Constance Flanagan completed her Ph.D. in developmental psychology at the University of Michigan and is currently a professor of youth civic development at Penn State University. Her program of work, “Adolescents and the social contract,” concerns the factors in families, schools, and communities that promote civic values and competencies in young people. She directed a seven-nation study on this topic as well as a study of inter-group relations and beliefs about justice among youth from different racial/ethnic backgrounds in the United States. Two new projects include: a longitudinal study of peer loyalty and social responsibility as it relates to young people’s views about health as a public or private issue and to their inclinations to intervene to prevent harm to one another and a study of the developmental correlates of social trust. Flanagan co-chairs the Society for Research in Child Development’s Committee on Public Policy, and Public Information. She is a William T. Grant Faculty Scholar and a member of the MacArthur Foundation’s Network on the Transition to Adulthood and Public Policy. She is on the editorial boards of three journals and on the advisory boards of Health!Rocks, Student Voices, and CIRCLE (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement).

Relevant Publications

Osgood, W., Foster, E.M., Flanagan, C.A., & Ruth, G. (Eds.). (forthcoming) On your own without a net: The transition to adulthood for vulnerable populations.

Flanagan , C. A. with Botecheva, L., Bowes, J., Csapo, B., Jonsson, B., Macek, P., & Sheblanova, E. (2000). The development of political views and civic identities. ISSBD special section on the transition to adulthood in socio-cultural context: Newsletter of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, 2 (37), 4 – 6. X. Chen & J.G. Miller, (Eds.).

Flanagan, C. (1998). Exploring American character in the sixties generation. In A. Colby, J. James, & D. Hart (Eds.) Competence and character through life (pp. 169-185). A volume in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Mental Health and Development. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Flanagan, C.A., & Campbell, B. with L. Botcheva, J. Bowes, B. Csapo, P. Macek, & E. Sheblanova (2003). Social class and adolescents' beliefs about justice in different social orders. Journal of Social Issues, 59 (4), 711-732.

Ngomane, T., & Flanagan, C. (2003). The road to democracy in South Africa. Peace Review, 15 (3), 267-271.

Flanagan, C.A. (2003). Developmental roots of political engagement. PS: Political Science and Politics, 36 (2), 257-261..

Flanagan, C.A. (2004). Volunteerism, leadership, political socialization, and civic engagement. In R.M. Lerner & L. Steinberg, (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 721-746). NY: Wiley.

Flanagan, C.A. (in press). Citizenship/Social Responsibility/Loyalty/Teamwork. In M. E. Seligman & C. Peterson (Eds.), Values in Action Classification of Strengths. Oxford University Press and American Psychological Association.

Watts, R.J., & Flanagan, C.A. Pushing the envelope on youth civic engagement: A developmental and liberation psychology perspective. Manuscript revised and resubmitted.

Sherrod, L., Flanagan, C.A., & Kassimir, R. (Eds.). (forthcoming). Youth Activism: An International Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Company.