Faculty Directory

Rebekah Levine Coley

Director, Institute of Early Childhood Policy

Professor

Gabelli Faculty Fellow

Department

CDEP Counseling, Developmental & Educational Psychology

GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT

Investigator, Centre for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse, University of Queensland, Australia

Current Research Grants

2024-2026ÌýSupporting Marginalized Youths' Educational Success: A Mixed-Methods Natural Experiment.Ìý(Brady Education Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $368,032. Multi-methods natural experiment to assess how public housing and community redevelopment bolster minoritized and economically disadvantaged children’s educational opportunities and success using a strengths-based perspective.Ìý

2021-2026ÌýTargeting Health Disparities through Housing Redevelopment: A Natural Experiment of HousingÌýÌýQuality,ÌýStability,Ìýand EconomicÌýIntegration. (NIH/NIMHD 1R01MD015729). Coley & Teixeira, Principal Investigators.Ìý$3,030,584. Diversity Supplement (with Lacee Satcher). $250,000. Multi-method natural experiment of public housing redevelopment to address whether improvingÌýhousing quality, limiting external displacement, and creating mixed-income communities improvesÌýphysical, mental,ÌýandÌýbehavioralÌýhealth.

2021-2025ÌýÌý°¬¿ÉÖ±²¥ College Institute of Early Childhood PolicyÌý(Buffett Early Childhood fund). Coley, Principal Investigator.Ìý $322,707. Cross-disciplinary institute to increase training, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration in the realm of early childhood development, education, and policy.

2021-2023ÌýStrengths, Assets, and Receipt of Social Services as Protective Factors in the Relationship between Racial Bias and Maternal and Child Health and Developmental Outcomes.Ìý(Annie E Casey Foundation). Sims, Principal Investigator. $175,000. Multi-methods, participatory study to assess how environmental racial bias is linked with maternal and child mental, behavioral, and physical health among Black families.

2021-2023ÌýImpact Analysis of Flavor Restrictions and Tobacco 21 Policies on Youth Tobacco Use. (NIH/NCI R21CA268199). Hawkins, Principal Investigator. $430,375. Examine the impact of state flavor restrictions and state and federal age 21 tobacco restriction policies on disparities in tobacco use among 14-24 year-old youth.

2023-2025ÌýÌýEvaluating Rental Relief During the COVID-19 PandemicÌý(NIH R21HD111746). Fusaro,ÌýPrincipal Investigator. $430,375. Create, make publicly available, and analyze a datasetÌý documenting the nature and timing of Emergency Rental Assistance Program implementation policy choices and their effects on eviction, material hardship, and mental health.

2023-2025ÌýÌýEarly Childhood Policy and Leadership Fellowship ProgramÌý(Bezos Family Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $177,475. Funds provision of fellowships to underrepresented graduate students participating in the Early Childhood Policy and Leadership graduate certificate program.

2022-2026ÌýThe MetroWest Evidence-based Trauma-Informed Referral & Treatment Initiative for ChildrenÌý(METRIC) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services AdministrationÌýSM84966). Franks, Principal Investigator.Ìý$1,599,070. Collaborative initiative to expand and evaluate trauma-focused, evidence-based mental health services for children aged 2 to 18 and their families.

2021-2027ÌýARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life CourseÌý(Australian Research Council CE200100025). Baxter, Principal Investigator. $32,500,000AU.Ìý Collaborative research centre seeking toÌýuse evidence-based research to develop new knowledge, technology and practices to benefit people living in disadvantage.

