Christy Buchanan
Professor of Psychology; Senior Associate Dean for Academic Advising | Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC, UNITED STATES
Buchanan studies how parents’ expectations affect teen behavior.
Biography
From peer pressure to family meals to monitoring what teens do to talking about alcohol and drugs, Christy Buchanan can help navigate the challenging waters of parent/teen relationships. She studies how parents' expectations for adolescence affect parenting as well as teen behavior and can explain what factors promote positive social and emotional development in adolescents. Co-author of Adolescents after Divorce, Buchanan can also address what happens to children of divorce. How do custody arrangements and conflict between parents affect the kids? She has been interviewed by media across the country, including national broadcast and print outlets, including parenting magazines.
Areas of Expertise (9)
Children and Divorce
Teens
Adolescence
Relationships Between Teens and Parents
Parent-Child Relationships
Developmental Psychology
Civic Development in Adolescents and Young Adults
Parenting Adolescents
Adolescent Development
Media
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Education (2)
University of Michigan: Ph.D., Psychology 1988
Seattle Pacific University: B.A., Psychology 1982
Media Appearances (5)
Stereotypes about teens can undermine parents' confidence
NPR
2015-11-06
When moms and dads believe they can manage their children's issues and encourage positive behavior, they are more likely to parent effectively. That, in turn, makes it less likely their adolescents will act out, according to developmental psychologists Terese Glatz of Örebro University in Sweden and Christy Buchanan of Wake Forest University. But parents feel especially stressed during adolescence, explains Glatz, as they expect those years to be difficult. This reputation is not entirely fair: On average, difficult behaviors and negative emotions increase during adolescence, yet overall the levels remain low, says Buchanan. "Adolescents are a group for whom negative stereotypes are still tolerated," she adds...
LGBTQ Center hosts conference featuring alumni
Old Gold & Black
2015-10-29
The teach-in session presenters and panelists throughout the weekend included Associate Dean Christy Buchanan, authors Toni Newman and Justin Lee along with many other students, alumni and faculty members focusing on their experiences at the university. Discussions centered around utilizing career pathways as forums for activism and the importance of sharing stories to further progress...
10 expert tips you didn't know about getting your teenager to open up
The Huffington Post
2015-08-17
“Avoid judging, criticism and sarcasm. Find something you can understand or affirm in the teen’s point of view and acknowledge that before offering alternative points of view,” suggested Christy Buchanan, a professor of psychology at Wake Forest University who specializes in adult-adolescent relationships. “And listen ... carefully. No one -- of any age -- enjoys a conversation partner who doesn't listen!”...
Media Advisory: Wake Forest to welcome class of 2019
Wake Forest University News Center online
2015-08-14
Trying a new twist on the summer reading assignment for first-year students, Wake Forest took a ‘book club’ approach. From John Grisham’s “Gray Mountain” to Levitt and Dubner’s “Think Like a Freak,” to Susan Cain’s “Quiet,” incoming students could choose from 22 different books for their summer reading. All of the books for Project Wake, fit this year’s theme, “Exploring Difference, Embracing Diversity.” Professors and campus leaders from more than a dozen departments and offices will lead book discussions on Sunday, Aug. 23, during orientation. “It introduces them to the kind of intellectual discussion we value here,” said Senior Associate Dean for Academic Advising Christy Buchanan...
University to begin offering online course options
Old Gold & Black online
2013-11-21
“Wake Forest has been very thoughtful in working with Semester Online company with the goal that the educational benefits will be equal to what a student would have on campus,” Christy Buchanan, dean of academic advising, said. “The company that is working on this is very committed to a high-quality, interactive, engaged educational experience. This is something that has been very thoughtfully designed to preserve the educational benefits of interacting with the faculty and others in the classroom.”...
Articles (5)
Mothers' and fathers' knowledge of adolescents' daily activities: its sources and its links with adolescent adjustment.
Journal of Family Psychology
To elucidate the benefits ascribed to parental monitoring, the authors examined links between parental knowledge and methods of obtaining knowledge about adolescents' activities, and links between these constructs and adolescent adjustment. The roles of ...
Postdivorce roles of mothers and fathers in the lives of their children.\
Journal of Family Psychology
Study 1 was a 3-yr longitudinal study of 1,124 divorcing families that focused on custodial arrangements and interparental communication and conflict. Study 2 was a follow-up study of the adolescent children from the Study 1 families that focused on adolescents' ...
Development during adolescence: the impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families
American Psychologist
Although most individuals pass through adolescence without excessively high levels of "storm and stress," many do experience difficulty. Why? Is there something unique about this developmental period that puts adolescents at risk for difficulty? This article ...
Are adolescents the victims of raging hormones? Evidence for activational effects of hormones on moods and behavior at adolescence
Psychological Bulletin
The literatures on hormone changes at adolescence, hormonal influences on moods and behavior in nonhuman animals and adult humans, and mood and behavioral changes at adolescence and the small but burgeoning literature on hormonal influences ...
Caught between parents: Adolescents' experience in divorced homes
Child Development
This study examined adolescents' feelings of being caught between parents to see whether this construct helps to explain (1) variability in their postdivorce adjustment and (2) associations between family/child characteristics and adolescent adjustment. Adolescents ...