Expertise

Developmental Psychology, Sleep, Intergenerational Development, Mother-infant and Father infant Interaction, Attachment

Biography

Marsha Weinraub is a developmental psychologist and Professor Emerita of Psychology and Neuroscience  at Temple University. From 2007 to 2016, she was Chairperson of the Psychology Department in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University. Dr. Weinraub has published on the effects of early childcare, single parenting, and maternal employment on parent-child relationships and child development. Recently, she has been publishing on the development of sleep over childhood and adolescence and the role of parents in promoting STEM development in young children.

Dr. Weinraub was a principal investigator from 1989 to 2005 on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a national project investigating the long term effects of early childcare on children’s social, emotional, and intellectual development from infancy through adolescence. With her colleagues, Dr. Weinraub evaluated childcare intervention and subsidy programs and studied the effects of childcare subsidies on child development and parental employment in low-income families with different ethnic backgrounds. Her  research has been funded by NIMH, NICHD, ACYF, NSF, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,  and the William Penn Foundation.

Dr. Weinraub served on the Board of Directors of Children’s Village Child Care Center, a non-profit NAEYC accredited center educating young and school-age children, current and future teachers, and families. She currently serves on the Oversight Committee of a local child care center co-operated with Bright Horizons, a national child care provider. She was an officer of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP) governing board from 2012 to 2015.

Dr. Weinraub was awarded both the Lindback Award for Teaching (1985) and the Temple University Great Teacher Award (2005). In 2016, she received the University Outstanding Faculty Service Award. She is a Fellow of Divisions 7 and 35 in APA and a Charter Fellow in the Association for Psychological Science (APS).

Dr. Weinraub received her B.A. from Brandeis University and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Curriculum Vitae | Website

Selected Publications

Education

  • Nicolopoulou, A., Hale, E. R, Leech, K., Weinraub, M., & Maurer, G. (2023) Shared picturebook reading in a preschool classroom: Promoting narrative comprehension through inferential talk and text complexity. Early Childhood Education Journal. 10.1007/s10643-023-01497-5
  • Tian, J., Ren, C. Newcombe, N, Weinraub, M. Vandell, and Gunderson, E.  (2022) Tracing the origins of the STEM gender gap: The contribution of childhood spatial skills. Developmental Science. DOI: 10.1111/desc.13302
  • Ren, K., Wang, Y., Weinraub, M., Newcombe, N. & Gunderson, E.  (2022) Fathers’ and mothers’ praise and special language during play with first graders. Developmental Psychologyhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1111/desc.13302

Attachment and Parenting

  • Sorhagen, N. S., Keiffer, J. N., & Weinraub, M. (2019) Intergenerational transmission of maternal employment moderated by recollections of early maternal availability. Developmental Psychology. Vol 55(7), 1537-1547 doi.org/10.1037/dev0000743
  • Weinraub, M. and Kaufman, R. (2019) Single Parenthood. In Bornstein, M. H. (Ed); Handbook of Parenting: Vol. 3: Being and Becoming a Parent (3rd Ed.), New York: Routledge.    
  • Dallaire, D. H.*, & Weinraub, M. (2007) Infant mother Attachment security and children’s anxiety and aggression at first grade. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 28, 477-492. DOI:10.1016/J.APPDEV.2007.06.005
  • NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2006) Infant-mother attachment: Risk and protection in relation to changing maternal caregiving quality over time. Developmental Psychology. 42, 38-58. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.38.
  • Dallaire, D. H.* & Weinraub, M.  (2006) Predicting children’s separation anxiety at age 6: The unique contributions of mother’s separation anxiety, sensitivity, and children’s attachment security. Attachment & Human Development. 7(4), 393- 408.  https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500365894
  • Dallaire, D. H.* & Weinraub, M. (2005). The stability of parenting behaviors over the first six years of life. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 20, 201-219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2005.04.008

Sleep 

  • Foley, J.  E., Ram, N., Susman, E. J., & Weinraub, M. (2018)  Changes to sleep-wake behaviors are associated with trajectories of pubertal timing and tempo of secondary sex characteristics. Journal of Adolescence: Special issue on Sleep. 68:171-186. doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.07.017
  • Foley, J. E. * and Weinraub, M. (2017)  Sleep, Affect, and Social Competence: Distinct Pathways to Emotional and Social Adjustment for Boys and for Girls. Frontiers Developmental Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00711
  • Weinraub, M., Bender, R H., Friedman, S L., Susman, E. J., Knoke, B., Bradley, R., Houts, R., Williams, J. (2012) Patterns of Developmental Change in Infants' Nighttime Sleep Awakenings from 6 through 36 Months of Age. Developmental Psychology. 48 (6) 1511-1528.  DOI:10.1037/a0027680

Child Care and Subsidizing Child Care

  • Weinraub, M. Child Care in America: Research and Policy Directions. Essay Review. (2015) Social Service Review, University of Chicago. Pp. 727-745. doi.org/10.1086/684650
  • Shlay, A.B., Weinraub, M., & Harmon, M.* (2010) Child Care Subsidies Post TANF; Child care subsidy use by African American, white, and Hispanic tanf-leavers. Children and Youth Services Review, 32. 1711-1718.
  • Shlay, A.B. & Weinraub, M. (2008) The Catch-22 of welfare to work. Miller McCune, 1 (4). 34-37.  
  • Tran, H.* & Weinraub, M. (2006) Child care effects in context:  Quality, stability, and multiplicity in nonmaternal child care arrangements during the first fifteen months of life. Developmental Psychology. 42(3), 566-582.). doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.3.566
  • Weinraub, M., Shlay, A, Harmon, M.* & Tran, H*. (2005) Subsidizing child care: How child care subsidies affect the child care used by low-income African American Families. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 20(4), 373-392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2005.10.001
  • Shlay, A., Tran*, H., Weinraub, M., & Harmon, M.* (2005). Teasing apart the child care conundrum: A factorial survey analysis of perceptions of child care quality, fair market price and willingness to pay by low-income, African American parents. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 20(4), 393-416.  
  • Shlay, A. Weinraub, M. Tran, H.* & Harmon, M. (2004) Barriers to Child Care Subsidies. Social Science Research. 33 (1), 134-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0049-089X(03)00042-5
  • NICHD ECCRN. The effects of infant child care on infant-mother attachment security: Results of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. (1997) Child Development, 68 (5), 860-879. (Member of 3 person writing group.)
  • NICHD ECCRN. Familial factors associated with the characteristics of nonmaternal care for infants. (1997) Journal of Marriage and Family, 59 (3), 389-408. (Primary author of writing group.)

Courses Taught

Undergraduate Courses

  • The Science of Sleep (2019, 2020)
  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology (2000 level)
  • Social, Emotional and Personality Development (3000 level)
  • Attachment over the Lifespan (3000 level)
  • Adult Development through Popular Film (3000 level)

Graduate Courses/Seminars

  • Developmental Psychology (Core seminar)
  • Social and Emotional Development
  • Attachment over the Lifespan
  • Applied Developmental Psychology