Dr. Leslie Anderson
Dr. Leslie A. Anderson is an Assistant Professor of Family & Consumer Sciences and a licensed marriage and family therapist with over 10 years of clinical experience, primarily serving Black youths and families. As research faculty for The National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities (NCEED), she conducts research on the social and emotional learning and psychological well-being of both children and adults. Dr. Anderson earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, from the University of Georgia.
As a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Anderson’s program of research focuses on the intersection of Black familial processes, race and racism, and psychological well-being. Specifically, she investigates how racial socialization and a positive racial identity act as protective factors against racial harm and injury.
Her research has been published in the Journal of Family Theory and Review, the Journal of Black
Psychology, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, the Journal of Research on Adolescence, the Journal of Social Issues and others. Dr. Anderson also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Family Theory and Review and Family Process, and she reviews for numerous other academic journals.
A cornerstone of Dr. Anderson’s scholarship is her commitment to amplifying the voices of underserved and historically excluded communities while centering their lived experiences. She is currently part of a multi-institutional research team conducting a longitudinal project funded by the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) that aims to identify risk and protective factors for suicidality among young Black children in early and middle childhood.
Selected Publications:
Keenan, K., Stepp, S., Anderson, L. A., Humphries, M., Hipwell, A. E., & Mbayiwa, K. (2024). Considering developmental phenotypes of suicidality for young Black children. Mental Health Science, 2(4), e96. https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.96
Osborne, K. R., Morton, L. B., Anderson, L. A., & O’Brien Caughy, M. (2024). “At the end of the day, someone done lost their child”: A mixed methods analysis of Black families’ experiences of the sociopolitical climate. Family Process, 63(2), 749-767. https://doi.org/10.1111
Morton, L., Anderson, L. A., O’Brien Caughy, M., Odejimi, O. A., Osborne, K., Suma, K., & Little, T. D. (2024). Changes in ethnic identity in middle childhood: Family and neighborhood determinants. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 44(4), 458-485. https://doi.org/10.1177/02724316231182292
Caughy, M. O. B., Anderson, L. A., & Contreras, M. M. (2023). Message received: Concordance between parents and children in perceptions of messages about race and ethnic identity development. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(4), 471. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000606
Osborne, K. R., Smith‐Bynum, M. A., Walsdorf, A. A., Anderson, L. A., & O’Brien Caughy, M.(2023). Preparing Black and Latinx children for police encounters: Caregiver response profiles and child self‐regulation. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33(2), 547-563. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12824
Anderson, L. A., Morton, L., & Trejo, A. N. (2022). To be young, conscious and Black: The cumulative witnessing of racial violence for Black youth and families. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12466
Anderson, L. A., O’Brien Caughy, M., & Owen, M. T. (2022). “The talk” and parenting while Black in America: Centering race, resistance, and refuge. Journal of Black Psychology, 48(3-4), 475-506. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984211034294
Contreras, M. M., Osborne, K. R., Walsdorf, A. A., Anderson, L. A., Caughy, M. O. B., & Owen, M. T. (2021). Holding both truths: Early dynamics of ethnic‐racial socialization and children’s behavior adjustment in African American and Latinx families. Journal of Social Issues, 77(4), 987-1013. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12496
Anderson, L. A. (2019). Rethinking resilience theory in African American families: Fostering positive adaptations and transformative social justice. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 11(3), 385-397. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12343
