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BENNER, APRILE D
No

Aprile D Benner

Professor, Research Lab Director (Academic)
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Population Research Center


abenner@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 University 

Research 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. 

  

Current Grant Funding

Principal Investigator, Racial and ethnic Discrimination and Physiological Reactivity in Young Adulthood: An mEMA Study. Spark Grant, College of Natural Sciences, University of Texas at Austin.

Prior Grant Funding

Principal Investigator, Biopsychosocial Pathways Linking Discrimination and Adolescent Health. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K01HD087479, 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).

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)

Select Publications (* denotes undergraduate or graduate student or postdoctoral fellow)

Benner, A.D., *Alers-Rojas, F., *Lopez, B., & Chen, S. (forthcoming). “Some people will tell jokes to you; some people be racist: A mixed-method examination of racist jokes and adolescents’ well-being. Child Development.

Chan, M-K. & Benner, A.D. (forthcoming). A consideration of racial/ethnic diversity conceptualization and measurement: Clarifying ambiguities and advancing scholarship. Educational Psychologist.

Benner, A.D., *Alers-Rojas, Kim, S-Y., Hou, Y., & *Coulter, K. (2024). COVID-19 anti-Chinese discrimination, current pandemic stress, and adolescents’ mental health. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities11, 1946-1955.

Benner, A.D., *Chen, S., *Fernandez, C.C., & Hayward, M.D. (2024). 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 Research53, 804-838.

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 Review64, 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.

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 Psychologist73, 855-883.  

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

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)