Bio

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Ph.D. will join the Stanford faculty in Fall 2026 as a Professor of Adolescent Development in the Graduate School of Education. In her work, Dr. Umaña-Taylor seeks to apply developmental science in a manner that reduces disparities in psychological and academic adjustment and, in turn, promotes social justice. Her research is guided by socio-cultural ecological theories of development, developmental prevention science, and risk and resilience frameworks. She has collaborated with school districts and community organizations for over two decades to design and implement longitudinal, school- and community-based studies to better understand the experiences of adolescents and their families. Dr. Umaña-Taylor developed the Identity Project, a school-based curriculum that engages adolescents in the developmental process of ethnic-racial identity formation. Her recent studies test the efficacy and effectiveness of the Identity Project; explore strategies to better prepare educators to engage in conversations about race, ethnicity, and identity with students; examine the role of peer relationships in adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity development; and explore the universality of ethnic-racial-cultural identity as a developmental competency among adolescents in North America, Europe, and the Global South to support building a more global developmental science.

Academic Appointments

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • President Elect, Society for Research on Adolescence (2026 - Present)
  • Fellow, American Psychological Association, Division 7: Developmental Psychology (2025 - Present)
  • Fellow, American Psychological Association, Division 45: Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (2018 - Present)
  • Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (2018 - Present)
  • Fellow, National Council on Family Relations (2017 - Present)

Additional Info

Links

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Ethnic-racial discrimination, identity, and out-group contact in context: A systematic review of daily process studies. Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology Sladek, M. R., Martinez-Fuentes, S., Wantchekon, K. A., Aguilar, G., Umaña-Taylor, A. J. 2025

    Abstract

    Understanding how ethnicity and race shape individuals' everyday experiences in context is critical for advancing scientific rigor and addressing ethnic-racial inequities. Daily process studies (e.g., experience-sampling method, ecological momentary assessment, daily diary methods) offer unique utility for studying ethnic-racial discrimination (ERD), ethnic-racial identity, and ethnic-racial out-group contact. The goals of this systematic review were to (a) summarize novel contributions of research using daily process designs to understand these ethnic-racial-related processes in everyday life, and (b) inform avenues for future research directions using daily process approaches to understand everyday ethnic-racial experiences and their implications for health and well-being.We identified a total of 97 studies from 77 unique study samples that used daily process approaches to measure ERD (52 studies), ethnic-racial identity (33 studies), and ethnic-racial out-group contact (22 studies).Novel contributions of daily process studies include enhancing external validity by centering individuals' everyday experiences as they go about typical life routines; using time-lagged approaches to test directionality of effects; and identifying within-person variability as a function of social context, individual differences, and time interval.Our recommendations for advancing integrative daily process studies of ethnic-racial experiences and identity are to include measures of multiple ethnic-racial-related constructs to understand their interrelations and interactions and broaden the representation of study samples in this research (e.g., ethnic-racial backgrounds, developmental periods, regional contexts). Despite limitations (e.g., missing data), daily process approaches offer considerable promise for advancing research on the dynamics and consequences of ERD, identity, and out-group contact in context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

    View details for DOI 10.1037/cdp0000735

    View details for PubMedID 39836147

  • Ethnic-Racial Identity, Discrimination Experiences, and Academic Adjustment among Colombian Adolescents COMPARATIVE EDUCATION REVIEW Aguilar, G., Wantchekon, K. A., Sladek, M. R., Mcdermott, E. R., Castrillon, S., Tirado, L., Vega, L., Safa, M., Umana-Taylor, A. J. 2024

    View details for DOI 10.1086/733483

    View details for Web of Science ID 001393561900001

  • The Challenges of Engaging in Conversations and Activities Focused on Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in the Classroom: Learning from U.S. Based Teachers IDENTITY-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY AND RESEARCH Satterthwaite-Freiman, M., Wantchekon, K. A., Aguilar, G., Sladek, M. R., Ison, A., Mason, P., Soto-Shed, E., Umana-Taylor, A. J. 2024

    View details for DOI 10.1080/15283488.2024.2340489

    View details for Web of Science ID 001229064700001

  • Implications of Mexican-Origin Youth's Work Experiences for Relationships With Fathers CULTURAL DIVERSITY & ETHNIC MINORITY PSYCHOLOGY Sun, X., McHale, S. M., Updegraff, K. A., Umana-Taylor, A. J. 2021; 27 (4): 796-807

    Abstract

    To illuminate family implications of youth's work, we examined longitudinal links between the work experiences of Mexican-origin youth in late adolescence and young adulthood and father-youth relationships.Using data from 187 Mexican-origin youth and their employed fathers, we tested youth's (52.4% female; Mage = 19.64, SD = 1.78) work hours and workplace discrimination as predictors of paternal acceptance two years later (Time 1 paternal acceptance controlled), and tested moderation by youth gender and maternal employment.Multivariate multilevel models revealed a curvilinear association between youth workplace discrimination and father-reported acceptance. Moderation effects of youth gender and mother employment in linear links between youth work experiences and youth-reported acceptance also emerged. Work hours were stronger negative predictors of paternal acceptance for sons than daughters and youth with employed compared to nonemployed mothers. Workplace discrimination was a positive predictor of paternal acceptance of daughters but not sons.Findings highlight complex patterns in links between youth's work and family relationships, an understudied area. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

    View details for DOI 10.1037/cdp0000468

    View details for Web of Science ID 000706035300022

    View details for PubMedID 34279978

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8497418

  • Implications of COVID-19 school closures for sibling dynamics among U.S. Latinx children: A prospective, daily diary study. Developmental psychology Sun, X., Updegraff, K. A., McHale, S. M., Hochgraf, A. K., Gallagher, A. M., Umana-Taylor, A. J. 2021; 57 (10): 1708-1718

    Abstract

    This study aimed to illuminate the implications of COVID-19 school closures for sibling dynamics among Latinx school-age children in the U.S. and to examine family and cultural factors that may have conditioned school closure effects. Data came from an ongoing study of Latinx families in Arizona that collected home visit and survey data prepandemic (fall 2019; T1) and daily diary data during the outbreak (February to May 2020; T2). The analyses focused on 215 Latinx children (47% female; Mage = 9.72, SD = 1.22; 88% Mexican-origin) from 116 families (T1 family income median = $27,600, SD = $24,421). Multilevel tobit regression models were estimated to examine associations linking both T2 school closure and number of days since school closure with daily sibling positivity and negativity. The models also tested moderation effects of T1 family socioeconomic status, sibship size, child enculturation, and prior sibling positivity and negativity on these associations. Results showed that, although main effects of school closure on sibling dynamics were nonsignificant, school closure was linked to more sibling positivity in families with more children and among more enculturated children, and days since school closure was linked to more sibling positivity in families with more children and to lower sibling negativity among those with less prepandemic sibling negativity. Findings highlight differentiated effects of COVID-19 school closures on sibling dynamics among Latinx children whose families have been disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, illuminate the role of Latinx family cultural strengths, and have implications for intervention programs and public policies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

    View details for DOI 10.1037/dev0001196

    View details for PubMedID 34807691

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8618-0115