My scholarship revolves around how early developmental contexts help or hinder children’s development into competent, productive members of society. I address this broad issue by focusing on how parents and co-parents engage with children, especially in the Black community, and how multiple environmental pollutants and social risks impact young people’s school readiness, academic achievement, and court involvement. This work has earned me awards including the Wade and Bev Fetzer Fund for Excellence (2017), a fellowship in the Big Ten Academic Alliance–Academic Leadership Program (2017-18), and the Faculty Diversity Award from the UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity (2009).
Research
Dilworth-Bart, J., Poehlmann-Tynan, J., Taub, A., Liesen, C., & Bolt, D. (2018). Effortful control and executive function as indices of emerging self-regulation in young children born preterm. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42, 193-204. doi: 10.1016/j.ecrq.2017.09.07
Dilworth-Bart, J. (2012). Does executive function mediate SES and home quality associations with academic readiness? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(3), 416-425. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2012.02.002
Dilworth-Bart, J., & Moore, C. (2006). Mercy, Mercy Me: Social injustice and the prevention of environmental pollutant exposures among ethnic minority and poor children. Child Development, 77(2), 247-265. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00868.x PMid:16611170
Find a more comprehensive list of my publications in my CV
Classes Taught
- Course number: HDFS 761: Course title: Childhood and the Family
- Course number: HDFS 865: Course title: Family Theories
- Course number: INTER-HE 793: Course title: Research Methods
- Course number: HDFS 999: Course title: Independent Study
- Course number: HDFS 425: Course title: Research Methods in Human Development and Family Studies
- Course number: HDFS 501): Course title: Children and Environmental Risk
- Course number: PSY 691 AND PSY 692: Course title: Undergraduate Thesis
- Course number: PSY 699: Course title: Independent Study

Department
- Human Development & Family Studies
Degree Program
- BS Human Development & Family Studies
- PhD Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Studies
Affiliations
- Center for Child and Family Wellbeing
- UW–Madison Department of Psychology
Education
- PhD, Psychology (Clinical Emphasis), Rutgers University
- MS, Psychology (Clinical Emphasis), Rutgers University
- BA, Psychology, Hampton University
Contact
Office: 2135A Nancy Nicholas Hall
Phone: 608-262-9770
Email: jedilworth@wisc.edu
Websites: