Giving Back to a Community Posted on March 1, 2006 Joe Price (bio) describes how his research interests and connections have led his career to unexpected places.

I think for me it's been a progression, and in retrospect, maybe it seems more logical maybe than it was. I think for me having two incredible mentors in Gary Ladd and Ken Dodge were just crucial, because they taught me how to think more so than a particular area of research, and that was key.

What happened with me was that I was really interested in the outcomes like peer rejection, aggression. Well, how does that develop? It took me to look at social cognition. Well, where does that come from? Let's look at early experiences, family environment.

Well, this particular population, particularly maltreated kids, seems to show the kinds of patterns and experiences that contribute to poor processing which leads to aggression and peer rejection, so then I was interested in maltreatment. Within that I started working with foster parents and foster kids and doing research with them, which then led to Patti Chamberlain and John Reid calling us and saying, 'Joe, you and John Landsverk work with kids in foster care. Joe, you're doing research on peer relations in foster kids. Would you be interested in intervention?'

I always have been interested in interventions, particularly parent interventions with kids. Part of what made me initially hesitate was I grew up in a foster home, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that step. But I said yeah, because I wasn't sure what that was going to bring up for me individually.

It's turned out to be very rewarding, and I think in some respects helpful in my own personal life to say, 'Here is my way of giving back to that community that made a difference in my life.'

« Back to Article