College of Education and Human Development

Institute of Child Development

Ann Masten

  • Regents Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor

Ann Masten

Areas of interest

Multisystem resilience; risk and protective processes in children and families in the context of poverty, homelessness, war, and disaster; competence and cascades; developmental psychopathology

Degrees

PhD, 1982, University of Minnesota

Biography

Lab

Project Competence Research on Risk and Resilience - lab site currently being revised

Research

I study risk and resilience in development with a focus on multisystem processes leading to positive adaptation and outcomes in children and families whose lives are threatened by adversity. The goal of my work is inform science, practice, and policy seeking to understand and promote human adaptation and resilience.

I direct the Project Competence Research on Risk and Resilience (PCR3), including studies of normative populations and high-risk young people exposed to homelessness, poverty, war, natural disasters, and migration. Our work, which has a long history of collaboration with community and faculty partners, is multi-systemic and multi-disciplinary.

Our recent research in Minnesota has focused on school success in homeless and other disadvantaged mobile children, with a focus on malleable protective processes, including parenting, self-regulation skills, and housing. Our work includes basic and translational studies aimed at understanding resilience processes and strategies to promote success in disadvantaged children and families. We have analyzed large-scale administrative data sets and conducted intensive studies of families currently experiencing homelessness. In collaboration with colleagues Andy Barnes, Daniel Berry, Stephanie Carlson, Philip Zelazo, and other partners, we have studied self-regulation, parenting, and sleep as strategic targets for assessment and preventive interventions. I also led a Grand Challenge project, the Homework Starts with Home Research Partnership, in collaboration with university faculty, students, and centers, working with State partners from Minnesota Housing and the Minnesota Department of Education, and community programs aiming to end student homelessness. We integrated statewide administrative data to provide evidence to guide policy and practice.

At the national and international level, I work with colleagues in multiple disciplines to understand adaptation and development, particularly in relation to migration, disasters, and war. I collaborate with Professor Frosso Motti-Stefanidi on the Athena Studies of Resilient Adaptation (AStRA) that have focused on acculturation and development in immigrant youth in Greece.

I am keenly interested in the integration of resilience theory and findings across disciplines and scale because it is crucial for efforts to address global issues of potentially catastrophic magnitude. Integrated approaches are essential for preparedness and recovery in major disasters, pandemics, terrorism and war, and also for building resilience capacity in children, families, and societies around the world.

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered regularly on Coursera (free)

Resilience in Children Exposed to Trauma, Disaster and War: Global Perspectives

See a preview of this course.

Advising expectations and availability

Please note that Dr. Masten is phasing into retirement and therefore no longer serving as an advisor to new PhD students.

Publications

Books

Masten, A. S. (2025). Ordinary magic: Resilience in Development (Second edition). Guilford Press.

Ellis, B. J., Abrams, L. S., Masten, A. S., Sternberg, R. J., Tottenham, N., & Frankenhuis, W. E. (2023). The hidden talents framework: Implications for science, policy, and practice. Cambridge Elements: Applied Evolutionary Science. 

Journal Articles

**Current and *former University of Minnesota students

Masten, A. S. (2024). Emergence and evolution of developmental resilience science over half a century. Development and Psychopathology, 36(5), 2542-2550.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424000154

*Distefano, R., **Nelson, K. M., *Palmer, A. R., Masten, A. S., & Carlson, S. M. (2024). The role of parenting in autonomy and executive function development among young children experiencing homelessness. Children and Youth Services Review, 166, 107997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107997

*Palmer, A. R., *Kalstabakken, A. W., *Distefano, R., Carlson, S. M., & Putnam, S. P. (2024). A short executive functioning questionnaire in the context of early childhood screening. Child Neuropsychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2024.2329435

*Gillespie, S., *Shiner, R., Masten, A. S., & Motti-Stefanidi, F. (2024). Personality development in immigrant and non-immigrant youth: Disruption or maturation? European Journal of Personality, 28(1), 53-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221127386

Sanson, A., & Masten, A. S. (2024). Climate change and resilience: Developmental science perspectives. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 48(2), 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254231186332

Masten, A. S., Cicchetti, D., & *Tyrell, F.A. (Eds.) (2023). Resilience in development: Pathways to multisystem integration. Development and Psychopathology, 35, 2110-2112. [Editorial for special issue] https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423001293

*Distefano, R., *Palmer, A. R., *Kalstabakken, A. W., Hillyer, C. K., & Seiwert, M. J., Zelazo, P. D., Carlson, S. M., & Masten, A. S. (2023). Predictive validity of the NIH Toolbox executive function measures with developmental extensions from early childhood to third grade achievement. Developmental Neuropsychology, 48(8), 373-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2023.2286353

Prime, H., Walsh, F., & Masten, A. S. (2023). Building family resilience in the wake of a global pandemic. Canadian Psychology, 64(3), 200-211. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000366

*Labella, M. L., *Distefano, R., Merrick, J., S., *Ramakrishnan, J. L., *Thibodeau, E. L.,, & Masten, A. S. (2023). Parental affect profiles predict child emotion regulation and classroom adjustment in families experiencing homelessness. Social Development.  https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12667

**Stallworthy, I. C., & Masten, A. S. (2023). Advancing research on early autism through an integrated risk and resilience perspective. Development and Psychopathology, 35(1), 44-61. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421001437

*Palmer, A. R., Piescher, K., Berry, D., Dupuis, D., Hanratty, M., Heinz-Amborn, B., & Masten, A. S. (2023). Homelessness and child protection involvement: Temporal links and risks to student attendance and school mobility. Child Abuse & Neglect, 135, 105972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105972

*Tyrell, F. A., **Lucke, C. M., **Nelson, K. M., & Masten, A. S. (2023). Parent’s ethnic-racial socialization practices in families with young children experiencing homelessness. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62, 76-88.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.07.018

Chapters

Masten, A. S, *Narayan, A. J., & Wright, M. O’D. (2023). Resilience processes in development: Multisystem integration emerging from four waves of research. In S. Goldstein & R. B. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children (3rd ed., pp.19-46). Springer Nature.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14728-9_2

*Tyrell, F., & Masten, A. S. (2023). Resilience and coping in development: Pathways to integration. In E. A. Skinner & M. J. Zimmer-Gembeck (Eds.), Handbook on the development of coping. Cambridge University Press.

Masten, A. S., **Nelson, K. M., & **Gillespie, S. (2022). Resilience and student engagement: Promotive and protective processes in schools. In S. L., Christenson, & A. L. Reschley (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 239-255). Springer.