Sarah Lang, Ph.D.

Areas of Expertise

I am fascinated by young children and particularly interested in the way key relationships in young children’s lives impact their social-emotional development. As a former infant-toddler and preschool educator, I had an opportunity to develop a broad perspective on the myriad of relationships within which children and families function. My published research thus far has taken a family systems perspective, focusing on how individual characteristics of new parents may interact to influence each other’s parenting, and how particular parenting practices may predict children’s social-emotional development. For my dissertation work, I am investigating the relationships between early childhood teachers and families, applying theoretical models of coparenting to the childcare setting. In particular, I am studying how teachers and families understand their relationships with each other, what factors are associated with how these relationships function, as well as how these relationships are associated with family involvement and child social-emotional functioning.