The CDS lab, run by Dr. N. Keita Christophe, aims to understand the factors that promote healthy development and resilience among racially/ethnically minoritized youth and families exposed to racial discrimination. Specifically, we study factors such as racial identity, coping with discrimination, anti-racism, cultural values, and the ways parents talk to their children about race/ethnicity, with attention toward how these factors change throughout development and impact youth's psychological wellbeing and mental health.

Our work is grounded in models of developmental psychopathology and minority youth development (e.g., Garcia Coll et al., 1996; Neblett et al., 2012; Spencer et al., 1997) and takes strengths-based approaches to studying minoritized populations. We focus primarily on Black, Latinx, Multiracial, and immigrant adolescents (~13-18) and emerging adults (~18-29), as well as their families.