Recent Publications

  • Carey, N., Coley, R. L., Hawkins, S. S., & Baum, C. F. (2024).ÌýEmerging adult mental health during COVID: Exploring relationships between discrete and cumulative individual and contextual stressors and well-being.ÌýJournal of Adolescent Health.Ìý
  • Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Hwang, D., Spielvogel, B., & Henry, D. (2024). Racial inequitiesÌýeducationalopportunity: Variation across socioeconomic strata.ÌýRace and Social Problems.Ìý
  • Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Kruzik, C., Hawkins, S. S., & Baum, K. (2024).ÌýRecreational cannabis legalization, retail sales, and adolescent substance use through 2021.ÌýJAMA Pediatrics.Ìýdoi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.0555
  • Hawkins, S. S., Carey, N., Coley, R. L., Baum, C. F. (2024).ÌýAssociations between tobacco 21 and state flavor restrictions with young adult tobacco use.ÌýTobacco Control, 1-8.Ìý
  • Hwang, D. & Coley, R. L. (2024).ÌýExamining how school resources contribute to income achievement disparities across race and ethnicity.ÌýUrban Education, 1-38.ÌýDOI: 10.1177/00420859241244770
  • Kruzik, C., Coley, R. L., Votruba-Drzal, E., Spielvogel, B., Henry, D. & Betancur, L. (2024). The early emergence of SES achievement gaps: Disparities across race, ethnicity, and immigrant status.ÌýRace and Social Problems,Ìý16, 116–132.ÌýDOI:Ìý
  • Lanteri, L. & Coley, R. L. (2024).ÌýSchoolÌýconnectedness and social exclusion: Can school contextsÌýameliorate parental depression risks forÌýearly adolescent behavior problems?ÌýChildren and Youth Services Review,Ìý164, 107848.Ìý
  • Miller, P., Coley, R. L., Blatt, L. R., Spielvogel, B., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2024).ÌýUsing fixed-effects analyses to examine how neighborhood structural, process, and physical characteristics predict children’s cognitive skills in a national cohort of elementary school students.ÌýJournal of Educational Psychology.Ìý
  • Teixeira, S.,ÌýSpielvogel, B., Hwang, D., Lown, J., & Coley, R. L. (2024).ÌýShort- and long-term effects of HOPE VI redevelopment on neighborhood housing conditions.ÌýHousing Studies.ÌýÌýDOI: 10.1080/02673037.2024.2423820.
  • Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Baum, C. F., Hawkins, S. S. (2023).ÌýCOVID-19 vaccinations and mental health among U.S. adults: Individual and spillover effects.ÌýSocial Science and Medicine,Ìý329, 116027.Ìý
  • Coley, R. L., Spielvogel, B., Hwang, D., Lown, J., & Teixeira, S. (2023).ÌýDid HOPE VI move communities to opportunity? How public housing redevelopment affected neighborhood poverty, racial composition, and resources 1990-2016.ÌýHousing Policy Debate,Ìý4, 909-940.Ìý
  • Fusaro, V., Coley, R. L., & Carey, N. (2023).ÌýShelter from the storm: State eviction moratoria, implementation context, & eviction filings during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.ÌýHousing Policy Debate.Ìý
  • van Leer, K. F. & Coley, R. L. (2023).ÌýEarly childhood education decision-making among Latinx foreign-born parents in the United States: A culturally-informed model of decision-making.ÌýChildren and Youth Services Review, 151.Ìý
  • Carey, N. & Coley, R. L. (2022). Prevalence of adolescent handgun carriage: 2002 2019.ÌýPediatrics,Ìý149(5):e2021054472.Ìý
  • Coley, R. L. & Baum, C. (2022). Trends in mental health symptoms, service use, and unmet need for services among US adults through the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic.ÌýTranslational Behavioral Medicine, 12, 273-283.Ìý
  • Coley, R. L., Carey, N., Baum, C. F., & Hawkins, S. S. (2022). COVID-19 related stressors and mental health disorders among US adults.ÌýPublic Health Reports,Ìý137,Ìý1217–1226.Ìý
  • Hawkins, S., Kruzik, C., O’Brien, M., & Coley, R. L. (2022). Flavored tobacco product restrictions in Massachusetts associated with reductions in adolescent cigarette and e-cigarette use.ÌýTobacco Control, 31, 576-579. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-056159
  • Sims, J. & Coley, R. L. (2022). Examining economic risks in adolescents’ families, neighborhoods, and schools: Implications for mental and behavioral health in early adulthood.ÌýJournal of Adolescent Health,Ìý70, 774-780.Ìýdoi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.020.

Select Honors & Leadership Positions

Mavis Hetherington Award for Excellence in Applied Developmental Science, American Psychological AssociationÌý

Fulbright Senior Scholar Award Recipient

Social Policy Award, Society for Research in AdolescenceÌý

Editor,

Co-Chair, Science and Social Policy Committee, Society for Research in Child Development

Steering Committee Member, University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium

Steering Committee Member, Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium

Consulting Editor, Child Development

Advisory Board Member, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy