About Us
Positive Social Development (PSD) Lab focuses on understanding positive social development during childhood and adolescence. We are particularly interested in prosocial behavior and moral development with their individual, parental, cultural, and contextual correlates in children and adolescents.
Areas of Interest:
- Positive social development during childhood and adolescence
- Prosocial behavior
- Moral development
- Parenting
- Parent-child relationship
- Culture
People
Lab Members
Director:
Graduate Students:
Undergraduate Research Assistants:
- Brianna Leon
- Jaya Powell
- Xi Zeng
- Emma McClellan
- Leelie Kebede
Former Undergraduate Research Assistants
Anna Martin - Fall 2024
Basem Huneidi - Spring 2024
Current Research Projects
Cultivating Kindness: Mapping the Socialization Landscape of Prosocial Development in Early Adolescence
This study focuses on understanding early adolescents’ prosocial behaviors and moral development. This project was supported in part by the Virginia Tech College of Science Dean's Discovery Fund (Fund Number: 452020). (IRB # 24-390)
College Students' Stress, Wellbeing, and Prosociality
The purpose of this study is to understand the relations among college students’ stress, well-being, relationships, and prosocial behavior. (IRB# 23-1302)
Latine Youth's Cultural Assets and Positive Social Development
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of Latine youth and parents’ culture-related experiences and stress on youth’s social-emotional development, moral development, and psychological well-being. (IRB #24-342)
Other Collaborative Projects
•Prosociality in Times of COVID-19: A Cross-National Investigation of Prosocial Attitudes and Behaviors During the COVID-19 Crisis
•Longitudinal Study of Children’s Cognitive, Emotional &Prosocial Development in Türkiye
•Adolescents’ Prosocial and Moral Development in Nicaragua
•College Students’ Prosocial Behaviors and Moral Development
Select Publications and Presentations
- Publications
- Simpkins, S.D., Gülseven, Z., & Vandell, D. L. (2024). Developmental changes in youth’s unsupervised time across middle childhood and early adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2024.2438124
- Cruz, A. M., Carlo, G., Gulseven, Z., & Vandell, D.L. (2024). A Longitudinal study of prosocial behaviors predicting later academic performance in U.S. Latine youth. Journal of Adolescence. http://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12401
- Gulseven, Z., Simpkins, S.D., Jiang, S., & Vandell, D.L. (2024). Patterns of afterschool settings: Are they related to changes in academic and social functioning in children and adolescents?. Applied Developmental Science, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2024.2385425
- Gulseven, Z., Pierotti, S.L., Killoren, S.E., Alfaro, E.C., & Carlo, G. (2024). The role of maternal warmth in understanding the relations between cultural orientations and prosocial behaviors in U.S. Mexican college students. Journal of Latinx Psychology, 12(3), 261-276. https://doi.org/10.1037/lat0000253
- Xiao, S. X., Gulseven, Z., Clancy, E. T., Liew, J., Carlo, G., Kim, S., & Jiang, S. (2024). Measuring early adolescents’ prosocial behavior toward diverse others: Considering multiple social identities. Journal of Adolescence, 96(4), 841-854. http://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12305
- Vandell, D.L. & Gülseven, Z. (2023). The Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD): Studying development from infancy to adulthood. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 5(1), 331-354. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-120621-035345
- Carrizales, A., Gulseven, Z., & Lannegrand, L. (2023). The mediating role of empathy in the links between relationships with three socialization agents and adolescents’ prosocial behaviors. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(9), 2855-2877. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221099652
- Maiya, S., Gülseven, Z., Killoren, S. E., Carlo, G., & Streit, C. (2023). The intervening role of anxiety symptoms in associations between self-regulation and prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/a college students. Journal of American College Health, 71(2), 584-592. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1899187
- Gulseven, Z., Yu, M., Zarrett, N., Vandell, D. L., & Simpkins, S.D. (2023). Self-control and cooperation in childhood as antecedents of less moral disengagement in adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 35(1), 290-300. doi:10.1017/S0954579421000584
- Gulseven, Z., Puente, K., Tulagan, N., Zarrett, N., Simpkins, S. D., & Vandell, D. L. (2023). Children’s self-control as an antecedent of adolescent prosociality and adult civic engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 28(2), 178–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2022.2158827
- Presentations
- 2025
- *Aras, B. N., Gulseven, Z., Kumru, A., Sayıl, M., & Selçuk, B. (May 2025). Longitudinal relations between parenting practices and Turkish children’s prosocial behaviors: Mediating role of emotional development. Poster will be presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
- *Aras, B. N., Gulseven, Z., Kumru, A., Sayıl, M., & Selçuk, B. (May 2025). Longitudinal relations between mothers’ social support and Turkish children’s emotional development: Mediating role of parenting. Poster will be presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
- *Kreidell, K. J. & Gulseven, Z. (May 2025). Longitudinal relations between Latine youth’s familism and prosocial behavior: The mediating role of cultural orientation. Poster will be presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
- Gulseven, Z., Xiao, S. X., Liew, J., & Carlo, G. (May 2025). Longitudinal relation between ethnic-racial socialization and adolescents’ prosocial behavior towards other-ethnicity/race peers. In S. X., Xiao (Chair), Fostering harmony: Promoting intergroup prosociality across the globe. Paper will be presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
- 2024
- Gulseven, Z., Carlo, G., *Aras, B. N., *Kreidell, K., Torres, M., & Kumru, A. (April 2024). Prosocial behavior profiles of Nicaraguan youth: Relations with moral cognitions, parenting practices, and familism. [Paper presentation]. Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL, United States.
- *Aras, B. N., Gulseven, Z., Kumru, A., Carlo, G., Sayıl, M., & Selçuk, B. (June 2024). Developmental Trajectories of Turkish Children’s Prosocial Behaviors: Relations with Parenting Practices [Poster presentation]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD), Lisbon, Portugal.
- *Kreidell, K. J., Gulseven, Z., Kumru, A., Carlo, G., Sayıl, M., & Selçuk, B. (June 2024). Temperament and Developmental Trajectories of Prosocial Behavior among Turkish Children [Poster presentation]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD), Lisbon, Portugal.
Links and Resources
Professional Organizations
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- American Psychological Association (APA) - Developmental Psychology (Division 7)
- Association for Psychological Science
- Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
- Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA)
- International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development
- European Association for Developmental Psychology