1932

Abstract

This article describes a career path from a non-traditional STEM field to an impactful career in developmental science. It acknowledges the unique experiences of an African American woman growing up in a northeastern urban center at the end of World War II, during which the experiences of Blacks were still heavily impacted by policies and practices representing highly significant racial inequities requiring individual, family, and collective coping. My human development theory, phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST), provides a framing device for describing both high vulnerability situations and resilience expressions linked to particular contextual experiences including significant challenges and, as well, unexpected sources of support. Experiences had within my family of origin, civil rights activities, and diverse learning environments afforded supports, inferred mortal attacks, and unexpected opportunities. Ongoing are challenges and stress inferred to be associated with my committed positionality that acknowledges all children's humanity and particularly the persistent situations of youth and communities of color.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-120321-012438
2023-12-11
2024-12-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/devpsych/5/1/annurev-devpsych-120321-012438.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-120321-012438&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Havighurst RJ. 1953.. Human Development and Education. New York:: Longmans, Green & Co.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Heching D. 2023.. Michael J. Fox calls Parkinson's disease ‘the gift that keeps on taking’ in candid new interview. . CNN, April 30. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/30/entertainment/michael-j-fox-parkinsons-disease-cbs-interview/index.html
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Kochhar R, Cilluffo A. 2017.. How wealth inequality has changed in the U.S. since the Great Recession, by race, ethnicity and income. . Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/11/01/how-wealth-inequality-has-changed-in-the-u-s-since-the-great-recession-by-race-ethnicity-and-income/
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Spencer MB. 1995.. Old issues and new theorizing about African American youth: a phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory. . In African-American Youth: Their Social and Economic Status in the United States, ed. RL Taylor , pp. 3769 Westport, CT:: Praeger
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Spencer MB. 2006.. Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: development of diverse groups. . In Handbook of Child Psychology, 1: Theoretical Models of Human Development, ed. RM Lerner, W Damon , pp. 82993 New York:: Wiley, 6th ed..
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Spencer MB. 2008.. Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: development of diverse groups. . In Child and Adolescent Development: An Advanced Course, ed. W Damon, RM Lerner , pp. 696735 New York:: Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Spencer MB. 2022.. What you ignore, becomes empowered: social science traditions weaponized to resist resiliency research opportunities. . In Race and Culturally Responsive Inquiry in Education, ed. SL Hood, HT Frierson, RK Hopson, KN Arbuthnot , pp. 6380 Cambridge, MA:: Harvard Educ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Spencer MB. 2023.. Character virtue, social science, and “adept” leadership: a failure to acknowledge practice?. In Critiquing Contemporary Approaches to Character Virtue Development, ed. R Lerner, M Matthews . New York:: Routledge. In press
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Spencer MB, Brookins GK, Allen WR 1985.. Beginnings: The Social and Affective Development of Black Children. Hillsdale, NJ:: Lawrence Erlbaum
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Spencer MB, Dowd NE. 2024.. Radical Brown: Keeping the Promise to America's Children. Cambridge, MA:: Harvard Educ. Press. In press
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Spencer MB, Harpalani V. 2004.. Nature, nurture, and the question of “how?”: a phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory. . In Nature and Nurture: The Complex Interplay of Genetic and Environmental Influences on Human Behavior and Development, ed. CG Coll, EL Bearer, RM Lerner , pp. 5377 Mahwah, NJ:: Erlbaum
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Spencer MB, Harpalani V, Cassidy E, Jacobs C, Donde S, et al. 2006.. Understanding vulnerability and resilience from a normative development perspective: implications for racially and ethnically diverse youth. . In Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology, 1: Theory and Method, ed. D Cicchetti, DJ Cohen , pp. 62772 Hoboken, NJ:: Wiley, 2nd ed.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Spencer MB, Horowitz FD. 1973.. Effects of systemic social and token reinforcement on the modification of racial and color concept attitudes in black and in white preschool children. . Dev. Psychol. 9:(2):24654
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Spencer MB, Swanson DP, Harpalani V. 2015.. Development of the self. . In Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science 3, ed. RM Lerner, ME Lamb , pp. 75093 Hoboken, NJ:: Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-120321-012438
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-120321-012438
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error