Jenifer K McGuire Academic Research Statement and Curriculum Vitae

My program of research focuses on factors in human development over the lifespan that contribute to well-being in individuals and families.  I particularly study adolescent identity development. I examine development within social contexts (e.g. community, school, family) and focus on the mechanisms that connect youth to contexts (e.g. relationships with mentors, sense of belonging). Broadly, I address the following research questions: “How do different contexts influence development? Through what processes are contexts meaningful?”

My work combines content from sexual health, well being for sexual and ethnic minority youth, civic development, and gender identity. My focus on context furthers the field of human development as unique from other social sciences through the examination of developmental processes in real world settings. I examine adolescent development in existing, naturally occurring contexts, rather than experimentally controlled contexts.  

My theoretical perspective fits within a biopsychosocial framework which includes biological, psychological and social explanations for human behavior. Specifically I draw from major adolescent development theorists to incorporate Eriksonian identity development, Vygotskian notions of scaffolding and social cognition, concepts of risk, protective, and promotive factors and developmental assets from the prevention science literature, and feminist theories regarding the social and relational construction of identities. 

Additionally, I have found that developmental processes are often illuminated within subsets of the population, and one strategy to examine development is to closely examine the diverse pathways of development via minority groups. For instance, in my current study of transgender youth and family relationships, I am able to distinguish elements of parental rejection (e.g. rejection of generalized support, relational rejection, and rejection of gendered behavior) simply because the experience of parental rejection, which is quite uncommon in the general population, is more common among transgender adolescents.

Because I have pursued considerable quantitative training, I am able to use large datasets in innovative ways to manage issues including variable time to an event that not everyone experiences, such as a teen birth (Rash, Broberg_[students], & McGuire, 2010), complicated, person centered constructs such as sexual style (McGuire & Barber, 2010), and the examination of individuals within various life settings, such as neighborhoods, cultures, religions, schools, etc.