Bridging Racial, Economic, and Intersectional Equity Gaps in Developmental and Educational Psychology: The Key Roles of Caregivers and Early Childhood Interventions and Approaches

Disparities in developmental and educational outcomes encompassing race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, language, and disability persist in the United States and globally. Relations of power and oppression are reproduced in developmental science, as those from advantaged groups tend to be overrepresented in developmental psychology research; in ideologies of health and wellness versus pathology; and in theories, interventions, and policies that promote for healthy development. Inequities in access to resources, experiences of racism and discrimination, and socio-cultural orientation - often determined by race, class, and language - profoundly impact children’s development, health, and learning. Systemic barriers and economic factors amplify these disparities, significantly affecting caregiver well-being and influencing children’s learning opportunities, academic achievement, and physical, socio-emotional, and mental health. A comprehensive understanding of anti-racist and decolonial theories and methods should improve representation of the Global Majority in developmental science and address these persistent disparities in developmental and educational outcomes.

This Research Topic aims to highlight and address the racial, socioeconomic status, language, disability, and other/intersectional equity gaps in developmental psychology, particularly underscoring the role of caregiver and child health and well-being, spanning the prenatal period through adolescence. In particular, this Research Topic seeks to comprehensively examine research theories, methods, and evidence that are intentionally strengths- and assets-based by scrutinizing the limitations of dominant interventions, approaches, strategies, and programs that overlook and/or pathologize the family environment, socio-cultural contexts, and systemic barriers that racially, economically, and intersectionally diverse children and families negotiate.

The following subthemes outline the scope of the collection:
- Innovative, contextual strategies and policies that enhance racial equity in developmental and educational outcomes.
- Contributions focusing on the multi-systemic nature of racism, oppression, and marginalization, including racial and gender bias and class-based economic inequality related to caregiver health and well-being.
- Evaluations of early childhood education, adult-child relationships, parent-teacher partnerships, and interventions fostering equity in developmental and educational outcomes and addressing racial and gender bias.
- Assessments of the heterogeneous impacts of caregiver-, family-, and child-centered interventions based on race, class, and gender.
- Innovations that view linguistic heterogeneity from a strengths-based lens and account for intersections with race, ethnicity, class, and culture to promote linguistic justice in developmental and educational outcomes.
- Understandings of learning disabilities within the context of race and equity.
- Descriptions of critical and transformative conceptual, theoretical, and methodological frameworks in developmental and educational psychology research and praxis.

This Research Topic will significantly contribute to the development of anti-racist, decolonial, and equitable systems, policies, and programs that advance optimal developmental outcomes and educational excellence for children, from the prenatal period through adolescence, by attending to structures and processes of inequities and by amplifying the cultural wealth of intersectionally diverse families, such as their aspirations, social capital, and perseverance. Submissions may present critical and transformative conceptual and/or theoretical frameworks, analyze new data, or reanalyze older data, and/or focus on an assets-based intervention or innovating findings, with a mandatory focus on mothers/caregivers in given contexts.

Types of manuscripts that are encouraged include: Original research, Systematic review, Brief research report, Registered Report, Study Protocol, Mini Review, Policy and Practice Reviews, Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy.