Graduate Student
M.S. 2007, Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A. 2006, Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills
mnprice@wisc.edu
Area: Developmental
Advisor:
Janet Hyde
Research Interests
I am interested in studying adolescent development; specifically the sexual
development of adolescents. I am also interested in studying issues surrounding the
plight of African Americans by means of psychological, sociological, and related
forms of investigation.
I am involved in three ongoing projects at the time:
I am working with Janet Hyde on the predictors of early sexual behaviors in adolescence; sexual
behavaviors that occur at or before the age of 15. The study explores factors that may be associated
with early initiation of sexual debut among adolescents. Under an ecological, cumulative risk model,
we hypothesized that as exposure to risk factors increases, so does the likelihood of early sexual debut.
I am also working with Trish Devine and Lindsay Sharp to determine if there are qualitative disparities in the experiences of Black students
and White students here at UW. We hypothesize that although UW Madison is a purportedly liberal campus, Black students experience racial
microaggressions that have a negative empact on their total experience while attending school here.
Lastly, I am working with various professors to attempt to close the educational achievement gap between children living in poverty and
more advantaged groups. The interdisciplinary research team will investigate the relationship between early environment, cognitive and
brain functioning, and school achievement. This seed project targets one population, African American children, addressing the effects of l
anguage experience on school performance. Most of these children first learn to speak a dialect of English termed African American Vernacular
English (AAVE). The dialect used when children enter school, however, is a version of Standard American English (SAE). The two dialects differ
in substantial ways that delay young AAVE speakers’ progress in learning to read, impair comprehension of teachers and test questions, and
inhibit student-teacher interaction. We hypothesize that it is important to (a) introduce SAE features early, prior to school entry, while
the brain is maximally plastic, and (b) promote children’s ability to switch between dialects before AAVE dialect features become highly
entrenched, reducing children’s ability to learn SAE.
