Dr. Jennifer E. Lansford is the S. Malcolm Gillis Distinguished Research Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University. She is a developmental psychologist whose international research has been ground-breaking in demonstrating how culture and family-level factors interact to influence human development. Her research informs scientific understanding of the etiology of health-compromising and risky behaviors from childhood to adulthood and is used to promote child wellbeing worldwide. Dr. Lansford leads the Parenting Across Cultures Project, a longitudinal study of children, mothers, and fathers from nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States).
She has consulted for UNICEF on the evaluation of parenting programs in several countries and on the development of a set of international standards for parenting programs. She is currently Editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, President‐Elect of the Society for Research in Child Development, and Chair of the U.S. National Committee for Psychological Science of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.