Congratulations to Dr. Liz Gershoff, winner of the 2019 Nicholas Hobbs Award, given by the American Psychological Association to a psychologist who exemplifies "ideals and devotion to child advocacy/policy." Dr. Gershoff was also elected the President of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice.

Dr. Gershoff is an internationally renowned expert in two fields of study: the effects of poverty on children's development, and the effects of physical punishment on children.Her work on poverty and child development has focused on income and ethnic/racial achievement gaps, factors related to children's resilience in the face of poverty.Regarding her research on the effects of physical punishment on children, she is one of the leading authorities in the world in this area.Her work has clearly established that physical punishment causes lasting negative outcomes for children, including emotional and behavior problems.She demonstrated that physical punishment yields the same kinds of negative outcomes as other adverse childhood experiences; that work won the Paper of the Year award in 2017 from the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Her research has led Dr. Gershoff to become a tireless advocate for children's rights.She has been actively involved in interventions aimed at changing parents' attitudes about the use of physical punishment and social policy initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of physical punishment in schools.She has given dozens of interviews to the media and published op-eds in major media outlets on the topic of physical punishment. Her advocacy has led the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association to issue policy statements recommending against the use of physical punishment, and led former U.S. Secretary of Education, John King, to recommend that the use of physical punishment in public schools be eliminated.ur text here ...