James Huguley

Dr. James P. Huguley’s research focuses on school- and family-based interventions that promote positive developmental outcomes for African American youth in adverse and oppressive contexts. He is the Principal Investigator for the Just Discipline Project, a research-to-practice initiative centered on best practices in positive and school climate and restorative school discipline. He is also the Principal Investigator for Parenting While Black, a program that provides Black parents and primary caregivers with supports around utilizing best practices in racial socialization, educational involvement, and promoting positive mental health. Dr. Huguley chairs the Race and Youth Development Research Group at the Center on Race and Social Problems, and he is the middle childhood co-lead for The Pittsburgh Study at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He is also an advisory board member for the Office of Child Development at Pitt, and he is an executive board member for the Human Services Center Corporation in Greater Pittsburgh. His work is currently supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, The Heinz Endowments, the Staunton Farm Foundation, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Pitt. 

Prior to his academic career Dr. Huguley was a youth program director and middle school teacher. He received his bachelors in English and Secondary Education from Providence College, and both his master’s in Risk and Prevention and doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University.

Research Interests

• How culturally distinct socialization practices in African American families can positively impact academic and mental health outcomes
• How school-based psychosocial interventions can improve the educational and mental health outcomes of youth in underresourced urban settings

Select Funded Projects

• Principal Investigator (2016-2020), The Just Discipline Project. The Heinz Endowments.
• Co-Principal Investigator (2015-2020), Pitt Assisted Communities and Schools. The RK Mellon Foundation.
• Co-Principal Investigator (2019-2020), The Pittsburgh Study Middle Childhood Cohort. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
• Co-Principal Investigator (2016-2020), The African American Parenting Project. Spencer Foundation.
• Co-Principal Investigator (2016-2021). African American Students' Sociocultural Experiences, Motivation, Identity and Performance in Math. National Science Foundation.

Select Publications

Huguley, J.P., Wang, M.T., Pasarow, S., & Wallace, J. (in press). Just discipline in schools: an integrated and interdisciplinary approach. Children & Schools.

Huguley, J.P., Delale O’Connor, L., Wang, M.T., & Parr, A. (2020). African American parents’ educational engagement in urban schools: Racially and socially contextualized strategies for student success in adolescence. Educational Researcher. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20943199

Wang, M.T., Huguley, J.P., Henry, D., & Smith., L.V. (2020). Parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and children of color’s psychosocial and behavioral adjustment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Psychologist, 75, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000464

Huguley, J.P., Wang, M.T., Vasquez, A.C., & Guo, J. (2019). Parental ethnic–racial socialization practices and the construction of children of color’s ethnic–racial identity: A research synthesis and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 145, 437-458. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000187

Delale-O’Connor, L., Huguley, J.P., Parr, A., Wang, M.T. (2019). Racialized compensatory cultivation: Centering race in parental educational engagement and enrichment. American Educational Research Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831219890575

Anderson, R.E., Saleem, F.T., and Huguley, J.P. (2019). Choosing to see the racial stress that afflicts our Black students. Phi Delta Kappan, 101(3), 20-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721719885911

Wang, M.T., Smith, L.V., Huguley, J.P., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2019). Parental Ethnic‐Racial Socialization and Children of Color's Academic Success: A Meta‐Analytic Review. Child Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13254

Huguley, J. P., Kyere, E., & Wang, M. T. (2018). Educational Expectations in African American Families: Assessing the Importance of Immediate Performance Requirements. Race and Social Problems, 10, 158-169.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-018-9229-1

Huguley, J.P., Wang, M.T., Monahan, K., Keane, G., & Koury, A.J. (2018).  Just discipline in Greater Pittsburgh: Local challenges and promising solutions. Pittsburgh, PA: Center on Race and Social Problems. 

Kyere, E., Huguley, J.P., (2018). Exploring the process by which positive racial identity develops and influences academic performance in Black youth: Implications for social work. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2018.1555502

Huguley, J. P., & Diamond, J. B. (2014). Testing the oppositional culture explanation in desegregated schools: The impact of racial differences in academic orientations on school performance. Social Forces, 93, 747-777. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sou093

Seider, S. C., Huguley, J. P., & Novick, S. N. (2013). College students, diversity, and community service learning. Teachers College Record, 115(3), 1-44. https://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16880

Wang, M. T., & Huguley, J. P. (2012). Parental racial socialization as a moderator of the effects of racial discrimination on educational outcomes among African American adolescents. Child Development, 83, 1716-1731. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01808.x

Diamond, J. B., & Huguley, J. P. (2011). Black/White disparities in educational outcomes: Rethinking issues of race, culture, and context. In N. E. Hill, T. L. Mann, & H. E. Fitzgerald (Eds.), African American children and mental health, volume 1: Development and context (pp. 63-94). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-15094-003

Seider, S. C., & Huguley, J. P. (2009). Aspiring educators, urban teens, and conflicting perspectives on the social contract. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42, 294-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680902953235