Faculty
Scott
D. Gest
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1995
Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Contact Information
S110 Henderson Building
Phone:
814-865-3464
Fax: 814-863-6207
http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/hdfs/faculty/gest.html
Research Interests
Links between reading skills and social competence in elementary school; early reading tutoring as a preventive intervention; impact of peer reputation and peer affiliation patterns; middle school transition; longitudinal study of patterns of risk and adaptation from childhood to adulthood
His research focuses on the transactional associations between children's academic skills and their social, behavioral and emotional adjustment in school. Specifically, he is interested in how experiences with peers affect achievement and behavioral patterns, and in how academic success or failure affects peer experiences, behavior patterns and emotional adjustment. In addressing these issues, he has studied several different methods for assessing peer reputation and identifying the salient peers in a child’s classroom or grade, and has explored how interventions designed to promote literacy and academic skills may have indirect effects on social, emotional and behavioral adjustment.
Examples of Current Prevention Projects
Head
Start (Head Start REDI––Research-based, Developmentally
Informed)
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Start Date: 2003
This project will evaluate the impact of infusing current Head
Start programs with social-emotional support curricula (Preschool
PATHS) and language and emergent literacy skill support curricula.
A randomized trial will examine the impact on child school readiness
at the end of Head Start and on adjustment and achievement in
kindergarten and first grade.
Reading Skills and Risk for Psychopathology
National Institute of Mental Health
Start Date: 2003
In this project Gest is conducting longitudinal analyses of reciprocal relations between reading skills and several domains of social-psychological functioning from Grade 1 to Grade 4 (e.g., depression, shy-withdrawn, authority acceptance, concentration problems). The project also involves a secondary analysis of control group data from the Baltimore Prevention Project. In 2004 he began working with Frank Lawrence (HDFS) to analyze data from the Baltimore Prevention Project with the goal of clarifying how reading skill development from grades 1 to 4 is related to the development of depressive symptoms, shy behavior and externalizing behavior problems.
Middle School Transition Project
Start Date: 2001
Janet Welsh (PSU Prevention Research Center) and Gest initiated a longitudinal study of 426 children in grades 3, 4 and 5. They gather twice-yearly assessments (teacher, self and peer reports) to clarify social-contextual influences on children's school motivation and achievement. Articles have focused on methods for identifying the important peers in a child’s social world, the impact of peer academic reputations on academic self-concept and performance, and predictors of change in feelings of social relatedness and engagement in schooling.
Conference organizer, Applications of Social Network Analysis to the Prevention of Substance Use & Delinquency
Friday, November 11, 2005
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park Campus
Manuscripts Under Review
- Gest, S. D., Sesma, A., Masten, A. S., & Tellegen, A. Peer reputation in middle childhood and adaptation 10 years later: The predictive utility of narrow-band scales for the Revised Class Play. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
- Gest, S. D., Masten, A. S., Farmer, T. W., & Xie, H. Academic difficulties, aggressive-disruptive behavior and low socioeconomic status as risks for school dropout: Findings from two prospective longitudinal studies. Journal of School Psychology.
- Gest, S. D., Coviello, R. H., & Welsh, J. A., Eicher-Catt, D., & Gill, S. Language development sub-contexts in Head Start classrooms: Varying cognitive challenges in free play, mealtime and bookreading contexts. Early Education & Development.
- Gest, S. D., Rulison, K. L., Davidson, A., J., Welsh, J. A., & Domitrovich, C. E. Children’s academic reputations among peers: Longitudinal associations with academic self-concept, effort and performance. Developmental Psychology.
- Gest, S. D., Moody, J., & Rulison, K. L. Describing adolescent peer groups: Effects of type of peer network data and method of group identification. Journal of Social Structure.
- Gest, S. D., Rulison, K. L., Welsh, J. A. Friendship, interaction frequency and group membership as contributors to peer similarity and influence. Social Development.
Recent Publications
Gest, S. D., Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Hartup, W. W. (2001). Peer experience: Common and unique features of friendships, network centrality and sociometric status. Social Development, 10, 23-40.
Gest, S. D., Farmer, T. F., Cairns, B. D., & Xie, H. (2003). Identifying children’s peer social networks in school classrooms. Links between peer reports and observed interactions. Social Development, 12, 513-529.
Gest, S. D., Freeman, N. R., Domitrovich, C. E., & Welsh, J. A. (2004). Parental discipline style as a moderator of the association between shared book reading and language comprehension skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 319-336.
Gest, S. D., & Gest, J. M. (2005). Reading tutoring for students at academic and behavioral risk: Effects of time-on-task in the classroom. Education & Treatment of Children, 28, 1-22.
Gest, S. D. (in press). Teacher reports of children’s friendships and social groups: Agreement with peer reports and implications for studying peer similarity. Social Development.