Stephanie Jones

Stephanie Jones ’ research interests focus on the nature and structure of social and emotional problems and competencies in early childhood and adolescence. Her work concentrates on the impact of broad ecological risks, such as poverty and exposure to community violence, on the more proximal determinants of social-emotional problems and competencies in early childhood, including parenting, emotion regulation and skills, and social cognitive attributions. Jones’ work also addresses the program and policy applications of her research. For example, she has examined programs designed to address aggressive and violent behavior indirectly, via the promotion of broad social and emotional competencies. Jones has worked on a number of longitudinal studies of child and youth development, including: (1) the impact of family poverty, ecological risks, and parenting on infant toddler social and emotional development; (2) the impact of individual- and neighborhood-level poverty and exposure to violence on youth aggression and psychopathology; and (3) the impact of a violence prevention curriculum on youth trajectories of aggression-related social cognitive skills and aggressive behaviors.