Rona Carter
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Dr. Carter examines how puberty, identity, and social context shape young people’s educational and psychological development, with a particular focus on Black girls. Her research moves beyond biological accounts of puberty to investigate how families, peers, educators, schools, and cultural narratives interpret bodily change—and how these interpretations influence identity development, belonging, school engagement, and mental health. Grounded in Black Feminist and Womanist theories, intersectionality, and the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory, her work positions puberty as both a developmental transition and an educational-equity issue.
Using mixed-method, longitudinal, experimental, and community-engaged approaches, Dr. Carter studies pubertal timing and development in relation to ethnic-racial and gender identity, teacher expectations, peer and family relationships, discrimination, adultification, sexualization, and racialized gender norms. Her Gendered Racialized Social Model of Puberty explains how the meaning and consequences of puberty are shaped by the social responses young people receive within unequal social worlds. This work also identifies sources of resistance, affirmation, joy, and culturally rooted support that promote healthy development.
Dr. Carter’s current projects translate this scholarship into educational tools and community-based programs. Double Digits is a culturally responsive, identity-centered puberty education program that helps elementary school-aged girls understand bodily changes, critically examine identity-related messages, and build supportive peer relationships. She is also developing Black Girlhood Unfolded, a participatory digital research and learning platform that centers Black girls as knowledge producers and elevates the perspectives of girls, caregivers, and educators. Her measurement work includes the Pubertal Body Experience Measure, designed to assess how children and parents understand and feel about pubertal changes.
Dr. Carter’s research has been published in Child Development, Child Development Perspectives, Developmental Psychology, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Journal of Research on Adolescence, School Psychology of Education, and Journal of Youth and Adolescence, among others.
Selected Publications
Teachers’ academic and behavioral expectations and girls’ pubertal development: Does the classroom learning environment matter?
Carter, R., Mustafaa, F., Leath, S., & Butler-Barnes, S. T. (2018). Teachers’ academic and behavioral expectations and girls’ pubertal development: Does the classroom learning environment matter? Social Psychology of Education, 1-28. doi: 10.1007/s11218-018-9450-1
Peer exclusion during the pubertal transition: The role of social competence.
Carter, R., Halawah, A., & Trinh, S. L. (2018). Peer exclusion during the pubertal transition: The role of social competence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47, 121 – doi: 10.1007/s10964-017-0682-8
Pubertal timing, racial identity, neighborhood and school context among Black adolescent females.
Seaton, E., & Carter, R. (2018). Pubertal timing, racial identity, neighborhood and school context among Black adolescent females. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24, 40 – doi: 10.1037/cdp0000162
Teachers’ expectations of girls’ classroom performance and behavior: Effects of girls’ race and pubertal timing.
Carter, R., Mustafaa, F. N., & Leath, S. (2017). Teachers’ expectations of girls’ classroom performance and behavior: Effects of girls’ race and pubertal timing. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 0272431617699947
Racial identity in the context of pubertal development: Implications for adjustment.
Carter, R., Seaton, E., & Rivas-Drake, D. (2017). Racial identity in the context of pubertal development: Implications for adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 53, 2170 – doi: 10.1037/dev0000413
Comparing associations between perceived puberty, same race- friends and -peers, and psychosocial outcomes among African American and Caribbean Black girls.
Carter, R., Leath, S., Butler-Barnes, S. T., Byrd, C. M., Chavous, T. M., Caldwell Howard, C., & Jackson, J. S. (2017). Comparing associations between perceived puberty, same race- friends and -peers, and psychosocial outcomes among African American and Caribbean Black girls. Journal of Black Psychology, 43, 836 – 862. doi: 10.1177/0095798417711024
Promoting resilience among African American girls: Racial identity as a protective factor.
Butler-Barnes, S. T., Leath, S., Williams, A., Byrd, C. M., Carter, R., & Chavous, T. M. (2017). Promoting resilience among African American girls: Racial identity as a protective factor. Child Development. doi:10.1111/cdev.12995.