SARAH L. FRIEDMAN, Ph.D
Updated: January23, 2015
SARAH L. FRIEDMAN, Ph.D.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Biosketch
Sarah L. Friedman is a Research Professor of Psychology at The George Washington University. Her current research on distance communication between deployed parents and their military connected children and families is informed by two conferences she organized in 2011 and 2012 and by her extensive past research. Until May 2013 she was Research Director for Health Care Research and Policy Center of CNA and charged with developing programs in child development and health. From September 2009 she was the Principal Investigator for the Legacy for Children Follow-up, a contract awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal of the contract was to evaluate the long-term impact on children of an intensive, long-term intervention provided to their mothers. In 2011 and 2012 she led two scientific conferences on military children and families. From April 2006 through June of 2008, she was the Director of the Appalachian Regional Educational Laboratory that was supported through a contract from the Institute of Education Sciences to CNA. In that role she oversaw a budget of over $ 5,000,000 per year and the conduct of rigorous applied educational research, experimental evaluations of educational interventions and technical assistance to state and local education agencies in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Prior to her leaving Government service in the end of March 2006, Dr. Friedman was employed by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Her scientific papers and edited books address a wide range of topics in the area of child development. These include (a) the effects of preterm birth on cognitive, educational and social development of children; (b) the interface of brain, cognition and education; (c) the development of planning skills; (d) longitudinal follow-up research strategies; (e) environmental influences on psychological development; and (f) child care and children’s psychological and health development.
From 1989 through March 2006 Dr. Friedman served as the NICHD scientific manager and one of the architects and primary investigators of a multi-site, collaborative longitudinal research project on the development of social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic and health development of children from birth through adolescence (The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development). She has developed the budget of the study from $ 750,000 per year to more than $ 9,000,000 per year. Under the management of NICHD, the study followed the development of children over the first fifteen years of their life and has published extensively. It is recognized nationally and internationally.
Dr. Friedman is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society (APS), American Psychological Association (APA), the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, APA Division 1 – General Psychology, APA Division 7—Developmental Psychology, and APA Division 33---Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She is a recipient of two Merit awards at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She is also the recipient of a 2003 APA Meritorious Research Service Commendations. She is a past member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Child Development and Developmental Psychology and a current member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology and the Journal of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics. She was also an editorial consultant for the Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. She has been invited to speak at national and international scientific meetings and was interviewed by the media for newspaper columns, radio and TV.
Dr. Friedman has an M.A. in Educational Psychology from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Developmental and Experimental Psychology from the George Washington University.
EDUCATION:
1975 Ph.D.Developmental and Experimental Psychology, the George Washington University (Thesis: Picture Perception by Three and One-Half Month-Old-Infants)
1971 M.A.Educational Psychology, Cornell University (Thesis: Recognition Memory for Important and for Least Important Sentences)
1969 B.A.English Literature and Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
POSITIONS HELD:
May 2013—present
Research Professor of Psychology, The George Washington University.
March 2010—May 2013
Research Director, Health Care Research and Policy Center, CNA.
7/8/2008—March 2010
Associate Director, Health Care Research and Policy Center, CNA.
4/3/2006 – 7/7/2008
Director, Appalachian Regional Educational Laboratory. The CNA Corporation.
1/7/1987 –3/31/2006
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
1987-1997 Project officer, Cognitive, Social and Emotional Development. Human Learning and Behavior Branch.
1997-1998 Director, Program on Cognitive Social and Affective development, Child Development and Behavior Branch.
1998-2001 Special Assistant to the Director, Center for
Research for Mothers and Children.
2002-2006 Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Extramural Policy, Office of the NICHD Director.
12/26/1985-12/31/1986
Grants Associate. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
1/23/1983-12/25/1985
Research Psychologist. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
3/21/1980-1/22/1983
Associate. National Institute of Education (NIE).
6/01/1979-9/31/1982
Guest Worker. National Institute of Mental Health. (NIMH).
11/07/1976-5/31/1979
Research Psychologist. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
11/1974-11/1976
Postdoctoral Fellow. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
1972-1973Tuition Award, The George Washington University
1973-1974Sigma Xi Grant in Aid Award
1974Psi Chi Research (National) Award (Shared with Marguerite B. Stevenson)
1974-1976Postdoctoral Research Fellowship awarded by National Institute of Mental Health
1989Quality Step Increase, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
1993NIH Merit Award "for exceptional leadership in managing the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care"
1996 Quality Step Increase, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
1997 Staff Recognition Award
1998 NIH Merit Award “for your outstanding leadership in the development of the program of research being conducted in Phase II of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care”
2000 Quality Step Increase, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
2003 Quality Step Increase, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
2005 Cash Award, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
HONORS:
Phi Kappa Phi - Cornell University
Phi Lambda Theta - Cornell University
The Psi Chi Prize - The George Washington University
Sigma Xi - The George Washington University
Psi Chi - The George Washington University
Member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Network on the transition from infancy to early childhood, 1983-1986
Fellow - American Psychological Society (1991)
Fellow - The American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology
(1995)
Fellow - American Psychological Association (1996)
Fellow-Division 1--Society for General Psychology (2003)
Fellow—Division 7—Developmental Psychology—of the American Psychological Association.
Fellow- Division 33---Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities---of the American Psychological Association (2011).
Fellows Committee (2 years term). Developmental Psychology Division of American Psychological Association. Nominated on November 1999.
Advisory Board of Child Research Net(work), c/o Benesse Corporation, Tokyo, Japan (2001 to present).
Scientific and Policy Advisory Group, Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
American psychological Association (APA) Meritorious Research Service Commendations (2003).
Scientific Advisory Board, Military Child Education Coalition. (2010 to present).
MEMBERSHIPS IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS:
- American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology
- American Psychological Association
- American Psychological Society
- International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development
- International Society for Infant Studies
- Jean Piaget Society
- Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues
- Society for Research in Child Development
INTERESTS:
- Cognitive development
- Social and emotional development
- Medical, psychiatric and environmental risk and psychological development
- Environmental influences on child development (family, child care, after school care, school)
- Relationships between brain and behavior during development
GRANTS AND CONTRACTS:
Recipient of a National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) Postdoctoral Fellowship. 1974-1976.
Director, Regional Educational Laboratory, Appalachia. A contract from Institute of Education Sciences to the CNA Corporation, April 2006-July, 2008. Just over $ 5,000,000 per year.
Principal Investigator for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) contract # 200-2009-32432 for $ 12,296,731. Contract period is from 9/30/2009 through 3/29/2018.
PUBLICATIONS:
My publications are classified under three titles: (a) Named authors publications; (b) Network publications[1] that I was the lead person for and (c) Other Network publications that I contributed to.
Named Authors Publications:
1. Goodnow, J.J. & Friedman, S.L. (1972). Orientation in children's human figure drawings: An aspect of graphic language. Developmental Psychology, 7, 10-16.
2. Goodnow, J.J., Friedman, S.L., Barenbaum, M. & Lehman, E.B. (1973). Direction and sequence in copying: The effect of learning to write in English and Hebrew. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 4, 263-282.
3. Friedman, S.L. (1975). Picture perception by three and one-half month-old-infants. A Ph.D. dissertation. Dissertation Abstracts, Order #75-18, 099.
4. Friedman, S.L. & Stevenson, M.B. (1975). Developmental changes in the understanding of implied motion in two-dimensional pictures. Child Development, 46, 773-778.
5. Caron, A.J., Caron, R.F., Minichiello, M.D., Weiss, S.J. & Friedman, S.L. (1977). Constraints on the use of the familiarization-novelty method in the assessment of infant discrimination. Child Development, 48, 747-762.
6. Friedman, S.L., Brackbill, Y., Caron, A.J. & Caron, R.F. (1978). Obstetric medication and visual processing and 4- and 5-month-old infants. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 24, 111-128. Errata: 1978, 24.
