Janet Kistner
Education
State University of New York at Binghampton, 1981
Research Interests
Developmental psychopathology; children's responses to stress and failure; problematic social interactions of children; learning and behavior problems of children.
Current Research
Ongoing studies investigate developmental processes in samples of typically developing children as well as in groups of children at risk for psychopathology. I am particularly interested in studying the emergence and developmental course of psychopathology among children who have a history of repeated failures in academic and social domains. My students and I investigate the role children's self-perceptions and related cognitions (e.g., causal attributions, coping styles) play in exacerbating or mitigating risk for psychopathology. For example, my students and I are currently conducting studies of overly positive self-perceptions and the development of aggression, ruminative response styles and children's risk for depression, and the impact of helpless responses to challenge on children's academic and social adjustment.
Kistner, J.A., Counts-Allan, C., Dunkel, S., Drew, C.H., David-Ferdon, C., & Lopez, C. (2010). Sex differences in relational and overt aggression in the late elementary school years. Aggressive Behavior, 36, 282-291.
Dunkel, S., Ferdon, C.F., & Kistner, J.A. (2010). Unraveling the source of African American children's positively biased perceptions of peer acceptance. Social Development, 19, 556-576.
Kemper, T.S., & Kistner, J.A. (2010). An evaluation of classification criteria for juvenile sex offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 22, 172-190.
Lopez, C., Driscoll, K., & Kistner, J.A. (2009). Sex differences and response styles: Subtypes of rumination and associations with depressive symptoms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 38, 27-35.
Driscoll, K., Lopez, C., & Kistner, J.A. (2009). A diathesis-stress test of response styles theory in children. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28, 1050-1070.
Kistner, J. (2009). Sex differences and child psychopathology: Introduction to special section. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 38, 453-459.
Kistner, J.A., David, C.F., & Repper, K. (2007). Self-enhancement of peer acceptance: Implications for children’s self-worth and interpersonal functioning. Social Development, 16, 24-44.
Kistner, J.A., David, C.F., Repper, K., & Joiner, T.E. (2006). Bias and accuracy of children’s: Perceptions of peer acceptance: Prospective associations with depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 349-361.