Rate My Professor Ana Marcelo

Ana Marcelo is an Associate Professor of Psychology. She earned her B.A. in Psychology/Law and Society in 2009, M.A. in Developmental Psychology in 2012, and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in 2016, all from the University of California, Riverside. Her research examines the influence of risk and protective factors on child development across diverse ecological contexts, particularly emphasizing culture and adversity. She has been at her institution since 2016, teaching courses on developmental psychology, child development, development of pretend play and creativity, cultural influences on development, and early experience of race and ethnicity.

Marcelo's first research interest investigates children’s pretend play, creativity, and emotional expressiveness as related to their socioemotional and academic adjustment in various contexts including school, peers, and home. Her second interest centers on ethnic-racial identity in early childhood and its influence on children’s experiences of their race-ethnicity, especially in relation to encounters with bias and discrimination. These complementary lines of inquiry converge to clarify how developmental processes vary in form and meaning as a function of broader ecological contexts. Key publications include “You can’t do all”: Caregiver Experiences of Stress and Support Across Ecological Contexts (Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2023, with Nicole O’Dea); Ethnic and Racial Discrimination (Handbook of Clinical Child Psychology: Theory to Practice, 2023); The development of divergent thinking despite poverty: Moderating factors (Cognitive Development, 2022, with Sara Berzenski, Ryan LaSalle-Castro, and Tuppett M. Yates); Prospective relations of preschoolers’ prosocial and aggressive affect themes in pretend play with prosocial and aggressive behaviors across contexts (Social Development, 2020, with Tuppett M. Yates); Young children’s ethnic–racial identity moderates the impact of early discrimination experiences on child behavior problems (Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2019, with Tuppett M. Yates); Prospective associations between trauma, placement disruption, and ethnic-racial identity among newly emancipated foster youth (Journal of Adolescence, 2019, with Fanita A. Tyrell, Duyen T. Trang, and Tuppett M. Yates); Ethnic-racial discrimination, family ethnic socialization and Latinx children’s emotion competence (Culture and Brain, 2019, with Stacey N. Doan and Tuppett M. Yates); and Prospective relations among preschoolers’ play, coping, and adjustment as moderated by stressful events (Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2014, with Tuppett M. Yates).