Social and emotional development of young children
Pamela W. Garner is Professor of Childhood Studies in the School of Integrative Studies and Human Development and Family Science at George Mason University. She conducts research on the social and emotional development of children from minoritized groups and studies the contributions of parents and teachers to young children’s social emotional learning. She received her doctorate in Educational Psychology and Human Development from Texas A&M University. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and at the University of Houston in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Garner is a past Associate Editor for Early Childhood Research Quarterly and has been involved as PI or Co-I on a number of funded projects investigating studies of emotional competence across childhood.
Garner, P. W., Shadur, J. M., & Dunsmore, J. C. (2023). Mothers’ beliefs about emotions and authoritarian parenting as predictors of young children's behavioral problems. Mental Health & Prevention, 30, 200264.
Kornienko, O., Santos, C. E., Seaton, E. K., Davila, M., & Garner, P. W. (2023). Racial discrimination experiences and friendship network dynamics among Black and Latinx youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52(4), 685-700.
Hagan, C. A., Halberstadt, A. G., Cooke, A. N., & Garner, P. W. (2023). White parents’ racial socialization: Questionnaire validation and associations with children’s friendships. Journal of Family Issues, 0192513X221150973.
Miller-Slough, R., Zhu, D., Garner, P.W., & Dunsmore, J. (2023). Parents’ and friends’ responses to discrete negative emotions: Associations with adolescent emotional experiences. Social Development, 32(1), 283-298. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12639
Garner, P.W., Gabitova, N., & Dominick, T. (2022). Improving access to STEM for girls of color through community programs. Journal of STEAM Education, 5(2), 149-166,
Garner, P.W., & Gabitova, N. (2022). Social and emotional learning and STEM-related education. In T. L. Spinrad & J. Liew (Eds.), Social and emotional learning section (D. Fisher (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Education (Online). Taylor & Francis.
Ricciardi, C., Kornienko, O., & Garner, P.W. (2022). The role of cognitive emotion regulation for making and keeping friend and conflict networks. Frontiers in Psychology (section Emotion Science). 13:802629. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.802629
Garner, P.W., & McCarron, G.P. (2022). Perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness among women of immigrant origin working as family childcare providers in the U.S. Community, Work, & Family, 1-15.
Kornienko, O., Riis, J. Davila, M., White, N., & Garner, P.W. (2022). Preliminary insights into associations between C-Reactive protein and social network dynamics. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 139, 105690.
Poulou, M., Garner, P.W., & Bassett, H.H. (2022). Teachers’ emotional expressiveness and classroom management practices: Associations with young students’ social-emotional and behavioral competence. Psychology in the Schools, 59(3), 557-573.
Garner, P.W. & Toney, T. D. (2022). Different forms of social understanding and preschoolers’ social interactions with peers and teachers in a racially and ethnically diverse sample. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 68(3), 215-240.
Garner, P.W., Shadur, J., & Toney, T. D. (2021). The effects of teacher-child racial congruence, child race, and emotion situation knowledge on teacher-child relationships and school readiness. Psychology in the Schools, 58(10), 1995-2016.
Garner, P.W., & Toney, T. D. (2020). The relations between maternal mental-state language and preschoolers’ behavioral adaptation and school readiness: Moderation by emotion situation knowledge. Social Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12477
Davis, S. N., Jones, R. M., Mahatmya, D., & Garner, P. W. (2020). Encouraging or obstructing? Assessing factors that impact faculty engagement in undergraduate research mentoring. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 5, p. 114). Frontiers.
Hagan, C.A., Halberstadt, A.G., Cooke, A.N., & Garner, P.W. (2020). Teachers’ beliefs about children’s anger and their skill in recognizing children’s anger. Frontiers: Emotion Science. Online. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00474
Halberstadt, A. G., Cooke, A. N., Garner, P. W., Hughes, S.A., Oertwig, D., & Neupert, S.D. (2020). Racialized emotion recognition accuracy and anger bias of children’s faces. Emotion, 2(3), 403–417.
Garner, P.W., & Toney, T. (2020). Financial strain, maternal attributions, emotion knowledge and children’s behavioral readiness for school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 67.
Davis, S., Jones, R. Mahatmya, D., & Garner, P.W. (2020). The role of perceived support and local culture in undergraduate research mentoring by underrepresented minority faculty members: Findings from a multi-institutional research collaboration. Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 28(2), 176-188.
Garner, P.W., Dunsmore, J.C., & Bassett, H.H. (2020). Direct and indirect pathways to early school adjustment: Roles of young children’s mental representations and pee victimization. Early Child Research Quarterly, 51, 100-109.
Garner, P.W., & Parker, T., & Prigmore, S. (2019). Caregivers’ emotional competence and behavioral responsiveness as correlates of early childcare workers’ relationships with children in their care. Infant Mental Health Journal, 40(4), 496-512.
Garner, P.W, & Bolt, E., & Roth, A. (2019). Emotion-focused curricula models and expressions of and talk about emotions between teachers and young children. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 33(2), 180-193.
Garner, P.W., & Waajid, B. (2019). Sociodemographic variations in the linkage between emotion regulation and peer victimization. Journal of School Violence, 18(1), 121-133.
Garner, P. M., Mahatmya, D., Jones, R. M., & Davis, S. N. (2018). Undergraduate research mentoring relationships: A mechanism for developing social capital for underrepresented students. In P. Miller, M. Vandermaas-Peeler, & J. Moore (Eds.), Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research (pp. 77–103). Washington, DC: Council on Undergraduate Research.
Morrison, J.A., Berner, N.J., Manske, J.M., Jones, R.M., Davis, S.N., Garner, P.W. (2018). Surveying faculty perspectives on undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity: a three-institution study. Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research, 2(1), 43-54.
Garner, P. W., Bender, S. L., & Fedor, M. (2018). Mindfulness‐based SEL programming to increase preservice teachers’ mindfulness and emotional competence. Psychology in the Schools, 55(4), 377-390.
Garner, P.W., & Parker, T. (2018). Young children’s picture-books as a forum for the socialization of emotion. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 16(3), 291-304.
Garner, P.W., Gabitova, N., Gupta, A., & Wood, T. (2018). Innovations in science education: Infusing social emotional principles into early STEM learning. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 13(4), 889-903.
Mahatmya, D., Morrison, J., Jones, R. Davis, S., Garner, P.W., et al., (2017). Pathways to undergraduate research experiences: A multi-institutional study. Innovative Higher Education, 42(5-6), 491-504.
Garner, P.W. (2017). The role of teachers’ social emotional competence in their beliefs about peer victimization. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 33(4), 288-308.
Garner, P. W., Parker, T., & Dortch, M. K. (2016). Concordance in peer victimization-related beliefs across parents and in-service and preservice early childhood teachers. Early Child Development and Care, 1-13.
Davis, S. N., Jones, R. M., Berner, N., Ditty, J., Garner, P. W., Johnson, A., ... & Morrison, J. (2016, July). Individual and institutional predictors of faculty mentoring undergraduate researchers: Findings from a multi-institutional research collaboration. Innovations in Teaching & Learning Conference Proceedings (Vol. 8, p. 2).
Garner, P. W., Carter McLean, M., Waajid, B., & Pittman, E. R. (2015). Mentoring and professional development in rural head start classrooms. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 23(4), 293-310.
Davis, S. N., Mahatmya, D., Garner, P. W., & Jones, R. M. (2015). Mentoring undergraduate scholars: A pathway to interdisciplinary research? Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 23(5), 427-440.
Garner, P. W., & Parker, T. S. (2016). Service-learning linking family child care providers, community partners, and preservice professionals. Early Child Development and Care, 1-10.
Garner, P. W., & Mahatmya, D. (2015). Affective social competence and teacher–child relationship quality: Race/Ethnicity and family income level as moderators. Social Development, 24(3), 678-697.
Garner, P. W., Mahatmya, D., Brown, E. L., & Vesely, C. K. (2014). Promoting desirable outcomes among culturally and ethnically diverse children in social emotional learning programs: A multilevel heuristic model. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 165-189.
Garner, P.W., Mahatmya, D., Moses, L.K., & Bolt, E. (2014). Associations of preschool type and teacher-child relational quality with young children’s social and emotional competence. Early Education and Development, 25, 399-420.
Garner, P.W., Waajid, B., & Moses, L.K. (2013). Prospective teachers’ awareness and expression of emotions: Associations with proposed strategies for behavioral management in the classroom. Psychology in the Schools, 50(5), 471-488.
Waajid, B., Garner, P. W., & Owen, J. E. (2013). Infusing social emotional learning into the teacher education curriculum. International Journal of Emotional Education, 5(2), 31-48.
The Color of Emotion: Teachers' Racialized Interpretations of Children's Emotions and Student Outcomes, W.T. Grant Foundation, Co-Principal Investigator.
Emotional Competence: Associations with Parenting, Social Behavior and Indicators of School Readiness, Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, Principal Investigator
Early Childhood Teachers as Socializers of Young Children's Emotional Competence, Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, Consultant
INTS 316: Introduction to Childhood Studies
INTS 312: Images and Experiences of Childhood
INTS 321: Parent-Child Relations
INTS 317: Issues in Family Relations
Ph.D. Educational Psychology, Texas A & M University
Postdoctoral Fellowship Developmental Psychology, University of Houston
M.A. School Psychology, University of Houston
B.S.W. University of Tennessee
Cooke, A., Halberstadt, A., Liu, X., & Garner, P.W. (2023). Cultural emotional biases are reflected in adult perceptions of children’s emotions. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Salt Lake City, Utah.
Cooke, A., Halberstadt, A., Garner, P.W., & Legette, K. (2023). Teachers’ imposition of anger bias by gender and race, and the role of implicit bias. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Salt Lake City, Utah.
Cooke, A., Halberstadt, A., Garner, P.W., & Legette, K. (2023). Teachers’ imposition of anger bias by gender and race, and the role of implicit bias. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Salt Lake City, Utah.
Legette, K., Halberstadt, A., Garner, P. W., & Hughes, S. (March, 2022). The anger teachers see: Implications for student-teacher interactions. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA.
Zhu, D., Miller-Slough, R.L., Garner, P.W. & Dunsmore, J.C. (March, 2022). Patterns of parent and friend emotion socialization: Associations with adolescents’ academic self-concept and prosocial behavior. In Ell, M. (Chair), The many facets of parent-adolescent socialization: Topics, emotion, academics, gender, and race, symposium presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA.
Zhu, D., Miller-Slough, R., Garner, P. W., & Dunsmore, J. C. (April, 2021). Adolescent peer victimization and parental emotion socialization: A longitudinal study. Presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development. (Conference Online).
Garner, P. W., Shadur, J., Toney, T. White, A., & Hobb, E. (2020). Emotion knowledge and teacher-child relationships: Multiple moderation by teacher-child racial congruence and child race. National Research Conference on Early Childhood. Washington, DC. (Conference Online).
Halberstadt, A., Cooke, A. N., Garner, P. W., & Hughes, S. (April 2020). Racialized anger bias: Seeing more anger in Black than White faces. Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Affective Science. San Francisco, CA. (Conference Online).
Halberstadt, A., Cooke, A., Oertwig, D., Shaughnessy, G., Garner, P. W., & Hughes, S. (2019). Accuracy and anger bias in judging Black and White children’s emotions. Paper presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention. Portland, Oregon.
Garner, P. W., Shadur, J. Parker, T. (March, 2019). Emotional competence, responsiveness, and social-emotional learning beliefs. Presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.
Davis, S. N., Jones, R. M., Garner, P. W., & Mahatmya, D. (April, 2019). The role of perceived institutional support in encouraging faculty mentoring of undergraduate researchers. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, CA.
Roth, A., & Garner, P.W. (2018, June). Teachers’ and preschoolers’ expression of and talk about emotions across different types of preschool curricula/approaches. Poster presented at the meeting of the National Research Conference on Early Childhood. Washington, DC.
Halberstadt, A. G., Cooke, A. N., Oertwig, D., Shaughnessy, G. R., Garner, P., & Hughes, S. A. (2018, March). Accuracy and anger bias: Judging Black and White children’s emotion. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Toney, T. & Parker, T., & Garner, P. W. (April, 2017). Concordance in peer victimization-related beliefs across parents and in-service and preservice early childhood teachers. Poster Presented at the Harvard Engaged Scholarship & Social Justice Undergraduate Research Conference. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Davis, S. N., Jones, R., Garner, P. W., & Mahatmya, D. (April, 2017). Creating a supportive context for underrepresented minority faculty members to mentor undergraduate researchers: Findings from a multi-institutional research collaboration. Paper presented at the Women & Gender Studies 4th Annual Conference, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Mahatmya, D., Garner, P. W., Davis, S., & Jones, R. (April, 2017) Faculty-student undergraduate research mentoring relationships: Social capital for students of color? Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Meeting. San Antonio, TX.
Garner, P. W., & Waajid, B. (April, 2017). Gender and SES variations in the linkage between emotion regulation and peer victimization. Poster Presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Austin, TX.
Garner, P.W., Waajid, B., & Parker, T. (2016, July). School readiness: Links with neighborhood disadvantage, parental involvement, and teacher-child relational quality. Paper presented at the Head Start National Research Conference, Washington, DC.
Mahatmya, D., Jones, R., Garner, P.W., Davis, S., Berner, N., Manske, J., Johnson, A., & Morrison, J. (2016). (June, 2016). Pathways to and through undergraduate research: A multi-institutional assessment. Paper presented at the Council on Undergraduate Research Conference. Tampa, FL.
Mahatmya, D., Jones, R., Garner, P.W., Davis, S., Berner, N., Manske, J., Johnson, A., & Morrison, J. (June 2016). Exploring faculty perspectives on undergraduate research: A multi-institutional assessment. Paper presented at the Council on Undergraduate Research Conference. Tampa, FL.
Garner, P.W., Brown, E., Mahatmya, D., & Vesely, C. (April, 2015). Family and School Influences on Low-Income Children's Behavioral and Academic Competencies in the Elementary School Years. Paper presented at the 2015 Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development
Brown, E.L., Vesely, C.K., Visiconti, K.J., Mahatmya, D., Garner, P.W., Mehta, S., & Kearney, K. (2015, April). Early Childhood Educators Emotional Acting and Knowledge of Display Rules and their Impact on Interactions with Young Children. Poster presented at the 2015 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
https://theconversation.com/new-teachers-mistakenly-assume-black-students-are-angry-142237
APA : https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/07/racialized-anger-bias
Science Daily ( July 2,2020) -- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200702113650.htm
Open Access Government ( July 3,2020) --- https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/black-children/89742/
ABC-11 (July 7, 2020) -- https://abc11.com/nc-state-research-unc-black-students-angry-kids/6303007/
Education Week (July 8, 2020)
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/07/future_teachers_mistake_black_students_angry_more_than_white_students.html
New York Post ( July 7, 2020), by Hannah Firshberg:
https://nypost.com/2020/07/07/future-teachers-more-likely-to-perceive-black-children-as-angrier-study/
Daily Mail ( July 7,2020), by Ian Randall:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8497751/Trainee-teachers-Black-children-angry-white-youngsters-study-claims.html
Trends Wide ( July 7,2020)
https://www.trendswide.com/us-trainee-teachers-see-black-children-as-more-angry/
The Miami Times ( July 8,2020)
https://www.miamitimesonline.com/education/black-students-are-misperceived-as-angry/article_c6c5dbe6-c135-11ea-9547-e78ee695ef01.html
Psych Central ( July 10,2020)
https://psychcentral.com/news/2020/07/10/prospective-teachers-more-likely-to-misperceive-black-children-as-angry/157880.html
Psych Post ( July 10, 2020)
https://www.psypost.org/2020/07/study-finds-black-children-are-more-likely-to-be-misperceived-as-being-angry-than-white-children-57283
We rep Stem ( July 11, 2020) https://werepstem.com/2020/07/09/future-teachers-more-likely-to-view-black-children-as-angry-when-compared-to-white-students/