Applied Developmental Psychology: Social and emotional development of children
Dr. Susanne Denham is now retired from George Mason University; she holds the position of Emeritus University Professor of Psychology.
She is an applied developmental psychologist with particular expertise in the social and emotional development of children.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Western Maryland College, Dr. Denham went on to receive her MA from the Johns Hopkins University and her doctorate from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Prior to coming to George Mason University in 1985, Dr. Denham was an instructor at the University of Maryland, College Park and has been a Guest Scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health Developmental Psychology Laboratory. Apart from using her experience as a mother, which helped motivate her to initiate and explore her research on emotion and development in children, Dr. Denham has also used her 11 years of hands-on experience as a school psychologist to aid in her research
She has been funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (in partnership with Head Start and the Administration for Children and Families), the W.T. Grant Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. She has served on numerous editorial boards, and is past co-editor of the journal Social Development, as well as current editor of Early Education and Development.
Research interests include basic processes of young children's social-emotional development, as well as primary and secondary prevention of deviations from normal social-emotional development. Recently, her research has focused on development of forgiveness in children, measurement and assessment of social emotional skills, and teachers as socializers of children’s emotions.
Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Miller, S. (2017). Early childhood teachers' socialization of emotion: Contextual and individual contributors. Child and Youth Care Forum. Online, https://doi-org.mutex.gmu.edu/10.1007/s10566-017-9409-y
Bassett, H. H., Denham, S. A., Fettig, N. B., Curby, T. W., Mohtasham, M., & Austin, N. (2017). Temperament in the classroom: Children low in surgency are more sensitive to teachers’ reactions to emotions. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41, 4-14. DOI: 10.1177/0165025416644077
Campbell, S.B., Denham, S.A., Howarth, G.Z., Jones, S.M., Whittaker, J.V., Williford, A.P., Willoughby, M.T., & Yudron, M. (2016). Commentary on the review of measures of early childhood social and emotional development: Conceptualization, critique, and recommendations. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. Online first version. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2016.01.008
Denham, S. A., Ferrier, D.E., Howarth, G.Z., Herndon, K. J., & Bassett, H. H. (2016). Key considerations in assessing young children’s emotional competence. Cambridge Journal of Education. Online first, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2016.1146659
von Salisch, M., & Denham, S. A., & Koch, T. (2016). Emotion knowledge and attention problems in young children: A cross-lagged panel study on the direction of effects. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45 45-56. . doi:10.1007/s10802-016-0157-5
Zinsser, K. M., Denham, S.A., Curby, T.W., & Chazan-Cohen, R. (2016). Early childhood directors as socializers of emotional climate. Learning Environments Research International. Advance online publication, 19, 267-290.DOI 10.1007/s10984-016-9208-7
Denham, S. A. (2015). Assessment of social-emotional learning in educational contexts. In The handbook of social and emotional learning, J. Durlak, R. W. Weissberg, and T. P. Gullotta (Eds.). New York: Guilford Press.
NICHD/ACF “Social-Emotional Assessment for School Readiness”.
Bill Melinda Gates, Kirlin, Rauner Foundations, “Assessments for Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning with Preschool and Elementary-School Children”.
Institute for Education Sciences: Early Childhood Teachers as Socializers of Young Children's Emotional Competence
NICHD: Computerized Social-Emotional Assessment Battery for School Readiness
Prior to Emerita Status:
PSYC 669 Social Emotional Development;
PSYC 654 Naturalistic Observation
1981-1985 Doctoral studies, applied developmental psychology, University of Maryland Baltimore County. Ph.D. awarded June 1985.
1975-1976 Graduate courses in special education, Western Maryland College, Westminster MD.
1972-1974 The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Psychology, Baltimore MD: M.A. in psychology received May 1974.
1968-1972 Western Maryland College, Westminster MD: B.A. received August 1972, Summa Cum Laude, Departmental Honors.
Denham, S. A. (2017, October). Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence. Invited presentation, ICAPES conference, Iasi, Romania.
Denham, S. A. (2017, September). Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence. Invited presentation, World Education Day, Dalian, China.
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Denham, S. A. (2016, July). The foundations of life-long emotional competence. In Symposium, The development of emotional competence: A symposium honoring Carolyn Saarni, P. M. Cole, Chair, at The 24th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Vilnius, Lithuania. |
Denham, S. A. (2016, July). Discussant in Symposium, Development of self-regulation of emotional and cognitive processes, M. Holodynski & S. Pauen, Chairs, at The 24th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Denham, S. A. (2016, July). Discussant in Symposium, Emotion knowledge, emotion (dys)regulation, and their consequences in non-typically and typically developing youngsters, M. von Salisch, Chair, at The 24th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Has been interviewed several times by Parents Magazine for articles on young children’s emotional development and parenting, and appeared on the Diane Rehm Show.
Kristina Herndon Liverette, Do Teachers Observe the Same Social-Emotional Exchanges in the Classroom as Researchers? (2016)
Samantha Plourde Karalus, Creating a Structural Measurement Model of Socialization of Social-Emotional Competence: The Contribution of CLASS and FOCAL-T (2016)
David Eric Ferrier, The Contribution of Cognitive Self-Regulation to Social Competence: A Latent Change Score Analysis (2016)
Naomi Watanabe, Parental Socialization of Emotion in Japan: Contribution to Preschoolers' Emotion Knowledge (2015)
Nicole B. Fettig, Temperament and Emotion Regulation: Predicting Social Competence, Internalizing, and Externalizing Behavioral Outcomes (2015)
Grace Howarth, Temperament and Reactions to Frustration in Preschool Classrooms: An Exploration of the Moderating Effects of Emotion Knowledge (2014)
Craig Bailey, The Socialization of Emotion Regulation in Preschool Classrooms (2014)
Todd M. Wyatt, Self-regulation in Preschool Children: Hot and Cool Executive Control as Predictors of Later Classroom Learning Behaviors (2013)
Katherine M. Zinsser, Early Childhood Education Directors’ Impact on Social-Emotional Teaching and Learning (2013)
Sara Kalb, Early Social-Emotional Competence: Preschool and Kindergarten Predictors (2012)
Claire Elizabeth Cole, Attention Biases to Threat Link Components of Temperament to Social Withdrawal in Very Young Children (2011)