• Overview
• Curriculum & Instruction
• Educational Leadership & Policy Studies
• Educational Psychology
• Special Education
• Teacher Education
• Cross-Disciplinary Studies
• Undergraduate Studies

Karin Frey Research Associate Professor, Educational Psychology 322 Miller Hall karinf@u.washington.edu

Education Publications Curriculum Vitae

My research examines peer interaction and competence motivation. The links between these areas are easily discerned during observations of children’s conversations with peers during independent work times. Children’s comments help identify issues important to them and suggest how they reconcile their desire for social harmony with their desire to “look good” compared to classmates.

These links are also visible in research on bullying. Chronically victimized children show declines in academic performance and graduation rates. I led the development and evaluation of the only anti-bullying program to show objective reductions in playground bullying, as evidenced by real-time observations of 540 students in a randomized control trial.

Self-regulatory processes provide one of the links between social and academic competence. We are currently evaluating the influence of three aspects of self-regulation; behavior inhibition, emotion regulation, and resilience following failure; with a sample of low-income preschool children.

In previous work with younger children, we found that children of mothers who suffered from postpartum depression showed atypical patterns of frontal lobe activity, and problems with self-regulation.

Education

Ph.D., Washington, 1978

Publications

Frey, K.S., Hirschstein, M.K., Snell, J., Edstrom, L.V., Mackenzie, E., et al. (2005). Reducing playground bullying and supporting beliefs: An experimental trial of Steps to Respect program. Developmental Psychology, 41, 479-491.

Frey, K.S., Nolen, S.B., VanSchoiack-Edstrom, L., & Hirschstein, M.K. (2005). Evaluating a school-based social competence program: Linking behavior, goals and beliefs. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 171-200.

Altermatt, E.R., Pomerantz, E.M., Ruble, D.N., Frey, K.S., & Greulich, F.K. (2002). Predicting changes in children's self-perceptions of academic competence: A naturalistic examination of evaluative discourse among classmates. Developmental Psychology, 38, 903-917.

Dawson, G., Frey, K.S., Self, J., Pangiotides, H., Hessl, D., et al. (1999). Frontal brain activity in infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers: Relations to variations in infant behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 589-605.

Elias, M.J., Weissberg, R.P., Zins, J.E., Frey, K.S., Greenberg, M.T.,  et al. (1997). Promoting social-emotional learning: Guidelines for educators. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.