
Sandra Simpkins
VerifiedUniversity of California, Irvine · English
Active 1800–2026
About
Sandra (Sandi) Simpkins is a developmental psychologist specializing in child and adolescent development. Her research primarily focuses on how families, friendships, and social position factors such as ethnicity and culture influence adolescents' organized after-school activities and motivation. Her work aims to understand the social and developmental processes that shape youth behavior and engagement, contributing valuable insights into the factors that support positive development during adolescence.
Research topics
- Psychology
- Pedagogy
- Developmental psychology
- Social psychology
- Mathematics education
Selected publications
Developmental Psychology · 2026-02-19
articleOpen accessSenior author). Adolescents' math motivational profiles were somewhat stable, with about half of students remaining in their same profile from ninth to 11th grade. Perceived parent and teacher supports were positively related to changing into stronger motivational belief profiles, and adolescents in stronger motivational belief profiles had stronger science, technology, engineering, and math outcomes than adolescents in lower motivational belief profiles. Our findings indicate that although adolescents' math motivational beliefs were somewhat stable, many high school students' math motivational beliefs changed across high school and that perceived parent and teacher support was positively associated with the adolescents' math motivational belief profiles. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Developmental Review · 2026-02-04
articleOpen accessZeitschrift für Psychologie · 2026-01-01 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorAbstract: In this conceptual replication, we examined differences in adolescents’ math competence-related beliefs across broader racial/ethnic groups (African-American, Asian-American, European-American, and Latiné-American) and assessed whether these patterns were replicated among male and female students across four US datasets. The datasets included 32,170 adolescents in 9th to 12th grade (51% male, 12% African-Americans, 10% Asian-Americans, 45% European-Americans, 33% Latiné-Americans). We applied meta-analytic techniques by calculating both dataset-specific and overall effect sizes to examine the robustness and heterogeneity of racial/ethnic differences within gender groups. On average, African-American students reported higher math competence-related beliefs after controlling for parent education, income, and students’ achievement. In total, 60% of the observed racial/ethnic differences for the full sample of each dataset did not replicate among either gender. Moreover, greater variation across racial/ethnic groups emerged among female than male students. These two patterns highlight the importance of applying an intersectional lens when understanding adolescents’ math competence-related beliefs.
ZDM · 2026-01-19 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorAbstract The unequal mathematics education system in the U.S. highlights the need to examine racial and ethnic differences in mathematics subjective task values as precursors to participation in mathematics-related careers. We investigated whether and to what extent mathematics subjective task values (i.e., interest, utility, and attainment) vary across the four largest U.S. racial/ethnic groups (i.e., Asian, Black, Latine, and White) among boys and girls, separately. We also tested whether these patterns replicated across high school years and across datasets. Using two U.S. large-scale longitudinal datasets (i.e., CAMP and HSLS), results showed that adolescents of color reported higher mathematics subjective task values than White adolescents, with differences favoring Asian over White adolescents and Black over Latine adolescents. These patterns were consistent across gender, though slightly more pronounced among boys, and replicated across both datasets. The findings demonstrate racial and ethnic variability in mathematics values within gender groups, highlighting the need for intersectional approaches to understanding adolescents’ motivational experiences and identifying the barriers that prevent Black and Latine adolescents from fully leveraging their motivational strengths in mathematics learning.
Contemporary Educational Psychology · 2025-12-13
articleSenior authorIJREE – International Journal for Research on Extended Education · 2025-04-17 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessScholars have increasingly argued that we need to attend to adolescents’ race, ethnicity, and culture in after-school activities to ensure positive effects. Still, little is known about adolescents’ perceptions of culturally responsive practices in after-school activities (i. e., the use of diverse teaching practices, cultural engagement, and affirming diverse language preferences), including whether they are stable over time and beneficial to Latine adolescents, who are minoritized in U.S. society. Theoretically, culturally responsive practices are expected to help after-school activities meet adolescents’ three basic needs as conceptualized by self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings based on 134 Latine adolescents (53% girls, Mage =11.74 years) participating in an afterschool math enrichment activity suggest adolescents’ perceptions of culturally responsive practices in the activity were moderately stable from winter to spring. There were no significant differences in adolescents’ perceptions of culturally responsive practices based on gender or preferred language (i. e., English or Spanish), and significant positive associations emerged between adolescents’ perceptions of diverse teaching practices and their feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This study offers insights for future theory development in the after-school field, particularly in the context of program quality, culturally responsive practices, and their implications for adolescent development and well-being.
Children and Youth Services Review · 2025-07-26 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01
preprintOpen accessSenior authorJournal of Adolescent Health · 2025-07-02
articleOpen accessDevelopmental Psychology · 2025-02-06 · 2 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorprofile was associated with the lowest motivation and course taking. This suggests that STEM encouragement from parents, combined with other supportive behaviors, may be particularly crucial for Black and Latine adolescents, and high support across all indicators may not be the optimal approach, especially for high-achieving students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Recent grants
NSF · $1.6M · 2021–2025
NSF · $165k · 2018–2021
CAREER: How Families Motivate Mexican-Origin Adolescents to Pursue Physical Science in High School
NSF · $682k · 2011–2015
NSF · $980k · 2018–2022
CAREER: How Families Motivate Mexican-Origin Adolescents to Pursue Physical Science in High School
NSF · $186k · 2015–2017
Frequent coauthors
- 79 shared
Sandra Simpkins-Chaput
- 32 shared
Jacquelynne S. Eccles
University of California, Irvine
- 30 shared
A. E. Vest
- 16 shared
Alex R. Lin
Vanguard University
- 16 shared
Deborah Lowe Vandell
University of California, Irvine
- 14 shared
Ta‐yang Hsieh
- 14 shared
Melissa Y. Delgado
University of Arizona
- 13 shared
Jennifer A. Fredricks
Union College
Education
- 2000
PhD, Psychology
University of California Riverside
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with Sandra Simpkins
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup