David Rosenfield, Ph.D.
Research Professor
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Research interests

• Understanding the impact of family conflict on children’s adjustment
• Mitigating adjustment problems resulting from family violence
• Relationship violence in teenagers
• Understanding and minimizing ethnocentric bias in person perception
 

Relationship violence in teenagers

I am primarily interested in understanding how family conflict (and family violence) effects problems in adjustment in the children exposed to that violence. The ultimate goal of this research is to design (and test) interventions that will substantially reduce the negative impact of family conflict on children. I am also interested in the possibility that the factors mediating this relationship between conflict and adjustment might change as children develop. A natural progression of this research is into the area of relationship violence in teenagers, since children from violent homes often become violent in their own romantic relationships.

Representative Publications

Buzy, W. M., McDonald, R., Jouriles, E. N., Swank, P., Rosenfield, D., Shimek, J., & Corbitt-Shindler, D. (2004). Adolescent girls’ alcohol use as a risk factor for relationship violence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14, 449-470.

Jouriles, E. N.,  McDonald, R.,  Garrido, E., Rosenfield, D. & Brown, A. S. (2005). Assessing physical violence in adolescent romantic relationships: Can we do it better?  Psychological Assessment, 17, 469-475.

Understanding and minimizing ethnocentric bias in person perception

A great deal of my earlier work centered on reducing prejudice and discrimination. Although the bulk of my current research has moved toward the area of family violence, I continue to investigate methods for reducing the impact of ethnocentric attitudes and behaviors.

Representative Publications

Rosenfield, D, & Stephan, W. G. (1981). Intergroup relations among children. In S. Brehm, S. Kassen, F. Gibbons (Eds.) Developmental Social Psychology, Oxford University.

Rosenfield, D, Stephan, W. G., & Lucker, G. W. (1981). Attraction to competent and incompetent members of cooperative and competitive groups. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 11, 416-433.

Rosenfield, D., Sheehan, D. S., Marcus, M., and & Stephan, W. G. (1981). Classroom structure and prejudice in desegregated schools: A path Analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 17-26.

Greenberg, J., & Rosenfield, D. (1979). White’s ethnocentrism and their attributions for the behavior of blacks. Journal of Personality, 47, 643-657.