Katherine Griffin
Adjunct Professor
Research and teaching interests
Poverty and Social Inequality, Social Identity Development, Intergroup Relations, Parental Socialization, Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations
Biography
Dr. Griffin studies how children develop social identities, such as race, ethnicity, and social class, at school and in the home. Her research focuses especially on social class and mitigating the development of class-based prejudice in middle childhood. She also seeks to understand the experiences of children and families living in poverty, with the goal of providing services and policies that will better serve their needs.
As a teacher, Dr. Griffin focuses on developmental psychology in context, with an emphasis on how developmental science can address issues of poverty and societal injustice. She offers courses on social development, poverty, families and social policy, as well as educational psychology.
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
B.A., College of the Holy Cross
Representative Publications
Mistry, R. S., Elenbaas, L., Griffin, K. M., Nenadal, L., & Yassine, A. (2021). Advancing developmental intergroup perspectives on social class. Child Development Perspectives, 15(4), 213-219.
Griffin, K.M, Bailey, A.L., & Mistry, R.S. (2019). What educators of young dual language immersion students learn from a bilingual approach to assessing development. In Zein, M.S. & Garton, S. (Eds.). Early Language Learning and Teacher Education. Bristol, U.K.: Multilingual Matters, Channel View Publications.
Bullock, H.E., Griffin, K.M., Kent, A.H., & Toolis, E.E. (2018). Translating Psychological Research on Social Class and Socioeconomic Status.Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 4, 119-121.
Quint, J., Griffin, K.M., Kaufman, J., Landers, P. & Utterback, A. (2018). Experiences of Parents and Children Living in Poverty: A Review of the Qualitative Literature. Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, US Department of Health and Human Services. Washington, D.C.
Mistry, R.S., Nenadal, L., Hazelbaker, T., & Griffin, K.M., & White, E. S. (2017). Promoting elementary school-age children’s understanding of wealth, poverty, and civic engagement. PS: Political Science and Politics, Teacher Symposium: The Politics and Pedagogy of Economic Inequality. 50, 1068-1073.
Mistry, R. S., Nenadal, L., Griffin, K.M., Zimmerman, F.J., Cochran, H.A., Thomas, C.A., & Wilson, C. (2016). Children’s reasoning about poverty, economic mobility, and helping behavior: Results of a curriculum intervention in the early school years. Journal of Social Issues, 72, 756-784.