Developmental Assistant Professor
 
Area: Developmental

Contact Information

Email: ronac@umich.edu
Psychology Office: 2243 East Hall
Psychology Phone: 734-763-2225

Alternate Office: Carter Lab - 1249 East Hall
Alternate Phone: 734-763-3075

Research and Teaching Interests

 I study associations between pubertal development and patterns of adjustment (psychological, behavioral, and health), with particular attention to how pubertal processes, social-cultural contextual factors (family, peers, teachers, romantic partners), and wider social systems (culture, ethnicity) interact to contribute to girls’ adjustment problems from late childhood to young adulthood. Within the above context, my work focuses on three interrelated lines of research: (1) racial and cultural contextual factors that influence pubertal processes; (2) social-cultural contextual factors and wider social systems that promote or hinder adjustment; and (3) measurement development and evaluation as it relates to race, ethnicity, and gender. I draw upon both secondary data analysis and original data collection.

My research has importance for understanding the relational and social contexts of girls’ development and health outcomes such as how girls negotiate aspects of their interpersonal relationships (family, peers, teachers, and romantic partners) when making their sexual decisions. Guiding my research are the central tenets of social development theory which emphasize that individual development occurs within a social and cultural context, which itself develops, and furthermore, perpetually interacts with the developing individual.
 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

• Carter, R., Silverman, W. K., & Jaccard, J. (2011). Sex variations in youth anxiety symptoms: Effects of pubertal development and gender role orientation. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40, 730-741.
• Carter, R., Caldwell Howard, C., Matusko, N., Antonucci, T., & Jackson, J. S. (2010). Ethnicity, perceived pubertal timing, externalizing behaviors, and depressive symptoms among Black adolescent girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. doi: 10.1007/s10964-010-9611-9.
• Gray, C.M. K., Carter, R., & Silverman, W. K. (2010). Anxiety symptoms in African American children: Relations with ethnic pride, anxiety sensitivity, and parenting. Journal of Child and Family Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10826-010-9422-3.
• Carter, R., Jaccard, J., Silverman, W. K., & Pina, A. A. (2009) Pubertal timing and its link to behavioral and emotional problems among ‘at-risk’ African American adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescence, 32, 467-481.
• Carter, R., Silverman, W. K., Allen, A., & Ham, L. (2008). Measures matter: The relative contribution of anxiety and depression to suicidal ideation in clinically referred anxious youth using brief versus full length questionnaires. Depression and Anxiety, 25, E27-E35.
• Carter, R., Williams, S., & Silverman, W. K. (2008). Cognitive and emotional facets of test anxiety in African American school children, Cognition & Emotion, 22, 539 - 551.
• Silverman, W. K. & Carter, R. (2005) Anxiety disturbance in girls and women. In J. Worell & C. Goodheart (Eds.) Handbook of girls’ and women’s psychological health. (pp. 60-68). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.  

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