7. Friedman, S.L. & Stevenson, M.D. (1980). Perception of movement in pictures. In M.A. Hagen (Ed.), The Perception of Pictures. New York: Academic Press.
8. Barnet, A.B., Friedman, S.L., Weiss, I.P., Ohlrich, E.S., Shanks, B. & Lodge, A. (1980). VEP development in infancy and early childhood: A longitudinal study. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 49, 476-489.
9. Friedman, S.L., Jacobs, B.S. & Werthmann, M.W., Jr. (1981). Sensory processing in preterm and full-term infants at the neonatal period. In S.L. Friedman & M. Sigman (Eds.), Preterm birth and psychological development. New York: Academic Press.
10. Friedman, S.L. & Jacobs, B.S. (1981). Sex differences in neonates' behavioral responsiveness to repeated auditory stimulation. Infant Behavior and Development, 4, 175-183.
11. Friedman, S.L., Jacobs, B.S., & Werthmann, M.D., Jr. (1981). Preterms of low medical risk: Spontaneous behaviors and soothability at expected date of birth. Infant Behavior and Development, 5, 3-10.
12. Friedman, S.L. (1981). Risk in psychosocial development. Contemporary Psychology, 26, 870-871.
13. Zahn-Waxler, C., Cummings, E.M., Welsh, J., & Friedman, S.L. (1981). Children's responses to cries of premature and full-term infants. Cry, 4, 2-4.
14. Friedman, S.L., Zahn-Waxler, C. & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1982). Perceptions of cries of full-term and preterm infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 5, 161-173.
15. Friedman, S.L., Chipman, S.F., Segal, J.W. & Cocking, R.R. (1982). Complementing the success of medical intervention. Seminars in Perinatology, 6, 365-372.
16. Zahn-Waxler, C., Friedman, S.L. & Cummings, E.M. (1984). Children's emotions and behaviors in response to infants' cries. Child Development, 54, 1522-1528.
17. Friedman, S.L., Jacobs, B.S. & Werthmann, M.W., Jr. (1984). Wakefulness and visual responsiveness of low medical risk preterms. Early Child Development and Care, 16, 57-68. Also in A.S. Honig (Ed.). (1986). Risk factors in infancy. New York: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers.
18. Friedman, S.L. and Sherman, T.L. (1985). Mothers as mediators of cognitive development: A coding manual. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, ED 272 318.
19. Friedman, S.L., Gordon, M.A. and Ross, M.C. (1986). Mediation of toddlers' cognitive development by mothers with and without psychiatric diagnosis of depression. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, ED 272 309.
20. Stevenson, M.B. & Friedman, S.L. (1986). Developmental changes in the understanding of representations of sound in two-dimensional pictures. Developmental Psychology, 22,686-690.
21. Friedman, S.L. & Cocking, R.R. (1986). Instructional influences on cognition and on the brain. In S.L. Friedman, K.A. Klivington and R.W. Peterson (Eds.), The brain, cognition, and education. New York: Academic Press.
22. Friedman, S.L., Zahn-Waxler, C., Waxler, M. & Werthmann, M.W., Jr. (1987). Effects of physiologic jaundice on behavioral function in low risk preterm infants. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 8, 53-66.
23. Scholnick, E.K. & Friedman, S.L. (1987). The planning construct in the psychological literature. In S.L. Friedman, E.K. Scholnick & R.R.Cocking (Eds.), Blueprints for thinking: The role of planning in cognitive development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
24. Friedman, S.L., Scholnick, E.K. & Cocking, R.R. (1987). Reflections on reflections: What planning is and how it develops. In S.L. Friedman, E.K. Scholnick & R.R. Cocking (Eds.), Blueprints for thinking: The role of planning in cognitive development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
25. Kochanska, G., Radke-Yarrow, M., Kuczynski, L. & Friedman, S.L. (1987). Normal and affectively ill mothers' beliefs about their children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 345-350.
