Institute of Human Development and Social Change

Maria D. LaRusso, page 1

Maria D. LaRusso

Associate Research Scientist

Institute of Human Development and Social Change

New York University

New York, NY, USA

EDUCATION

1997-2004Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Doctor of Education, Human Development and Psychology

1993-1994Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Master of Education, Human Development and Psychology

1989-1993Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Bachelor of Science, Human Development and Family Studies

HONORS/AWARDS

2009Jacobs Foundation International Travel Award for presenting at the Biennial Meeting of the

Society for Research in Child Development

2008Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, American Association for University Women

2008 Young Scholar Travel Award, International Society for Behavioral Development

2007Travel Award, Association for Moral Education and the Gift of Time Foundation

2007Junior Scholar, Inter-American Collaboration Workshop of the International Society for Behavioral Development

2006Fulbright Scholar

2003Gender Studies Doctoral Research Award, HarvardUniversity

2002-2003Advanced Doctoral Fellowship, HarvardUniversity

2000-2001Spencer Apprenticeship Grant, HarvardUniversity

1997-1998Larsen Fellowship, HarvardUniversity

1989-1993Ted Larew Scholarship, Cornell University

PUBLICATIONS

LaRusso, M. D., Jones, S. M., Brown, J. L., & Aber, J. L. (in press). School context and micro-contexts: The

complexity of studying school settings. In L. M. Dinella (Ed.), Conducting psychology research in school-based settings: A practical guide for researchers conducting high quality science within school environments. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

LaRusso, M. D., Romer, D., & Selman, R. L. (2008). Teachers as builders of respectful school

climates: Implications for adolescent drug use norms and depressive symptoms in high school. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Abadía-Barrero, C. & LaRusso, M. D. (2006). The disclosure model versus a developmental illness

experience model for children and adolescents living with HIV/AIDS: Findings from a study in São Paulo, Brazil. AIDS Patient Care and STDs. 20 (1), pp. 36-43.

Schultz, L. H., Selman, R. L., & LaRusso, M. D. (2004). The Assessment of Psychosocial Maturity in

Children and Adolescents: Implications for the Evaluation of School-based Character Education Programs. Journal of Research in Character Education. 1 (2), pp.67-87.

LaRusso, M. D. & Selman, R. L. (2003). The influence of development and school climate on adolescents’

perceptions of risk and prevention: Cynicism and skepticism. In Romer, D. (Ed.) Reducing adolescent risk: Toward an integrated strategy.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW

LaRusso, M. D. & Selman, R. L. Social awareness and middle school climate: Implications for early

adolescent risk behaviors and cynical attitudes toward school based prevention initiatives.

Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., LaRusso, M. D., & Aber, J. LTargeting and improving the quality of elementary

school classroom processes: A school randomized test of the 4Rs Program.

GRANTS

Principal Investigator (contracted by the Colombian Ministry of Education)). “Developing social and emotional competencies to prevent violence and build democracy.” Inter-American Development Bank. Period of support: 3/01/09-5/31/11. Amount of support: $600,000.

Co-Investigator (with Joshua L. Brown (Co-PI) and Stephanie M. Jones (Co-PI)). “Changing Classroom Climate and Other School Micro-Contexts to Promote Children’s Social-Emotional and Academic Development: The 4Rs Setting-Level Study.” William T. Grant Foundation. Period of support: 8/24/06-8/23/08. Amount of support: $524,340.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2006-2008Associate Research Scientist/Co-Investigator, Department of Applied Psychology, New YorkUniversity.

Spring 2007Fulbright Scholar, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Adolescent social development and school climate in Colombia: Mixed methods research. Funded by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.

2005-2006Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York, NY. Children’s socialand emotional development in the contextsof urban elementary schools and a group randomized trial of a school-based intervention. Funded by the American Psychological Association/Institute of Education Sciences Postdoctoral Education Research Training (PERT) fellowship.With J. Lawrence Aber.

2004-2005Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania,

Philadelphia, PA.Adolescents’ mental health and a randomized trial ofa classroom-based intervention in a suburban, affluent school. Funded by the American Psychological Association/Institute of Education Sciences Postdoctoral Education Research Training (PERT) fellowship. With Martin Seligman.

2003-2004Consultant, Annenberg Adolescent Risk Communication Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. The National Annenberg Risk Survey of Youth (NARSY): Assessment of School Climate and Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescence.With Daniel Romer and Robert Selman.

2000-2003Research Fellow, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA. Middle Grades Risk Prevention Study. Funded by the Department of Education and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. With Robert Selman and Lynn Schultz.

2002-2003Research Consultant, Secretary of Education of Bogotá, Colombia. Psychosocial Development of Colombian Adolescents. With Angela Bermudez, Lynn Schultz, and Robert Selman.

