James Huguley

Dr. James P. Huguley’ is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. He is also the chair of the Race and Youth Development Research Group (RaYDR) at the Center on Race and Social Problems. Dr. James P. Huguley’s research focuses on school- and family-based interventions that promote positive academic and mental health outcomes for African American youth. Dr. Huguley is the Principal Investigator for the Just Discipline Project, an initiative that aims to curb the use of punitive discipline in schools. He is also the Principal Investigator for Parenting While Black, a program that provides Black primary caregivers with supports and resources around best practices in racial socialization, educational involvement, and promoting positive mental health in Black families. Dr. Huguley also serves on the executive board of the Human Services Center Mon Valley, the advisory board of the Office of Child Development, and as a cohort lead for The Pittsburgh Study.

Dr. Huguley’s work is supported by the Institute of Educational Sciences, The Health Resources and Services Administration, The Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Staunton Farm Foundation. He is the recent winner of a Larry E. Davis Award for Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship (2022), a Distinguished Research Award from the Counseling and Human Development Division of the American Educational Research Association (2021), and an Excellence in Research Award from the Society for Social Work and Research (2021).

Prior to his academic career, Dr. Huguley was a youth program director and middle school teacher. He received his bachelors in 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

Examining culturally distinct socialization practices in African American families and their impact on academic and mental health outcomes of Black youth

Examining how school-based climate and socio-emotional interventions and policies can improve the educational and mental health outcomes of youth in oppressed educational contexts

Select Funded Projects

• 2021-2024: Principal Investigator, Just Discipline in Schools: Evaluating an Integrated and Interdisciplinary Approach. Institute for Educational Sciences
• 2023-2025: Principal Investigator, Just Discipline Holistic Approach to Regional Impact. The Heinz Endowments.
• 2023-2025: Principal Investigator, Just Discipline SIRCh Model Implementation. RK Mellon Foundation
• 2021-2023: Principal Investigator, Parenting While Black: Growing and Healing Together. University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute.
• 2021-2025: Co-Investigator, Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Grant. Health Resources and Services Administration.

Select Peer Review Articles

Seider, S., Huguley, J.P. McCobb, E., Titchner, D., Ward, k., Hehua, X., & Zheng, Y. (2023). How co-parents in multiethnic-racial families negotiate the transmission of cultural assets to their children. Race and Social Problems, 15, 5-18.

Huguley, J.P., Fussell-Ware, D., Stuart McQueen, S., Wang, M.T. & ²DeBellis, B.R. (2022). Completing the circle: Linkages between restorative practices, socio-emotional health, and racial justice in schools. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. 30, 138-153.

Huguley, J.P., Delale O’Connor, L., Wang, M.T., & Parr, A. (2021). African American parents’ educational engagement in urban schools: Racially and socially contextualized strategies for student success in adolescence. Educational Researcher, 50, 6-16.

Huguley, J.P., Wang, M.T., Pasarow, S., & Wallace, J. (2020). Just discipline in schools: An integrated and interdisciplinary approach. Children & Schools, 42, 195-199.

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.

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.

Anderson, R.E., Saleem, F.T., & Huguley, J.P. (2019). Choosing to see the racial stress that afflicts our Black students. Phi Delta Kappan, 101(3), 20-25.

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.

Diamond, J.B., & Huguley, J.P. (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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Select Reports and Briefs

Huguley, J.P., Cherry, M.C., Haynik, R.H., Cleveland, K.C., & Henderson, M. (2022). Strength for the journey: Lessons from African American parents on academic programming and educational involvement. Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh College Access Alliance.

Huguley, J.P. (2021). Understanding and dismantling the school to prison pipeline: Evidence from Greater Pittsburgh. In Disparate and punitive impact of exclusionary practices on students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students in Pennsylvania public schools (pp. 122-129). Washington, DC: Pennsylvania Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Huguley, J.P., Wang, M.T., Monahan, K., ²Keane, G., & Koury, A.J. (2018). Just discipline in Greater Pittsburgh: Local challenges and promising solutions. Pittsburgh, PA: Center on Race and Social Problems.