Bridget Cheeks

Bio & Education

Ph.D., University of Michigan

Research

My research focuses on parental racial socialization and its implications for African American adolescents’ and college students’ positive development. Specifically, I am interested in the development of youth’s racial identity beliefs, their academic motivation, and psychological well-being and resilience, especially in contexts where they may encounter racial discrimination. I use various quantitative and qualitative approaches (e.g., daily diary, clustering techniques, mixed-methods) that allow me to examine within-group variation in youth outcomes and parent-child communication.

selected publications

• Butler-Barnes, S., Leath, S. Cheeks, B. L., Peoples, J., Smith, I., Sargent, E., Arthur, S.,& Johnson, K. (In Press). Navigating Racial Stress: How Black Parents’ Trauma Shapes Their Parenting Practices and Racial Socialization. Journal of Black Psychology
• Cheeks, B. L., Christophe, N. K., Patel, P., Salcido, V., & Stein, G. (2024). It’s how I was raised: How ethnic-racial socialization patterns influence anti-racism actions among minoritized emerging adults. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000656
• Fletcher, A. C., McCurdy, A., Williams, K. N., Benito-Gomez, M., & Cheeks, B. L. (2024). Autonomy-supportive parenting as a moderator of associations between ethnic and racial identity processes and psychological adjustment during college. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000684
• Butler-Barnes, S. T., Cheeks, B., Barnes, D. L. et al. (2021). STEM pipeline: Mathematics beliefs, attitudes, and opportunities of racial/ethnic minority girls. Journal for STEM Education Research, 4, 301-328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-021-00059-x
• Cheeks, B. L.,Chavous, T. M., Sellers, R. M. (2020). A daily examination of African American adolescents’ racial discrimination, parental racial socialization, and psychological affect. Child Development, 91(6), 2123-2140. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13416

Courses taught

• HDF 112           Families and Close Relationships
• HDF 203           Adolescent Development: Puberty through Young Adulthood
• HDF 221           Issues in Parenting
• HDF 375           Research Methods in Human Development and Family Studies
• HDF 716           Adolescence Seminar
• HDF 745           College Teaching in Human Development and Family Studies
• HDF 765           College Teaching Practicum in Human Development and Family Studies
• HDF 790           Independent Doctoral Research