Linda Lee

Associate Professor

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Contact Information

• Office: 47-21Q
• Phone: (805) 756-6131
• Email: llee10@calpoly.edu
• Full Vita (pdf)

Education

• Ph.D., Psychological Studies in Education, University of California, Los Angeles
• M.A., Risk and Prevention, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge
• B.A., Psychology (Minor: Applied Developmental Psychology), University of California, Los Angeles

Courses Taught

• CD 131 Observing and Interacting with Children
• CD 305 Childhood Development
• CD 424 Children’s Learning in Families and Communities

Research Interests

My substantive research interests are in the areas of preschool children’s peer relations and social competence in culturally and ethnically diverse preschools.  In regards to peer relations, I am particularly interested in the developmental significance of young children’s friendships and their “popularity” status among peers in their school.  As for social competence, I am particularly interested in the structural complexity and emotional tone of young children’s social pretend play with peers. My second stream of research interests concentrates on implications of issues related to immigration on young children’s social development.  My research is couched within ecological (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) and sociocultural (Rogoff, 2002) perspectives and focuses on the multiple social contexts within which peer relations are nested.

Selected Publications/Professional Activities

• Lee, L., Howes, C., & Chamberlain, B. (2007). Ethnic heterogeneity of social networks and cross-ethnic friendships of elementary school boys and girls. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 53, 325-346.
• Howes, C., Wishard, A., Fuligni, A., Zucker, E., Lee, L., Obregon, N., & Spivak, A. (in press). Classroom dimensions predict early peer interaction when children are diverse in ethnicity, race, and home language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
• Howes, C., & Lee, L. (2007). If you're not like me can we play? Peer groups in preschool. In B. Spodek & O. Saracho (Eds.), Social learning in early childhood education (pp. 49-82). NC: Information Age Publishing.
• Howes, C., & Lee, L. (2006).  Peer relations in young children. In L. Balter, & C. Tamis LeMonda (Eds.), Child Psychology: A Handbook of Contemporary Issues (second ed., Vol. 2, pp.135-152). NYC: Taylor & Francis.
• Howes, C., Sanders, K., & Lee, L. (2008). Entering a new peer group in ethnically and linguistically diverse child care classrooms. Social Development, 17(4), 922-940.