Research

The Puberty, Environment, and Adolescent Resilience (PEAR) Lab investigates how biological development and social environments interact to shape adolescent mental health, learning, and resilience. Our research combines developmental psychology, epidemiology, and data science to understand developmental processes and identify opportunities for promoting healthy development.

Puberty and Adolescent Development

Puberty is a universal developmental transition, yet adolescents differ markedly in how they experience and adapt to this period of rapid biological and psychological change. Our research seeks to understand the developmental trajectories of puberty and the factors that explain individual differences in adolescent adjustment.

We examine pubertal timing, tempo, hormonal development, and adolescents’ subjective experiences of puberty using longitudinal cohort studies, hormone assessments, surveys, interviews, and mixed-methods research. Recent work has focused on pubertal mindsets, pubertal stress, pubertal emotions, and pubertal support from parents, peers, and schools as potential mechanisms that promote resilience during this important developmental transition.

Early Experiences and Social Relationships

Development is shaped by experiences long before adolescence. We study how childhood adversity, family relationships, friendships, and school environments influence psychological and physiological development across childhood and adolescence.

Our research examines adverse childhood experiences, parenting, peer relationships, stress mindset, school engagement, and resilience using longitudinal studies, daily diary designs, and biological measures of stress physiology. We seek to understand how supportive social relationships can buffer adversity and foster healthy developmental outcomes.

Neighborhoods, Environment, and Health Disparities

Children and adolescents develop within broader social and physical environments that can either support or undermine healthy development. Our research investigates how neighborhood characteristics, environmental exposures, discrimination, and socioeconomic disadvantage contribute to developmental and mental health disparities.

Using large-scale longitudinal datasets, nationally representative surveys, geospatial data, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses, we examine how environmental and structural factors influence mental health, sleep, health behaviors, and developmental outcomes. Our goal is to generate evidence that informs policies aimed at reducing health disparities and promoting equitable opportunities for healthy development.

Translating Research into Practice

A growing area of the PEAR Lab focuses on translating developmental science into interventions that improve adolescent well-being. Building on our research identifying modifiable protective factors, we are developing and evaluating interventions that promote resilience during adolescence, particularly during the transition through puberty. We use randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to rigorously evaluate intervention effectiveness and generate evidence that can inform educational practice, clinical care, and public policy.