About

Steven R. Asher is a Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, obtained in 1972 and 1968 respectively, and a B.A. from Rutgers University earned in 1966. His academic and professional focus is within the fields of psychology and neuroscience, and he is affiliated with the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University. Further details about his specific research interests, contributions, or publications are not provided on the page.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Sociology
• Medical education
• Applied psychology
• Pedagogy
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Recent Advances in Research on Children’s Friendships

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-09

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A Novel Approach for Evaluating a Schoolwide Antiracist Curriculum Intervention

  AERA Open · 2024 · 2 citations

  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Medical education

  This manuscript describes our effort to apply a novel approach to understanding student outcomes associated with a schoolwide antiracist intervention. We report a multimethod quantitative approach to evaluate a 10-week antiracist intervention designed and implemented by school staff by examining patterns of student intervention engagement and measures of key constructs that connect to antiracism, psychological well-being, and school connectedness. Our novel approach combines schoolwide surveys with smaller samples of daily diary participants, documenting variation in intervention engagement and examining postintervention outcomes. Our findings are limited by high attrition rates, small sample size, and data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, our methods offer a promising transferable approach to evaluate school-based antiracist interventions by examining patterns and predictors of intervention engagement, as well as daily fluctuations in student experience throughout the intervention period.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Gender differences in college students' responses to COVID-related friendship transgressions

  PsycEXTRA Dataset · 2023-01-01

  datasetSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Social relationship provisions and loneliness in school: Child- and classroom-level effects

  Journal of School Psychology · 2023 · 10 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Social psychology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction to: The Student Resilience and Well-Being Project: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

  International Journal of Community Well-Being · 2021-09-07

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Changes in Depressive Symptoms in Response to a Significant Stressor in College

  International Journal of Community Well-Being · 2021-07-28 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Back to the Dyad: Future Directions for Friendship Research

  Merrill-Palmer Quarterly · 2021 · 21 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Social psychology

  Friendship is a developmentally significant relationship in childhood and adolescence that contributes to socioemotional, social-cognitive, and psychological development and well-being. It is a dyadic relationship based on <i>mutual</i> affection, with both friends thinking of each other as friends. Despite this definitional understanding of the dyadic nature of friendship, it is common to study friendships <i>individually</i>, for example, by investigating how one child’s perception of the quality of a friendship is associated with that child’s psychological functioning. Although this research approach yields important information about friendships and their effects on youth, we suggest that putting the dyad back into friendship research, by conceptualizing the dyad as the unit of analysis or by including characteristics or perceptions of both members of the dyad in analyses, will generate valuable new knowledge about friendships and their developmental significance. We focus on three key areas of study about children’s and adolescents’ friendships that would benefit from a dyadic perspective: (a) features and processes in friendships, (b) temporal and contextual approaches to the study of friendship, and (c) friendship tasks and social-cognitive perspectives on intervention.

  PublisherDOI

• Friendships in Childhood

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2018-06-11 · 8 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Pacifists and Revenge-Seekers in Response to Unambiguous Peer Provocation

  Journal of Youth and Adolescence · 2018-01-19 · 24 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Peer acceptance, peer rejection, and popularity: Social-cognitive and behavioral perspectives.

  2018-01-01 · 27 citations

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Molly S. Weeks

  25 shared

• Timothy J. Strauman

  Duke University

  17 shared

• Cinnamon A. Stetler

  17 shared

• Mark R. Leary

  Duke University

  17 shared

• Beth A. Pontari

  17 shared

• Lauren A. Stutts

  Davidson College

  17 shared

• Debra F. Terrell

  Davidson College

  17 shared

• Kerst in K. Blomquist

  Johnson C. Smith University

  16 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow of AAAS (2024)