1994-2002Research Fellow, Devereux Residential TreatmentCenter for Girls, Chester, NJ and HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA.Pair Therapy for Girls with Social and Behavioral Problems: Mixed Method Analyses of Change over Time. Funded by the Devereux Foundation. With Caroline Watts and Michael Nakkula.

2000-2002Independent Program Evaluator, CambridgeYouthGuidanceCenter, Cambridge, MA. The Voices of Love and Freedom Program in Clinical and Classroom Settings: A Mixed Method Outcome Study..Funded by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). With Lynn Schultz.

1999-2000Independent Program Evaluator, Consensus Building Institute, Cambridge, MA. Workable Peace Project: A Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation. With Deborah Donahue-Keegan.

1999-2000Research Assistant, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA. Project on Parenting Adolescents.Funded by the Mac Arthur Foundation. With A. Rae Simpson.

2000Research Training Grant Recipient, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA. Integrating

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods. Funded by the Spencer Foundation. With Michael Nakkula.

1997-1999Research Assistant, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA.Project for Young Negotiators: Psychosocial Outcomes. Funded by the Spencer Foundation, Kargman Family Fund, and the Packer Fund. With Michael Nakkula.

1998Research Assistant, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA. Outcome Study of Facing

History and Ourselves. Funded by the Carnegie Corporation. With Dennis Barr and Robert Selman.

1993-1994Research Assistant, HarvardMedicalSchool,Boston, MA. Young Adult Close Relationships Study.Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. With Lynn Schultz.

1993-1994Research Assistant, HarvardMedicalSchool, Boston, MA. Trauma and Repressed Memories. With Judith Herman.

PRESENTATIONS

LaRusso, M. D. (2008). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Outcome Evaluations of Civic

Education Programs and Policies: A Case Example. Invited talk for the Hemispheric Course on Evaluation of Policies and Programs in Education for Democratic Citizenship (of the Organization of the American States), Antigua Guatemala.

LaRusso, M. D. (2008). Evaluation of Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and

Practices. Invited talk at the Advisory Board Meeting of the Organization of the American States, Antigua, Guatemala.

LaRusso, M. D. & Selman, R. L. (2008). Conflict resolution in schools: Implications for adolescent risk

behaviors in the United States. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting for the International Society for Behavioral Development,Wuerzburg, Germany.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2008).Aggression and problem behavior in

elementary schools in the United Sates: Links to school climate, relationships, and school responses to aggression. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting for the International Society for Behavioral Development,Wuerzburg, Germany.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2008). Variation in climate within and between

classrooms: Links to instructional, developmental, and relational characteristics of classrooms. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting for the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2008). School climate, relationships, and

behavior in elementary school: Longitudinal and mixed method analyses. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting for the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2007). The challenge of assessing

and changing school climate: Understanding the complexities of schools as whole units composed of multiple contexts. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting for the Association for Moral Education, New York, NY.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2007). Mixed method analyses of schools as

contexts for social and moral development in middle childhood. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting for the Association for Moral Education, New York, NY.

LaRusso, M. D. (2007).Social development, health risk behaviors, and conflict resolution in schools:

Developmental and contextual perspectives. Poster presented at the Inter-American Collaboration Workshop of the International Society for Behavioral Development, Gramado, Brazil.

LaRusso, M. D. (2007).Mixed methods in the social sciences: Integrating quantitative and qualitative

approaches to understanding children’s social development in context. Invited Fulbright talk, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2007). Differences in the quality of classroom

climate by classroom-level demographic and developmental characteristics. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, D.C.

Berg, J., Hoglund, W., LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. Jones, S., & Aber, J. L. (2007).The role of school climate

and an elementary school intervention on the connection between classroom racial/ethnic diversity and child adjustment. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, D.C.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2007).The influence of teacher-student

relationships, school climate, and gender on social competence and problem behaviors in elementary school. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Child Development, Boston, MA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2006). Risk behavior, relationships, and adolescent cynicism: Developmental and

contextual analyses. Paper presented at the Annual Convention for the American Psychological

Association, New Orleans, LA.

LaRusso, M. D., Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., & Aber, J. L. (2006). Teacher ratings of school climate:

Exploratory factor analysis and relationships with teacher burnout. Poster presented at the Institute of Education Sciences 2006 Research Conference, Washington, D.C.

LaRusso, M. D. (2006). A mixed methods approach to the assessment of school climate. Paper presented at

the Annual Meeting for the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2006). Mixed method assessment of school climate as a context for social development.

Poster presented in AERA session, “Emerging Scholars and Scholarship in Education Research: AERA, NAE, APA and IES Postdoctoral Fellows and Their Work” at the Annual Meeting for the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2006). Early adolescent social development and the social context of school: Implications

for the prevention of health risk behaviors. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2006). Early adolescent social development, risk prevention, and the social context of

school: Quantitative and qualitative analyses. Developmental Colloquium talk, Department of

Applied Psychology, New YorkUniversity.

LaRusso, M. D. (2005). Early adolescents' critiques of school culture: A developmental interpretation of

social context. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting for the Association for Moral Education, Cambridge, MA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2005). Social development and risk behavior: The importance of the relationship culture of

schools. Paper presented at the Annual Convention for the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.

LaRusso, M. D. (2005).A developmental perspective on school atmosphere, risk behavior, and early

adolescents’ interpretations of relationships. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2004). Adolescents’ and teachers’ experiences of citizenship education: Examining the

interconnected influences of social/moral development and social context. Workshop presented at the National Educational Forum on Citizenship Education, Bogotá, Colombia.

LaRusso, M. D., Schultz, L. H., & Selman, R. L.(2003). La madurez psicosocial de una muestra de

estudiantes de 7o y 9o grado de Bogotá (The psychosocial maturity of a sample of students in 8th and 10th grades in Bogotá).Invited presentation at the teleconference: Moral and Social Development and Citizenship Education, Bogotá,Colombia.

LaRusso, M. D. Watts, C. L. (2002).Promoting social competence in girls with relational disorders: A

mixed methods approach to understanding clinical and developmental change.Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2001)From fighting and power strategies to negotiation and fairness strategies: the

validity and reliability of a measure of interpersonal development in childhood and adolescence.Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.

LaRusso, M. D. (Chair). (2000). How to Effectively Combine Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Spencer Research Forum with Charles Teddlie, Richard Light, Michael Nakkula, and John Willet, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.

LaRusso, M. D. (2000).Interpersonal negotiation and social perspective-taking among at-risk youth:

Assessing the critical transitional steps in development. Paper presented at the Harvard Student Research Conference and International Forum, Cambridge, MA.

UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2008Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Assistant Professor, Psychology Department

Undergraduate courses:

• Understanding Youth in Context
• Adolescents in Film: Risks and Relationships

2007Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Fulbright Scholar/Visiting Professor

Undergraduate course:

• Understanding Youth in Context: Developmental Risks and Opportunities within Families, Schools, and Communities

1997-2002Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA

Teaching Fellow for the following graduate courses:

• Social and Moral Development
• Proseminar in Human Development (seminar for first year doctoral students)
• Research Experience in Risk and Prevention
• Adolescent Development in the Schools
• Psychology of Girls and Women

1996-1997Raritan Valley College, North Branch, NJ

Adjunct Instructor, Psychology Department

Undergraduate course:

• Developmental Psychology

1996CentenaryCollege, Hackettstown, NJ

Adjunct Instructor, Psychology Department

Undergraduate course:

• Developmental Psychology I: Childhood and Adolescence

SPECIALIZED TRAINING/SEMINARS

2008Workshop on Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis in Education. August 11-15. Northwestern

University, Evanston, Illinois.

2006Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), Summer Institute on Advanced Statistics and Methods, The

StateUniversity of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.

2006Randomizing Groups to Evaluate Place-based Programs, Professional Development and Training Courses at the Annual Meeting for the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

2005SRCD Developmental Science Teaching Institute, Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

2004Applying Multiple Social Science Research Methods to Educational Problems: A National Forum,

Center for Education, National Research Council of the NationalAcademies, Washington, D.C.

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

1995-1997 Child and Family Therapist, Child and Adolescent Services, Saint Clare’s Hospital, Boonton, NJ.

1996-1997Program Supervisor, Strong Mothers, Safe Children Program, Jersey Battered Women’s Service, Morris Plains, NJ.

1995Child and Family Therapist, Children’s Home-based Intervention Program, Saint Clare’s

Hospital, Boonton, NJ.

1994-1995Counselor, Jersey Battered Women's Service, MorrisPlains, NJ.

1994-1995Clinical Intern, Children’s Home-based Intervention Program, Saint Clare’s Hospital, Boonton, NJ.

1993Counselor, Project Hope, Parsipany, NJ.

1992-1993Counselor, Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service, Ithaca, NY.

1991-1993Counselor, Ithaca Rape Crisis, Ithaca, NY.

COMMITTEES

2002-2004Gender Studies Doctoral Students Association

1999-2000 Doctoral Student Advisory Committee

1998-1999Teaching for Teaching Fellows Working Group

1997-1998HarvardAdmissions Committee,Risk and Prevention Program, Coordinator

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Educational Research Association

Society for Research on Child Development

Society for Research on Adolescence

American Psychological Association

Association for Moral Education

Society for Prevention Research

International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development