BIO

Justin Jager received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2007. The goal of his interdisciplinary research program is to map and dissect the transformation from dependent child to independent, productive citizen. Much of his current research focuses on how historical variation in the frequency and pattern of adolescent and young adult transitions has altered life-course norms differentially across gender and race, including the normative, developmental course of substance use, union formation, and the school to work transition. Focusing more directly on the more proximal family and peer contexts, another segment of his research documents how the family and peer contexts interact with one another to inform adolescent health and well-being. Finally, out of his substantive research, which relies heavily on novel and sophisticated analytical approaches, he also developed a line of research that focuses on advancing developmental quantitative methods.