Current research

Jonathan Tudge - Research
Most of my research focuses on the interrelations between the social world and children's social,
moral, and cognitive development. My current line of research is on the development of
gratitude, and the decline of materialism, in children and adolescents. Those who feel grateful
for what they have typically feel better about themselves, their family, and their teachers and
have a less materialistic outlook on life than their less grateful peers. Colleagues and I are
therefore exploring the development of these characteristics in children and adolescents, and the
role of their parents, in different cultures. Our ultimate goal is to use our findings to design
materials that will help teachers and parents encourage gratitude in their children. This research
received three years of funding from The John Templeton Foundation, and here is a link to the
executive summary of the study.
In much of my research I use cultural-ecological theory, a contextualist theory that draws on the
ideas of Lev Vygotsky and Urie Bronfenbrenner. The major line of research is longitudinal and
cross-cultural in design, dealing with the ways in which young children become part of the
cultural group in which they live. This work involves extensive observations of the everyday
activities of children when they are three years of age as well as interviews and questionnaires
with their parents regarding their child-rearing values and beliefs. The children are followed
through their first years of school, when data on parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of the
children’s social and academic competence are also gathered. This research is cross-cultural
(US, Russia, Estonia, Finland, Korea, Kenya, and Brazil) and examines within-societal variations
as a function of ethnicity and social class. A book, based on this research, was recently
published: Tudge, J. R. H. (2008). The everyday lives of young children: Culture, class, and
child rearing in diverse societies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Publications on these and other topics can be found in the papers or presentations section of my
web site, and a link to the book based on the observations of 3-year-olds around the world can be
found here.
More details are on my web site, where you can also find my full CV. Some recent submitted
papers and published work include the following:
Merçon-Vargas, E. A., Pieta, M. A., Freitas, L. B. L., & Tudge, J. R. H. (under review). Social-class influences
on the expression of gratitude and wishes of Brazilian children and adolescents: A within-culture analysis.
Psicologia, Revista da Universidade de São Francisco.
Tudge, J. R. H., Freitas, L. B. L., & O’Brien, L. (under review). The virtue of gratitude: A developmental and
cultural approach. Human Development.
Tudge, J. R. H., Payir, A., Merçon-Vargas, E. A., Cao, H., Liang, Y., & Li, J. (under review). Still misused
after all these years? A re-evaluation of the uses of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human
development. Journal of Family Theory and Review.
Freitas, L. B. L., Tudge, J. R. H., Palhares, F. M. C., & Prestes, A. C. (in press). Relações entre
desenvolvimento da gratidão e construção de valores em jovens [The relations between the development
of gratitude and the construction of values in youth]. Psicologia, Revista da Universidade de São
Francisco
Martins, G. F., Gonçalves, T. R, Marin, A. H., Piccinini, C. A., Sperb, T. M., & Tudge, J. R. H. (in press).
Social class, workplace experience, and child-rearing values of mothers and fathers in southern Brazil.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Rosa, E. M., & Tudge, J. R. H. (in press). The bioecological theory of human development: Comments on
proximal processes in childhood. Sage Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education.
Rosa, E. M., & Tudge, J. R. H. (in press). Teoria bioecológia do desenvolvimento humano: Considerações
metodológicas [Bioecological theory of human development: Methodological issues]. In A. C. G. Dias
and E. M Rosa (Eds.), Metodologias de Pesquisa e Intervenção para Crianças, Adolescentes e Jovens
[Research and intervention methods with children, adolescents, and youth]. Vitória: UFES Editora.
Tudge, J. R. H. (in press). Preface. In Koller, S., Morais, N., & Paludo, S. (Eds.) Inserção ecológica: Uma
proposta metodológica [Ecological insertion: A methodological proposal]. São Paulo: Casa do Psicólogo
Tudge, J. R. H., Freitas, L. B. L., Wang, Y. C., Mokrova, I. L., & O’Brien, M. (in press). The expression of
gratitude and materialism in youth. Paidéia.
