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Aprile D Benner
Professor, Research Lab Director (Academic)
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Population Research Centerabenner@prc.utexas.edu
Phone: 512-232-1964
Office Location
SEA 2.442
Postal Address
108 E DEAN KEETON ST
AUSTIN, TX 78712-
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
M.S., Purdue University
B.S., Vanderbilt UniversityResearch Interests
Aprile Benner’s substantive research interests center on the development of low-income and race/ethnic minority youth, investigating how social contexts influence experiences of marginalization and discrimination, school transitions, and developmental outcomes during adolescence. As a developmental psychologist, the core of her research program is a fundamental developmental question—what are the continuities and changes in the social, emotional, and cognitive growth and maturation of young people? Reflecting her training in educational demography, she works to answer this question with an awareness of how such developmental patterns are embedded in the groups, contexts, and social structures of society.Specifically, her research falls into two primary streams: race/ethnicity and social class as developmental contexts and the influence of multiple and shifting ecological contexts in young people’s lives. Her studies have examined adolescents’ perceptions of discrimination, their experiences of numeric marginalization tied to both race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, experiences of school transitions across the early life course, and how schools, families, and peers independently and conjointly influence young people’s well-being. Her current research focuses on discrimination tied to race/ethnicity, social class, sexual minority status, and weight and linkages to disparities in mental and physical health and academic achievement.
Aprile Benner is not accepting graduate students to start in Fall 2024.
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Current Grant Funding
Principal Investigator, Biopsychosocial Pathways Linking Discrimination and Adolescent Health. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2017-2023).
Principal Investigator, Disrupted Trajectories of Well-being and Compensating Supports in the Time of COVID-19. The Spencer Foundation (2020-2023)
Co-principal Investigator, School-based Marginalization, Social-Behavioral Competencies, and Achievement: A Meta-analysis. (2019-2023).
Prior Grant Funding
Principal Investigator, Discrimination and Achievement Disparities in Adolescence. National Science Foundation (2016-2021)
Principal Investigator, Adolescents and the Social Contexts of American Schools. William T. Grant Scholars Program (2013 - 2018).
Principal Investigator, eRACE: Examining Race, Academics, Contexts, and Equality. William T. Grant Foundation (2015 - 2017).
Principal Investigator, School Demographics, Marginalization, and Adolescent Substance Use. National Institute on Drug Abuse (R03DA032018, 2011-2014).
Principal Investigator, Marginalization and Educational Performance during Adolescence. National Academy of Education & Spencer Foundation (2012 - 2013)
Principal Investigator, Selection into Pre-K-3. Foundation for Child Development (2010 - 2012)
Principal Investigator, The Transition to High School and Later School Dropout. The Spencer Foundation (2010 - 2011)
Principal Investigator, Race, School Transitions, and Child and Adolescent Well-being. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (F32HD056732, 2008 - 2011)
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Select Publications (* denotes undergraduate or graduate student or postdoctoral fellow)
Benner, A.D., *Alers-Rojas, Kim, S-Y., Hou, Y., & *Coulter, K. (forthcoming). COVID-19 anti-Chinese discrimination, current pandemic stress, and adolescents’ mental health. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
Benner, A.D., *Chen, S., *Fernandez, C.C., & Hayward, M.D. (forthcoming). The potential for using a shortened version of the Everyday Discrimination Scale in population research with young adults: A construct validation investigation. Sociological Methods and Research.
Benner, A.D., *Fernandez, C.C., & **Limón, K. (forthcoming). Shifting and persisting in the face of life stressors: Consequences for adolescent health. Applied Developmental Science.
Benner, A.D., Wang, Y., *Chen, S., & Boyle, A.E. (2022). Measurement considerations in the link beween racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescent well-being: A meta-analysis. Developmental Review, 64, 1-23.
Benner, A.D., *Chen, S., Mistry, R.S., & Shen, Y. (2021). Life course transitions and educational trajectories: Examining adolescents who fall off track academically. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50, 1068-1080.
Benner, A.D. & Mistry, R.S. (2020). Child development during the COVID-19 pandemic through a life course theory lens. Child Development Perspectives, 14, 236-243.
Martin-Storey, A. & Benner, A.D. (2019). Externalizing behaviors exacerbate the link between discrimination and adolescent health risk behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48, 1724-1735.
Benner, A.D., Wang, Y., Shen, Y. Boyle, A.E., Polk, R. & Cheng, Y-P. (2018). Racial discrimination and well-being during adolescence: A meta-analytic review. American Psychologist, 73, 855-883.
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2020 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
2020 Mid-career Award for Research Excellence, Society for Research on Adolescence
2019 Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award, Graduate School, UT Austin
2019 Faculty Research Award, School of Human Ecology, UT Austin
2013 Award for Early Career Research Contributions to Child Development, Society for Research in Child Development
2013 William T. Grant Foundation Scholar
2013 Monitoring the Future Visiting Scholar Program
2011 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
2008 Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award, NICHD
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Courses Recently Taught
Undergraduate
HDF 305 – Health and Health Behaviors across the Life Span
HDF 371 – Adolescent Development
Graduate
HDF 380k.2 – Foundational Statistics
HDF 380k.4 – Advanced Regression and Structural Models (SEM)
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In Fall 2023, we will be conducting a data collection including daily diaries, wearables, and biomarker and health data from approximately 150 young adult participants. Research assistants will recruit participants, schedule home or lab visits to collect biomarker and health data, train participants on the wearable technology, monitor daily diary participation, and ensure daily diary compliance. Research assistants will receive comprehensive training to build their skills and competencies in collection of biomarker and health data in preparation for home visits. Once trained, during home/lab visits, pairs of research assistants will collect participants' blood pressure, height, weight, waist circumference, and blood spots. At these home visits, research assistants also will train participants to use the wearable device and associated app. We are planning to conclude the data collection portion of our current study during the spring 2024 semester. Duties may include coding qualitative interview data, using Google streetview to identify and record neighborhood and environmental characteristics of different residences, and other lab-related research tasks such as data cleaning, data management organization, data analysis, and other tasks as needed. Research assistants for the project need to be comfortable speaking and interacting with participants.
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