Scott D. Gest, Ph.D.
1995, University of Minnesota
Associate Professor of Human Development
S-110
Henderson
(814) 865-3464
gest@psu.edu
Research
My research focuses on developmental processes linking academic skills, peer experiences and socio-emotional adjustment during middle childhood and early adolescence. I am especially interested in how to conceptualize and measure peer experiences and peer social network dynamics in school settings. My current research efforts focus on four projects:
Classroom Peer Ecologies Project. This is a new research project (starting Fall 2008) that I am conducting in collaboration with Phil Rodkin at the University of Illinois and Tom Farmer at Penn State (Special Education). We are studying teaching practices, peer social networks and student adjustment in 1st, 3rd and 5th grade classrooms. Our goals are to learn whether emerging features of peer networks (e.g., status hierarchies, behavioral norms) are related to individual student outcomes, and to identify teaching practices that are associated with these emerging peer network features. (Funding from William T. Grant Foundation and Spencer Foundation, 2008-2010)
PROSPER Peers. This study of friendship networks and the emergence of substance use uses data from the PROSPER community-level randomized evaluation of evidence-based substance use prevention programs. Over 11,000 youth provided reports of their friendships and substance use patterns over five occasions between 6th grade and 9th grade. I am a member of the multi-investigator team (PI = Wayne Osgood; Investigators = Mark Feinberg, Karen Bierman, Jim Moody, me) testing several hypotheses regarding the role of peers in the emergence of substance use, and in the impact of universal prevention programs on the structure of school-level peer networks. (Funding from William T. Grant Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2007-2010)
Middle School Transition Project. Janet Welsh and I conducted this 5-year longitudinal study of 427 children enrolled in grades 3, 4 and 5, gathering twice-yearly assessments until each grade-cohort completed 7th grade. Our measures focused on students’ peer experiences (friendships, groups and reputations), relationships with adults at school and perceptions of the school environment. A unique feature of this study is the relatively complete data on friendships and peer groups across multiple assessments. We are collaborating with Jim Moody (Duke Department of Sociology) and Dan McFarland (Stanford School of Education) to conduct more comprehensive analyses of these peer network dynamics. (Funding from National Science Foundation, 2007-2009)
Head Start REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed). This project is a randomized control trial testing the impact of a pre-kindergarten curriculum designed to enhance children's school readiness (Karen Bierman, PI). The curriculum featured specific activities and general teaching strategies to promote language/literacy and social-emotional skills. The curriculum was implemented in 22 Head Start classrooms in central Pennsylvania between 2004 and 2006. After documenting significant intervention effects on children’s outcomes and teaching processes, we secured funding to follow these youth through 5th grade. (Funding from National Institute of Child Health and Development, 2003-2012)
Education
- UNC-Chapel Hill, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1995-1997, Center for Developmental Science
- University of Minnesota , Ph.D., 1995, Developmental-Clinical
- Duke University Medical Center, 1994-1995, Medical Psychology Intern
- UNC- Chapel Hill, B.A., 1987, Interdisciplinary Studies
Professional Experience
- 2006- : Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University
- 2000- 2006: Assistant Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University.
- 1997-2000: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.
Publications
- Kindermann, T., & Gest, S. D. (in press, 2009). Assessment of the peer group: Identifying naturally occurring social networks and capturing their effects. In K. Rubin, W. Bukowski & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of Peer Interactions, Relationships and Groups. Guilford.
- Domitrovich, C. E., Gest, S. D., Gill, S., Bierman, K. L., Welsh, J. A., & Jones, D. (in press). Fostering high quality teaching in Head Start classrooms: Experimental evaluation of an integrated curriculum. American Educational Research Journal.
- Bierman, K. L., Domitrovich, C. E., Nix, R., Gest, S. D., Welsh, J. A., Greenberg, M. T., Blair, C., Nelson, K., & Gill, S. (in press). Promoting academic and social-emotional school readiness: The Head Start REDI program. Child Development.
- Gest, S. D., Rulison, K. L., Davidson, A., J. & Welsh, J. A. (2008). Children's academic reputations among peers: Longitudinal associations with academic self-concept, effort and performance. Developmental Psychology.
- Gest, S. D., Davidson, A. J., Rulison, K. L., Moody, J., & Welsh, J. A. (2007). Features of groups and status hierarchies in girls’ and boys’ early adolescent peer networks. In P. Rodkin & L. Hanish (Eds.), New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Special Issue: Social Network Analysis and Children’s Peer Relationships. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Gest, S. D., (2007). The Social Cognitive Map procedure for identifying peer groups and cliques. In William A. Darity (Ed.). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition. MacMillan Reference USA / Thomson Gale.
- Gest, S. D., Moody, J., & Rulison, K. L. (2007). Density or distinction? The roles of data structure and group detection methods in describing adolescent peer groups. Journal of Social Structure, 4, http://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume8/GestMoody/
- Gest, S. D., Holland-Coviello, R. H., & Welsh, J. A., Eicher-Catt, D., & Gill, S. (2006). Language development sub-contexts in Head Start classrooms: Varying cognitive challenges in free play, mealtime and book reading contexts. Early Education & Development.
- Gest, S. D. (2006). Teacher reports of children's friendships and social groups: Agreement with peer reports and implications for studying peer similarity. Social Development, 15, 248-259.
- Gest, S. D., Masten, A. S., Sesma, A., & Tellegen, A. (2006). Childhood peer reputation as a predictor of competence and symptoms 10 years later. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34(4), 507-524.
- Gest, S. D., Welsh, J. A., & Domitrovich, C. E. (2005). Behavioral predictors of changes in social relatedness and liking school in elementary school. Journal of School Psychology, 43, 281-301.
- Gest, S. D., Domitrovich, C. E., & Welsh, J. A. (2005). Peer academic reputation in elementary school: Associations with changes in self-concept and academic skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(3), 337-346.
- Gest, S. D., & Gest, J. M. (2005). Reading tutoring for students at academic and behavioral risk: Effects of time-on-task in the classroom. Education & Treatment of Children, 28, 1-22.
- Gest, S. D., Freeman, N. R., Domitrovich, C. E., & Welsh, J. A. (2004). Parental discipline style as a moderator of the association between shared book reading and language comprehension skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 319-336.
- Gest, S. D., Farmer, T. F., Cairns, B. D., & Xie, H. (2003). Identifying children's peer social networks in school classrooms. Links between peer reports and observed interactions. Social Development, 12, 513-529.
- Gest, S. D., Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Hartup, W. W. (2001). Peer experience: Common and unique features of friendships, network centrality and sociometric status. Social Development, 10, 23-40.