Fatima A. Varner

Fatima a. Varner, ph.D.
Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Dealy 332 441 East Fordham Road Bronx, NY 10458-9993 Phone: 718-817-3480 Fax: 718-817-3785 Email: fvarner@fordham.edu	Office Hours: Mondays & Thursdays 2:30-3:30pm and by appointment Curriculum Vitae

Education	Top
2004 B.A. in Psychology, North Carolina State University 2010 Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University

Major Research Interests	Top
Influence of parenting on ethnic minority adolescents’ academic achievement and mental health Contextual influences on mothers’ mental health and parenting Gender and ethnic achievement disparities

Projects	Top
Racial Discrimination Concerns and African American Mothers’ Parenting Practices (PI; funded by Fordham University)

Courses	Top
PSYC 1200 Foundations of Psychology Multicultural Issues in Education

Further Professional Expertise/Experience/Tasks	Top
2010-2012 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context, University of Michigan

Cooperations	Top
Dr. Sheretta Butler-Barnes, University of Washington at St Louis, St Louis, MO Dr. Noelle Hurd, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Dr. Jelani Mandara, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL Dr. Stephanie Rowley, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Selected Publications

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Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2012). Discrimination concerns and expectations as explanations of gendered socialization in African American families. Child Development. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12021
Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2009). Marital transitions and changes in African American mothers’ depressive symptoms: The buffering role of financial resources. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 839 - 847.
Destin, M., Richman, S., Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2012). “Feeling” hierarchy: The pathway from subjective social status to achievement. Journal of Adolescence, doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.06.006
Hurd, N., Varner, F., & Rowley, S. (2012). Promoting developmental competencies and well-being among black youth: caregiver and natural mentor contributions. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. doi: 10.1007/s10964-012-9819-y *first and second authors made equal contributions to manuscript
Mandara, J., Moore, I., Richman, S., & Varner, F. A. (2012). Where should African American parents send their children? Disentangling schools’ racial compositions from their financial resources. In D. T. Slaughter-Defoe, H. C. Stevenson, E. G. Arrington, D. J. Johnson (Eds.) , Black educational choice: Assessing the private and public alternatives to traditional K–12 public schools (pp. 255-267). Santa Barbara, CA US: Praeger/ABC-CLIO.
Mandara, J., Murray, C. B., Telesford, J. M., Varner, F. A., & Richman, S. B. (2012). Observed gender differences in African American mother-child relationships and child behavior. Family Relations, 61, 129 - 141.
Rowley, S. J., Varner, F., Ross, L. L., Williams, A. D., & Banerjee, M. (2012). Toward a model of racial identity and parenting in African Americans. In J. M. Sullivan, A. M. Esmail (Eds.) , African American identity: Racial and cultural dimensions of the Black experience (pp. 273-288). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield.
Mandara, J., Varner, F, & Richman, S. (2010). Do African American mothers really “love” their sons and “raise” their daughters? Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 41-50.
Mandara, J., Varner, F., Greene, N., & Richman, S. (2009). Intergenerational family predictors of the Black-White achievement gap. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 867 - 878.
Mandara, J., Johnston, J.S., Murray, C.B., & Varner, F. (2008). Marriage, money and African American mothers' self-esteem. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 1188 - 1199.

Selected Presentations

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Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2012, July). Gender-differentiated parenting of African-American adolescents as an explanation for gender differences in achievement. In J. Mesman (Chair) Parenting Boys and Girls: What’s the Difference? Paper Symposium presented at the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development 2012 Biennial Meeting, Edmonton, Canada.
Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2012, March). Paternal and maternal contributions to gender differences in academic achievement among African American adolescents. In L. Ross (Chair) Parenting, Gender, and Academic Outcomes in African American Adolescents. Paper Symposium presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Adolescence, Vancouver, Canada.
Varner, F. (2011, July). The role of parental self-efficacy in the relationship between school context and mental health. Poster presented at Family Research Consortium V Summer Institute 2011: Mental Health and Substance Use: Risks, Prevention, Treatment and Policies, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Varner, F. (2011, April). Discrimination concerns and expectations as mediators of differential socialization in African American families. In S. Richman (Chair) Social Contextual Influences on African American Parenting Behavior. Paper symposium presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Canada.
Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2009, August). The influence of marital status on African American mothers’ depression. Presentation at the American Psychological Association Convention, Toronto, Canada.
Varner, F., & Mandara, J. (2009, April). Family predictors of the Black-White achievement gap. In F. Varner (Chair) Predictors of the Black-White Achievement Gap Across Different Contexts. Paper symposium presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.