Johnson, Deborah J. Ph.D.

Dr. Deborah J. Johnson's research flows across the department areas of development and family diversity. Her research emphasizes cultural adjustment and ethnic-racial dimensions of development, parenting processes among vulnerable groups of children, youth and emerging adults domestically and globally. In particular, cultural adjustment of immigrant groups and how parental messages and context influence the racial coping responses of children has been the central focus of her work. Much of her work has been in the area of racial/ethnic identity development and racial socialization in varying context including child care principally among African-American and other ethnic children and families, but also internationally with Zimbabwean youth. She continues with her international interests exploring these issues among Sudanese refugee youth, Indigenous youth of Western Australia and Roma youth of Eastern Europe. Of more than 65 published, books, monographs, articles and chapters, several recent publications have focused on community violence affecting Sudanese refugee girls and women, discrimination and well-being in African and American and Latina college women; theory development in the area of racial-ethnic socialization; and on research methods in cultural communities. A recent edited volume (Slaughter, Stevenson, Arrington & Johnson, 2011) updates the experiences of African American children and families in independent and private schools. A new book focuses on the experiences of vulnerable children in global context (Johnson, Agbenyiga, & Hitchcock, 2013).

Selected Publications:

Johnson, D., Carolan, M. & Bates, L. (2015). “A woman is always to blame:” Community-sanctioned violence in a Sudanese refugee woman’s experience. International Psychology Bulletin, 19(3), 24-29.

Banerjee, M., Rowley, S., & Johnson, D.J. (2014, online). The relationship of community violence exposure and racial socialization on psychological well-being in African American college students. Journal of Black Psychology.

Nievar, A., Moskos, A., Johnson, D.J. & Chen, Q. (2014). Parenting practices in preschool leading to later cognitive competence: A family stress model. Early Education and Development. Published online 20 Feb 2014, DOI:10.1080/10409289.2013.788426.

Johnson, D.J., Agbényiga, D.L., & Hitchcock, R. (2013). Preface (pp. xi-xii). In D.J. Johnson, D.L. Agbenyiga, & R. Hitchcock (Eds.). Vulnerable Children: Global Challenges in Education, Health, Well-Being, and Child Rights. New York, NY: Springer.

Bates, L. Johnson, D.J. Rana, M. & Qin, D.B. (2013). Pathways to success experiences among the “Lost Boys” of Sudan: A case study approach (pp. 179-191). In C.H. Fernando (Ed). Handbook of Resilience in Children of War. New York: Springer.

Hunter, A. & Johnson, D.J. (2012). A certain kind of vision: Revealing Structure, Process, and Meaning in African American Families. In Jackson, Caldwell, & Sellers (Eds.). Research Methodology in African American communities (pp. 237-253). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Johnson, D.J. (2012). What’s not in the box?: Historical and population change as contextual features in the study of race-based development of children. In D.T. Slaughter-Defoe (ed.). Race and Child Development, Contributions to Human Development (Larry Nucci (Ser Ed)), 25, 24-27.

Banerjee, M., Harrell, Z. & Johnson, D.J. (2010, electronic first, 2011 then in print May). "Racial/Ethnic Socialization and Parental Involvement in Education as Predictors of Cognitive Ability and Achievement in African American Children" Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40 (5), 595-605.

Murphy, S. Y., Hunter, A. G., & Johnson, D.J. (2008). Transforming caregiving: African American custodial grandmothers and the child welfare system. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 35, 67-89.