Tudge, J., Martins, G., Vargas, E., Dellazzana-Zanon, L., Piccinini, C., & Freitas, L. (in press). Children,
families, and communities in Brazil: A cultural-ecological approach to child-rearing values and practices.
In M. Fleer & B. von Oers (Eds.) International handbook on early childhood education. New York:
Springer.
Wang, D., Wang, Y. C., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2015). Expressions of gratitude in children and adolescents:
Insights from China and the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. DOI:
10.1177/0022022115594140
Prestes, A. C., Castro, F. M. P., Tudge, J. R. H., & Freitas, L. B. L. (2014). Desenvolvimento de valores em
crianças e adolescentes [The development of children’s and adolescents’ values]. A Revista de Estudo e
Comunicações Leopoldianum, 40(110–112), 25–36.
Rosa, E. M., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2013). Urie Bronfenbrenner’s theory of human development: Its evolution
from ecology to bioecology. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 5(6), 243–258.
DOI:10.1111/jftr.12022
Tudge, J. R. H. (2013). Urie Bronfenbrenner. In Heather Montgomery (Ed.), Oxford bibliographies on line:
Childhood studies. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199791231-0112
Tudge, J. R. H., Lopes, R. S., Piccinini, C. A., Sperb, T. M, Chipenda-Dansokho, S., Marin, A. H., Vivian, A.
G., Oliveira, D. S., Sonego, J., Frizzo, G. B., & Freitas, L. B. L. (2013). Parents’ child-rearing values in
southern Brazil: Mutual influences of social class and children’s development. Journal of Family Issues,
34(10), 1379–1400. doi: 10.1177/0192513X12453820
Tudge, J. R. H., Piccinini, C. A., Sperb, T. M., Odero-Wanga, D., Lopes, R. S., & Freitas, L. B. L. (2013).
Vulnerable children? The heterogeneity of young children’s experiences in Kenya and Brazil. In D.
Johnson, D. Agbenyiga, & R. Hitchkock (Eds.), Vulnerable children: Global challenges in education,
health, well-being and child rights (pp. 121–137). New York: Springer. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-67809_9
Elliott, J. J., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2012). Multiple contexts, motivation, and student engagement in the USA and
Russia. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 27(2), 161–175.
Lopes, R. S., Vivian, A. G., Oliveira, D. S., Deluchi, M., Tudge, J. R. H., & Piccinini, C. A. (2012).
Sentimentos maternos frente às aquisições de desenvolvimento da criança entre 24 e 28 meses [Maternal
feelings about their child’s development between 24 and 28 months]. Estudos de Psicologia, 29(supl.),
737-749.
Marin, A. H., Piccinini, C. A., Gonçalves, T. R., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2012). Práticas educativas parentais e
competência social de crianças em idade pré-escolar [Parental child-rearing practices and pre-school
children´s social competence]. Estudos de Psicologia, 17(1), 5-13.
Piccinini, C. A., Silva, M. R., Gonçalves, T. R., Lopes, R. S., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2012). Envolvimento paterno
aos três meses de vida do bebê [Fathers’ involvement with their 3-month-old babies]. Psicologia: Teoria
e Prática, 28(3), 303–314.
Tudge, J. R. H., & Freitas, L. B. L. (2012a). Internationalization, globalization and culture. Psicologia e
Sociedade, 24(3), 547–556.
Tudge, J. R. H., & Freitas, L. B. L. (2012b). Parenting: A cultural-ecological approach. In C. A. Piccinini & P.
Alverenga (Eds.), Parentalidade: Da gestação à escola [Parenting: From birth to school] (pp. 171-196).
São Paulo: Casa do Psicóligo.
Tudge, J. R. H., Piccinini, C. A., Lopes, R. S., Sperb, T. M., Chipenda-Dansokho, S., & Freitas, L. B. L.
(2012). The cultural ecology of human values. In A. Branco & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Cultural psychology of
human values (pp. 63-83). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers.