Carol Lynn Martin

On-going Research:

Understanding School Success (USS) (with Dr. Rick Fabes, Dr. Laura Hanish, Dr. Stacie Leonard, and many others):  This is a federally funded project (National Institute of Child Health and Development) involving a large-scale longitudinal study of how social and academic experiences in preschool influence children’s transitions into kindergarten and first grade.  Emphasis is placed on understanding the early correlates of social, behavioral, and relational adaptation to the demands of formal schooling.  In particular, we are interested in how sex segregation influences gender development and later school success for girls and boys.  

Causes and Consequences of Children’s Sex Segregated Play Groups (with Dr. Rick Fabes, Dr. Laura Hanish, Dr. Stacie Leonard, and many others).  The fact that children play primarily with same-sex peers is widely recognized but not well understood. One goal of the USS project, is to examine the possible causes of this phenomenon and its consequences. We focus primarily on the temperamental, cognitive, and behavioral qualities that contribute to children’s preferences for same-sex playmates and what effects this same-sex socialization has for children’s development.

Simulating Children’s Play Groups (SIM) (with Dr. William Griffin (PI), Dr. Richard Fabes, Dr. Laura Hanish, and Shana Schmidt).  This is a federally funded (National Science Foundation) study involving the development and assessment of computer simulations of children’s play patterns.  Data will be collected about preschool children’s play partners and their social and behavioral characteristics, and these data will form the basis of the comparison with computer simulated models of children’s play.