Wright receives APF grant
to academic achievement
Yamanda Wright of the University of
Texas at Austin is the 2013 recipient of
the APF Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark
Grant.
Wright, a doctoral candidate work-
ing under the supervision of Rebecca
Bigler, PhD, studies elementary school-
age children’s intergroup attitudes and
the potential role of outgroup mistrust
between students and teachers in sus-
taining achieve-
ment gaps. Her
APF-funded dis-
sertation exam-
ines the relations
among racial mis-
trust, perceptions
of discrimina-
tion and academic
achievement for
elementary school-age children.
The Kenneth B. and Mamie P.
Clark Grant supports research and
demonstration activities that promote
the understanding of the relationship
between self-identity and academic
achievement with an emphasis on
children in grade levels K– 8.
Since 1953, APF has been supporting
innovative research and programs that
launch careers and seed the knowledge
base on critical issues around the globe.
For more information, visit the APF
website at www.apa.org/apf.
Wright
Grantee Spotlight:
Testosterone and the risk for disordered eating
As a graduate student at Michigan State University, Kristen
Culbert, PhD, sought to unravel the mystery of why some
women are predisposed to eating-disordered behavior and
attitudes. Prior research in this area suggested that prenatal
testosterone exposure may lower disordered eating attitudes
and behaviors, and account for the lower prevalence of
eating disorders in males than in females.
In 2008, Culbert received the $2,000 APF Clarence
J. Rosecrans Scholarship, which allowed her to study
exposure to testosterone in the womb and the correlation to
disordered eating later in life.
Culbert’s dissertation examined whether the effects of
prenatal testosterone exposure on disordered eating emerge
during puberty in twins from opposite-sex and same-
sex pairs. She found no differences in disordered eating
attitudes and behaviors between opposite-sex and same-sex
twins before puberty. However, after the onset of puberty,
Culbert, who earned her PhD
from Michigan State University
in 2011, says the APF Clarence J. Rosecrans Scholarship
“undoubtedly” influenced her career. “The financial
contribution of this award assisted in making my
dissertation project feasible, and thus allowed me to
continue to build my translational program of research
examining neurobiological, genetic and environmental
influences on eating disorders,” she says.
Culbert has been recognized for her work with the
National Institutes of Health Clinical Loan Repayment
Award, the Top 10 Newsworthy Abstracts of the
International Conference for Eating Disorders and the APA
Dissertation Research Award.
She plans to further study genetic influences of hormones
on disordered eating risk and to identify key environmental
factors that may moderate such effects. She hopes that her
work will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of
sex differences and developmental changes in the expression
of eating disorder symptoms.
Culbert
