Research Interests

Life Course & Human Development, Education, Health, Children & Youth, Social Psychology.

Research with AHAA

Crosnoe's role in the AHAA team encompasses two broad areas: 1) how the informal processes of schooling affect the academic and non-academic functioning of students, and 2) how education and health are related to each other during adolescence and young adulthood. Often, these two areas overlap.

Beginning with the informal processes of schooling, Crosnoe and colleagues (Needham, Cavanagh, Johnson) have used the main Add Health sample to demonstrate that personal relationships in school, such as those with teachers or with academically oriented peers, can protect students from academic and disciplinary problems but that the protective nature of these relationships varies sharply by race/ethnicity. Furthermore, they have identified unique profiles of within-school peer groups that are associated with better adjustment and functioning during the high school years. A major focus of all of these projects has been the role of school structure and context in the formation and maintenance of personal relationships. Turning to the connection between education and health, the research of Crosnoe and his colleagues (Needham, Frank, Mueller, Muller) on both the main Add Health sample and the AHAA data has revealed that physical and mental health problems disrupt academic functioning by affecting student engagement and that, in turn, academic pursuits and aspects of school context influence students' engagement in various health-related behaviors.

As for the overlap between these two areas of research, obesity and alcohol use have been two health factors closely related to both academic performance and the informal processes of school. For example, Crosnoe and Muller have determined that obese students do worse academically in schools in which peer norms are most likely to stigmatize weight. As another example, Crosnoe, Riegle-Crumb, Frank, and Muller have identified multiple ways in which education and drinking trajectories are related to each other during and after high school, finding that the negative academic and psychological consequences of drinking fluctuate according to prevalence of drinking among school peers and that the association between academic status and drinking reverses (from negative to positive) over the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, especially in schools in which peer academic norms are less competitive.

Awards and Honors

Rob Crosnoe has recently received awards for outstanding early career contributions to research on child development from the Society for Research in Child Development and the American Sociological Association as well as young scholar fellowships from the William T. Grant Foundation and the Foundation for Child Development.

Publications and Presentations

Johnson, Monica K., Robert Crosnoe, and Lyssa L. Thaden. (in press). “The Gender Reversal in School Attachment over the Course of Adolescence.” Social Psychology Quarterly.

Crosnoe, Robert. 2006. “The Connection between Academic Failure and Adolescent Drinking in Secondary School.” Sociology of Education 79: 44-60.

Crosnoe, Robert. 2005. “The Diverse Experiences of Hispanic Students in the American Educational System.” Sociological Forum 20: 561-588.

Needham, Belinda and Robert Crosnoe. 2005. “Overweight Status and Depressive Symptoms During Adolescence.” Journal of Adolescent Health 36: 48-55.

Crosnoe, Robert and Lorena Lopez-Gonzalez. 2005. “Immigration from Mexico, School Composition, and Adolescent Functioning.” Sociological Perspectives 48: 1-24.

Crosnoe, Robert and Chandra Muller. 2004. “Body Mass Index, Academic Achievement, and School Context: Examining the Educational Experiences of Adolescents at Risk of Obesity.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 45: 393-407.

Crosnoe, Robert. 2004. “Social Capital and the Interplay of Families and Schools.” Journal of Marriage and Family 66: 267-280.

Crosnoe, Robert, Chandra Muller, and Kenneth Frank. 2004. “Peer Context and the Consequences of Adolescent Drinking.” Social Problems 51: 288-304.

Crosnoe, Robert and Belinda Needham. 2004. “Holism, Contextual Variability, and the Study of Friendships in Adolescent Development.” Child Development 75: 264-279.

Crosnoe, Robert and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 2004. “Family Dynamics, Supportive Relationships, and Educational Resilience during Adolescence.” Journal of Family Issues 25: 571-602.

Crosnoe, Robert, Monica K. Johnson, and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 2004. “Intergenerational Bonding in School: The Behavioral and Contextual Correlates of Student-Teacher Relationships.” Sociology of Education 77: 60-81.

Crosnoe, Robert, Lorena Lopez-Gonzalez, and Chandra Muller. 2004. “Immigration from Mexico into the Math/Science Pipeline in American Education.” Social Science Quarterly 85: 1208-1226.

Crosnoe, Robert, Monica K. Johnson, and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 2004. “School Size and the Interpersonal Side of Education: An Examination of Race/Ethnicity and Organizational Context.” Social Science Quarterly 85: 1259-1274.

Cleveland, H. Hobart and Robert Crosnoe. 2004. “Individual Variation and Family-Community Ties: A Behavioral Genetic Analysis of the Intergenerational Closure in the Lives of Adolescents.” Journal of Adolescent Research 19: 174-191.

Crosnoe, Robert, Shannon Cavanagh, and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 2003. “Adolescent Friendships as Academic Resources: The Intersection of Friendship, Race, and School Disadvantage.” Sociological Perspectives 46: 331-352.

Crosnoe, Robert and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 2002. “Adolescent Twins and Emotional Distress: The Inter-Related Influence of Non-Shared Environment and Social Structure.” Child Development 73: 1761-1774.

Crosnoe, Robert. 2001. “Parental Involvement in Education: The Influence of School and Neighborhood.” Sociological Focus 34: 4117-434.

Manuscripts Under Review with Add Health and AHAA Data

Crosnoe, Robert. “Gender, Education, and the Experience of Obesity.”

Crosnoe, Robert, Catherine Riegle-Crumb, Sam Field, Kenneth Frank, and Chandra Muller. “Peer Contexts of Girls’ and Boys’ Academic Experiences.”

Crosnoe, Robert and Catherine Riegle-Crumb. “Transitions, Contexts, and Education: A Life Course Model of Early Alcohol Use.”

Crosnoe, Robert, Catherine Riegle-Crumb, and Chandra Muller. “Gender, Self-Perception, and the Experience of Learning Disability and Failure.”

Extracurricular Interests

I am married to another member of the AHAA team, Shannon Cavanagh, and we have a young son and daughter. Spending time with them has replaced running, reading, and watching baseball as my favorite extracurricular activity.

Links

Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Crosnoe's PRC Webpage