Overview
Ann Skinner joined the Center in 2001 and is a Research Scientist with Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) and C-StARR. She is also the Principal Investigator for a study examining the effects of the war on young people and their families in Ukraine.
Her research focuses on the ways in which stressful community, familial, and interpersonal events impact parent-child relationships and the development of aggression and internalizing behaviors in youth. She has extensive experience in data management of multisite projects and in supervising teams for school- and community-based interventions and data collection.
Skinner is a former supervisor in the Junior Researcher Programme, where she led a group of junior international scholars exploring the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent and young adult development. She is currently a 2022-23 fellow with the ICDSS COVID-19 Global Scholars Program.
Prior to her work with Parenting Across Cultures, Skinner was a senior school specialist and research analyst on the GREAT Schools and Families middle school violence prevention project at the Center, as well as Project CLASS.
Skinner has a Ph.D in developmental psychology from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, a master's degree in education, and B.A. in psychology, both from the College of William and Mary, with a focus on teaching students with emotional and learning disabilities. Before joining the Center, she worked as a special education teacher, trainer, and supervisor in the North Carolina public schools and at residential facilities for at-risk youth in Rhode Island and North Carolina.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Positive risk taking across the world.
Journal Article Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · June 2025 Around the world, adolescence is characterized by increased risk taking. Much research has focused on negative risk taking, but there is growing recognition of positive risk taking, which can benefit adolescent development. So far, research on positive ris ... Full text CitePhysical activity and two-year change in adolescent well-being in nine countries.
Journal Article Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · June 2025 The benefits of physical activity (PA) for well-being are well known; however, studies examining longitudinal effects across diverse international samples in late adolescence are limited. This study advances prior work by combining a partial longitudinal d ... Full text CitePredictors of Young Adults' Primal World Beliefs in Eight Countries.
Journal Article Child development · April 2025 Primal world beliefs ("primals") capture understanding of general characteristics of the world, such as whether the world is Good and Enticing. Children (N = 1215, 50% girls), mothers, and fathers from Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, T ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Childhood, Adolescence, and Covid-Related Risk and Protective Factors in the Development of Adjustment in Early Adulthood Across Cultures
ResearchProject Manager · Awarded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · 2022 - 2027Adolescents and AI
ResearchResearch Scientist · Awarded by University of California - Irvine · 2024 - 2025Primals & Developmental Psychology: Child and Adolescent Predictors of Young Adults' and Their Parents' Primals in Nine Countries
ResearchProject Manager · Awarded by University of Pennsylvania · 2022 - 2024View All Grants