26. Breznitz, Z. & Friedman, S.L. (1988). Toddlers' ability to concentrate: The influence of maternal depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 267-279.
27. Friedman, S.L. & Malloy, M.H. (1988). A review of Ensher, G.L. & Clark, D.A. "Newborns at risk." Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography, 62, 109.
28. Friedman, S.L. (1989). The development of social cognition: novel, familiar and missing snapshots. Contemporary Psychology, 34, 25-28.
29. Friedman, S.L. & Baldwin, W. (1990). Scientist-Administrators at NICHD as contributors to the scientific enterprise. American Psychologist, 45, 54-57.
30. Friedman, S.L. (1990). NICHD Infant Child Care Research Network: The National Study of Young Children's lives. Zero to Three, 10, 21-23.
31. Friedman, S.L. and Sigman, M.D. (1992). Past, present and future directions in research on the development of low birthweight children. In S.L. Friedman and M.D. Sigman (Eds.), The psychological development of low birthweight children. (An issue of Advances in Applied Developmental Psychology). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
32. Scholnick, E.K. and Friedman, S.L. (1993). Planning in context: Developmental and situational considerations. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 16, 145- 167.
33. Friedman, S.L., Haywood, H.C. & Livesey, K. (1994). From the past to the future of developmental follow-up research. In S.L. Friedman and H.C. Haywood (Eds.), Developmental follow-up: Concepts, domains and methods. New York: Academic Press.
34. Friedman, S.L., Brooks-Gunn, J., Vandell, D.L. & Weinraub, M. (1995). Effects of child care on psychological development: Issues and future directions for research. Pediatrics, 94, 1069-1070.
35. Friedman, S.L. and Scholnick, E.K. (1997). An evolving "Blueprint" for planning: Psychological requirements, task characteristics, and social-cultural influences. In S.L. Friedman and E.K. Scholnick (Eds.), The developmental psychology of planning: Why, how and when do we plan? Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
36. Scholnick, E.K., Friedman, S.L. and Wallner-Allen, K. (1997). What do they really measure? A comparative analysis of planning tasks. In S.L. Friedman and E.K. Scholnick (Eds.), The developmental psychology of planning: Why, how and when do we plan? Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
37. Friedman S.L. and Amadeo, J.A. (1999). Assessments of the child care environment and experience. In S.L. Friedman and Theodore D. Wachs (Eds.), Assessment of the environment across the lifespan. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association Press.
38. Belsky, J., Friedman, S.L. & K.H. Hsieh (2003). Testing a core emotion-regulation prediction: Does early attentional persistence moderate the effect of infant negative emotionality on later development? Child Development. 72, 123-133.
39. Friedman, S.L., Randolph, S., and Kochanoff, A. (2001). Child care research at the dawn of a new millennium: Taking stock of what we know. In Gavin Bremner & Alan Fogel (Eds). Blackwell’s Handbook of Infancy Research. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
40. Friedman, S.L. & Biggar, H. (2003). Planning. In R. Fernandez Ballesteros (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment. Vol. 2. Sage Publication.
41. Friedman, S.L. & Kochanoff, A. (2003). Attention. In R. Fernandez Ballesteros (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment. Vol. 1, 106-110, Sage Publication.
42. Welsh, M.C. Friedman, S.L. & Spieker S. J. (2006) Executive Functions in Developing Children: Current Conceptualizations and Questions for the Future. In K. McCartney and D. Phillips (Eds.). Blackwell’s Handbook of Early Childhood Development.
43. Nader, P., O’Brien, M., Houts, R., Bradley, R., Belsky, J., Crosnoe, R., Friedman, S.L., Mei, Z., Susman, E., & NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2006). Identifying Risk for Obesity in Early Childhood. Pediatrics, 118 (3), 594-601.
44. O’Brien, M., Nader, P., Houts, R., Bradley, R., Friedman, S. L., Belsky, J., Susman, E., and the NICHD ECCRN. (2007). The Ecology of Childhood Overweight: A 12-Year Longitudinal Analysis. International Journal of Obesity Research, 31, 1469 – 1478.
45. Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., Houts, R., Friedman, S.L., DeHart, G., Cauffman,
E., Roisman, G.I., Halpern-Felsher, B.L., Susman, E.J., & The NICHD Early
Child Care Research Network (2007). Family rearing antecedents of pubertal
timing. Child Development, 78(4), 1302-21.
46. Friedman, S.L. (2007). Finding treasure: Data sharing and secondary analysis in developmental science. In S.L. Friedman (Guest editor). New findings from secondary data analysis: Results from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 28, (issues 5-6).
47. Friedman, S.L. & Boyle, D. E. (2008). Attachment in U.S. Children Experiencing Nonmaternal Care in the early 1990s. Attachment and Human Development. 10 (3), 225-261.
48. Friedman, S.L. & Boyle, E. (2009). Child-mother Attachment in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Methods, findings and future directions. In Brisch, K.H. & Th. Hellbrügge (Eds.) Wege zu sicheren Bindungen in Familie und Gesellschaft. Prävention, Begleitung, Beratung und Psychotherapie. Klett-Cotta. Stuttgart. pp 94-151.
49. Friedman, S.L., Melhuish, E. & Hill, C. (2010). Childcare Research at the Dawn of a New Millennium: An update. In Gavin Bremner and Theodore Wachs (Eds.) Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Infant Development, second edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
50. Susman, E.J., Houts, R. M., Steinberg, L., Belsky, J., Caufman, E., DeHart, G., Friedman, S.L., Roisman, G.I., Halpern-Felsher, B.L. and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2010). Development of secondary sexual characteristics in girls and boys between the ages 9 ½ and 15 ½ years. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Vol. 164 (2), pp. 166-73.
51. Crosnoe, R., Morrison, F., Burchinal, M., Pianta, R., Keating, D., Friedman, S.L., Clarke-Stewart, K.A. and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2010). Instruction, teacher-student relations, and math achievement trajectories in elementary school. Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol. 102(2), pp. 407-417.
52. Burchinal, M., McCartney, K., Steinberg, L., Crosnoe, R. Friedman, S.L., McLoyd, V., Pianta, R. and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2011). Examining the Black-White Achievement Gap among Low-Income Children Using the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Child Development, Vol. 82 Issue 5, p1404-1420
53. Weinraub, M., Bender, R. H.; Friedman, S.L., Susman, E. J.; Knoke, B., Bradley, R., Houts, R. Williams, J. (2012). Patterns of Developmental Change in Infants' Nighttime Sleep Awakenings from 6 through 36 Months of Age. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 48(6), 1511-1528. doi: 10.1037/a0027680
54. Friedman, S.L. (2013). Research on the well-being of military children: Future directions. American Psychological Association, Children Youth and Families Newsletter. January issue.
55. Friedman, S.L., Scholnick, E.K., Bender R.H., Vandergrift, N., Spieker, S., Hirsh Pasek, K., Keating, D., Park, Y., and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2014). Planning Efficiency in Middle Childhood: Early Predictors and Later Outcomes. Child Development. 85 (4), 1446-1460.
Network Publications led by Sarah L. Friedman:
*56. Friedman, S.L. under the banner of The NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (1993). The NICHD Study of Early Child Care: A comprehensive longitudinal study of young children's lives. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 353 087)
*57. Friedman, S.L., under the banner of The NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2000). The relation of child care to cognitive and language development. Child Development, 71, (4), 960-980.
*58. Friedman, S.L., under the banner of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2003). Child care in the world--past and present: Does amount of time spent in child care predict socioemotional adjustment during the transition to kindergarten? The Journal of the Japan Society for Child Health, 62, 418-431.
*59. Friedman, S.L., under the banner of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2003). Do children's attention processes mediate the link between family predictors and school readiness? Developmental Psychology,39, 581-593.