in Psychological Bulletin, one of the highest-impact journals in our field.
What was the deciding factor for you to come to Stony Brook for your graduate studies?
Two things: 1) My advisor, Dr. Kristin Bernard, and her research interest! It was especially remarkable to see the community-based partnership she had fostered with the Power of Two, a not-for-profit organization in Brooklyn, NY, that serves families by providing evidence-based interventions and case management services. Being able to witness and be a part of that work has been a privilege. 2) It was also a tremendous honor to have received the Dr. W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship and the promise of community and comradeship that came with the fellowship. As a Posse Foundation scholar, I was grateful to have entered college with my posse of 10 students who could provide support and community throughout my college years. That level of community has been invaluable to my experience and development. So, I was excited to be entering graduate school with a similar community of scholars and professionals who would support my development throughout my graduate school career.
Are there any other projects, beyond your Research Café work, that you are currently
working on?
I am currently working on my dissertation project! My dissertation project will use an exploratory mixed methods design (qualitative focus groups and quantitative survey) and culturally informed qualitative approaches to gather information from urban parents about neighborhood factors that affect their caregiving. Based on factors that parents identify (e.g., safety, poverty,) publicly available data will be gathered to reflect these factors at the census tract level (e.g., crime incidence, residents living below the poverty line). Leveraging publicly available and original data that will be collected for this dissertation, the primary research question will examine how families’ objective neighborhood environment influences parenting behaviors (e.g., warmth, harsh parenting, laxness) over and above other factors at multiple systems of the ecology, including those specific to the parent (i.e., mental health concerns) and their microsystem (i.e., single parent status, financial burden).
What are your future goals?
Retirement! Alternatively, after completing my Ph.D., I plan to apply for the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellowship, which provides scientists with the opportunity to learn about the intersection of science and policy while contributing to federal policymaking, policy implementation, and program development. I want to go into a role where I can continue to investigate important questions about the role of context in parenting and child development and be an important stakeholder in shaping policies to inform change. I hope that a career in research and policy will allow me to continue to advocate on behalf of marginalized communities by promoting and enforcing meaningful change.
What do you enjoy most about research?
What I enjoy most about research is the ability to help children and families from underserved communities. I am passionate about my research that examines neighborhood predictors of parenting behaviors because it removes the onus of responsibility and blame often placed on lower-income parents for their parenting behavior without considering the multiple systems parents and families are situated in. My goal is for my research may inform policies at the systemic level aimed at addressing disparities in urban neighborhoods. Multisystemic approaches to youth well-being that address both personal well-being and community-level restorative practices are necessary to address disparities in mental health in urban communities. In addition to the basic research that I conduct, my research also examines the effectiveness of a parent-child intervention in partnership with a community-based organization. Thus, we are actively finding ways to support children and families through research and interventions.