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Senate Faculty
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Joseph L. Mahoney
Associate Professor
Department of Education
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Research Interests
Dr. Mahoney's research takes a person-context systems perspective to development. He views the developmental process as influenced by an interdependent network of biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors. Within this broad perspective, he is especially interested in studying processes of development that inform our understanding of: (1) social/educational problems for high risk children and adolescents including school failure and antisocial behavior, and (2) positive adaptation that involves understanding how young people, in general, attain and maintain unusually favorable patterns of adjustment given their background, individual characteristics, and available resources. Advancing knowledge in these areas requires attention to several aspects of the individual, and the individual's involvement in a variety of ecological contexts.
Mahoney and his colleagues agree that decades of research have shown socialization processes occurring within the family (e.g., parent-child interactions) and school setting (e.g., learning opportunities, relationships with peers) are crucial. However, socialization processes affecting child and adolescent development occur in settings that transcend the school and family. Until recently, relatively little attention has been devoted to the role of how these out-of-school contexts may affect the social and educational development of young people.
Accordingly, the basic goals of Mahoney's research program are to generate new knowledge on the theoretical significance and developmental consequences of how children and adolescents spend their time in a variety of settings and arrangements during the non-school hours. This includes organized out-of-school activities (e.g., after-school programs, extracurricular activities, and community-based youth centers), supervision from family members (e.g., parent and relative care), as well as settings that lack adult supervision (e.g., self care). His research demonstrates that variation in the type, amount, and quality of these out-of-school settings relates to a variety of developmental experiences during childhood and adolescence including: opportunities for cognitive growth and social skill development, health-related behaviors (e.g., diet and exercise), peer group characteristics, the quality and quantity of interactions with parents and non-related adults, and exposure to neighborhood crime and violence. His research has shown that these different out-of-school time experiences, in turn, help to explain individual differences in developmental outcomes ranging from school motivation and achievement, child obesity, aggression, peer affiliations and acceptance during childhood and adolescence, to long-term outcomes such as rates of early childbearing, college attendance, and criminal offending in adulthood.
In addition to these basic goals, Dr. Mahoney has strong interest in the utility of his research for informing “real world problems” concerning how best to organize out-of-school time for young people. In this regard, he is convinced the basic and applied/policy goals of his research are synergistic. That is, the basic knowledge generated from the research is necessary both for obtaining a complete understanding of child and adolescent development and as a foundation for informing social and educational policy construction.
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