Home=>Staff=>Laura Ferrer-Wreder

Laura Ferrer-Wreder

Ph.D., Associate Professor


Short presentation

Laura Ferrer-Wreder is a developmental psychologist. She earned her Bachelor's degree at Barry University, a Ph.D. in Life Span Developmental Psychology at Florida International University (1998). Her undergraduate and graduate studies were supported by National Institutes of Health (MARC) training grants. As a post-doc, she received a U.S. National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship (Örebro University, Sweden).

Dr. Ferrer-Wreder is presently an Associate Editor for the Journal: Child & Youth Care Forum and an Assistant Editor for the: Journal of Adolescence. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Society for the Study of Human Development, a member of the board of directors for the European Society for Prevention Research, and a member of Society for Research on Identity Formation's program and membership committees.

Dr. Ferrer-Wreder has published widely including an authored book on the prevention and positive youth development field. She has been involved as an evaluator on three large scale and competitively funded research grants in the United States (i.e., Safe Schools/Healthy Students, Project Possible; approximate total budgets of these three projects was US$15 million).

Her current research interests and/or areas of specialization include: Applied developmental science; positive youth development; and prevention science; child, adolescent, and emerging adult development; self and identity development; the design, implementation, and evaluation of school and community supported positive youth development and prevention interventions; the sustainability of intervention outcomes; and university - community alliances.

More information on Dr. Ferrer-Wreder's current research.

Research interests

I was trained as a life span developmental psychologist and have conducted applied and basic research studies in several developmental periods including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. My current research interests are grounded in the traditions of applied developmental science and intervention science. I have a long standing commitment to institutions charged with the education and well being of young people (e.g., schools and youth service organizations).

I also have a history of active outreach research through several research projects including Safe Schools and Healthy Students (SSHS) initiatives in Pennsylvania and Miami. Briefly stated, SSHS initiatives work throughout school districts with programming designed to make beneficial change in the areas of: early child socio-emotional development, drug and violence prevention/intervention, child mental health promotion, and systems change within schools as well as between schools, parents, and other members of the community. My current research interests in this area have to do with the science and policy surrounding the sustainability of intervention benefits over time as well as promoting university - community alliances.

More generally, I am interested in crossing boundaries in the study of human development whether theoretical or methodological. For example, I have authored publications and conducted research that integrates the positive youth development and problem behavior literatures, particularly in terms of self and identity development. Future directions for my research involve scholarly and practical contributions to applied developmental science and the positive youth development field, as well as the exploration of how culture relates to intervention effectiveness.

Recent selected publications

Ferrer-Wreder, L., & Jaccard, J. (in press). Considerations in data preparation for intervention trials: Outlier and normality analysis. K. Sundell & M. Forster (Eds.), Impact evaluation. Stockholm: The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Chapter to appear in Swedish.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., Montgomery, M. J., Lorente, C. C., & Habibi, M. (in press). Promoting optimal identity development in adolescents. In T. Gullotta & M. Bloom (Series Ed.), The encyclopedia of primary prevention and health promotion: Adolescent Volume (2nd edition). New York: Springer.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., & Sundell, K. (in press). Evaluating imported evidence-based interventions. K. Sundell & M. Forster (Eds.), Impact evaluation. Stockholm: The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Chapter to appear in Swedish.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., Sundell, K., & Mansoory, S. (in press). Tinkering with perfection: Theory development in the intervention cultural adaptation field. Child and Youth Care Forum.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., Saint-Eloi Cadely, H., Domitrovich, C., Small, M., Caldwell, L. L., & Cleveland, M. J. (2010). Is more better? Outcome and dose of a universal drug prevention effectiveness trial. Journal of Primary Prevention, 31, 349-363.

Grahame, K. M., Grahame, P. R., Ferrer-Wreder, L., Coatsworth, J. D., Meister, D., Poyrazli, S., & Forthun, L. (2008). Left behind? Charter school reform and the education of minority children. Education and Society, 26(1), 95-105.

Kurtines, W.M., Ferrer-Wreder, L., Berman, S. L., Lorente, C. C., Briones, E., Montgomery, M.J., Albrecht, R., Garcia, A., & Arrufat, O. (2008). Promoting positive youth development - The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP). Journal of Adolescent Research, 23(3), 256-267.

Montgomery, M.J., Hernandez, L., & Ferrer-Wreder, L. (2008). Identity development and intervention studies: The right time for a marriage? Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 8(2), 173-182.

Coatsworth, J. D., Palen, L-A., Sharp, E. H., & Ferrer-Wreder, L. (2006). Self-defining activities, expressive identity, and adolescent wellness. Applied Developmental Science, 10(3), 157-170.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., Stattin, H., Lorente, C. C., Tubman, J. G., & Adamson, L. (2005). Framgångsrika preventions-program för barn och unga: En forskningsoversikt. Stockholm: Gothia.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., Stattin, H., Lorente, C. C., Tubman, J., & Adamson, L. (2004). Successful prevention and youth development programs: Across borders. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.

Recent selected conference presentations

I have presented on 51 occasions at professional research conferences (with peer review), below are a selection of recent presentations.

Ferrer-Wreder, L. & Sundell, K. (2011/April). Cultural adaptation of imported school-based interventions. Invited symposium presented at Happy School - School Engagement and School Transitions -Seminar, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Helsinki, Finland.

Mansoory, S., Ferrer-Wreder, L., & Lorente, C. C. (2011/February). Global identity: Expanding human capacity in identity theory. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Identity Formation, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Montgomery, M. J., Lorente, C. C., Stephens, D., Ferrer-Wreder, L., & Habibi, M. (2011/February). Interventions supporting identity development: Where are we now? Interactive Symposium presented at the Society for Research on Identity Formation, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Ocen, M. & Ferrer-Wreder, L. (June/2010). Racial identity profiles, Afrocentricity, and dating among African American adults. Poster presented at the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, Division 45 American Psychological Association. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Moore, J. E., Cleveland, M. J., Domitrovich, C. E., Small, M., & Ferrer-Wreder, L. (2010/June). Profiles of delinquent behavior across middle and high school. Poster presented at the Society for Prevention Research, Denver, Colorado.

Ferrer-Wreder, L., Major-Sanabria, M., Shine, A., & Tubman, J. G. (2010/May). The diversity of sexually active teens: Urban, American adolescents' sexual debut in the context of individual and relationship based risk and protection factors. Symposium presented at the European Association for Research on Adolescence, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Garcia, S.A., Ferrer-Wreder, L., & Gonzalez, J. (2009/February). Identity and aggression in emergent adults. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Identity Formation, Asilomar, CA.

Ocen, M., Ferrer-Wreder, L., & Lago, K.M. (2009/February). Racial identity, Afrocentric worldview, and dating preferences and behaviors of individuals of African descent. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Identity Formation, Asilomar, CA.

Review commissions

Since September 2008, I have been an Associate Editor for the journal “Child & Youth Care Forum: An International Journal of Research and Practice in Children's Services”.

More recently, I became an Assistant Editor of the Journal of Adolescence, served as the Review Panel Chair on Identity, Self & Personality (Panel #12) for the Society for Research on Adolescence's research conference, and am a member of the CKVO Committee (Centrum för kompetensutveckling inom vård och omsorg, CKVO).

In April 2008, I was a guest co-editor of a special issue on Identity and Interventions in the journal “Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research”.

I will be a guest co-editor of the special Issue on Intervention Effectiveness Research in the journal Child & Youth Care Forum. The expected publication date for this special issue is in Winter 2012.

I have submitted an average of two to three reviews per year over the last eight years. The journals that I have reviewed for include the following:


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