Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (born 1946, in Bethesda,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

) is an American

developmental psychologist Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult developmen ...

and professor. She is currently the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development at

Teachers College A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Education

Brooks-Gunn received her B.A in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

in 1969. She went to graduate school at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

where she obtained her Ed.M in Human Learning and Development in 1970. Brooks-Gunn continued her studies the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, receiving her Ph.D. in human learning and development under the supervision of

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...

Career

Brooks-Gunn is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development at

and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and Co-Director of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her current studies include the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, and

Early Head Start Early Head Start is a federally funded community-based program for low-income families with pregnant women, infants, and toddlers up to age 3. It is a program that came out of Head Start.

. Brooks-Gunn has written numerous books and edited volumes, and has published over 500 articles. Her work focuses on neighborhood poverty, growing up poor, and adolescent mothers. Brooks-Gunn's work led to increased understanding of the influence of parents and schools on

child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...

. Her books exposed how children raised in poverty experience more negative cognitive and educational outcomes than more affluent children. She has led programs for children and parents, holding meetings that aim to better the lives of children and youth. Her programs include home visiting for pregnant women and mothers-to-be, early childhood educational programs for children of ages 12 to 36 months, and after-school programs for older children.

Representative work

In one of her books, Brooks-Gunn and colleagues focused on developmental outcomes for adolescent mothers and their children in relation to school, work, the presence of the baby's father is in their lives, and other factors. In another study, Brooks-Gunn and colleagues focused on the epidemic of obesity which many people suffer from today, including young children. They predicted racial/ethnic differences in obesity in a sample of 3-year-olds from low income families. They found evidence of obesity start at age three, with children of obese mothers having a higher chance of being overweight, and with heightened risk of obesity among Hispanic children. Another study compared behavioral problems associated with acting out in children growing up in a single parent versus dual parent households. Child behavioral outcomes were associated with parental resources, parental mental health, parental relationship quality, parenting quality, and father involvement. Children coming from so-called "fragile families" fared worse than those with more stable family structures.

Awards and honours

Brooks-Gunn received the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy in 2002 for contributions to helping children, youth, and families. She offered solutions to family problems through interventions and programs for families of different backgrounds to provide them with the needed resources for a better future. She has also been awarded the

James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award The James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award is an award of the Association for Psychological Science given since 1992. The award is named after James McKeen Cattell and "honors individuals for their lifetime of significant intellectual contributions to t ...

from the

Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

, the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

, the Distinguished Contributions to the Public Policy for Children Award from the

Society for Research in Child Development The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) is a professional society for the field of human development, focusing specifically on child development. It is a multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, professional association with a membership o ...

, the Hill Award for Excellence in Theory Development and Research on Adolescents from the Society for Research on Adolescence, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education Alumni Council Award. She is a member of the

National Academy of Education The National Academy of Education (NAEd) is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization in the United States that advances high-quality research to improve education policy and practice. Founded in 1965, the NAEd currently consists of over 300 elec ...

and the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

, and a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, the

, and the

New York Academy of Science The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

. In 2009, she received an honorary doctorate in science from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

References

External links

Columbia University profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne 1946 births Living people American women psychologists American psychologists Developmental psychologists Teachers College, Columbia University faculty Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Connecticut College alumni University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine American women academics 21st-century American women