Marian Radke-Yarrow

Marian Jeanette Radke-Yarrow (born March 2, 1918 in Horicon , Wisconsin , † May 19, 2007 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was a well -known American psychologist who, in long-term studies, focused on the emotional development of children on the background of their respective social and family environment.

biography

After graduating from school, Marian Radke-Yarrow studied psychology at the University of Wisconsin . She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA ( Bachelor ) in 1939 and received her Ph.D. in this field in 1944 . She then taught psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Technical University), a private university in Cambridge , then at Queens College, City University of New York and the University of Denver , and worked temporarily as a psychological advisor for the US Army .

At the beginning of her career she took part in the so-called Philadelphia Early Childhood Project - carried out by the school authorities and various research institutes with the aim of identifying and countering racist or religious prejudices in school children at an early stage. This study / investigation refuted u. a. the prevailing opinion among school officials that toddlers were immune to prejudice . In its 1952 published (along G. Helen exchanger authored) book "They Learn What They Live: Prejudice in Young Children" ( "They learn how they live: prejudice in young children" ) she summarized the results of this study on 250 students aged between 5 and 8 years of age in public schools in Philadelphia. The book was published in the Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka , Kansas ), which was about desegregation in public schools, called in by the court for decision-making.

1953 began on National Institutes of Mental Health to work was from 1974 to 1995 director of the affiliated here Laboratory of Developmental Psychology ( Developmental psychology laboratory at the National Institute of Mental Health ).

As a member of a social science delegation to the People's Republic of China in 1973, she had the opportunity to investigate on site how children were raised in a (communist) country that had been largely isolated over a long period of time. Marian Radke-Yarrow published the impressions of this trip in 1975 in the book “Childhood in China” ( “Childhood in China” ).

In a 10-year long-term study on altruism that she carried out in the 1980s (together with Carolyn Zahn-Waxler), she found - contrary to the prevailing scientific opinion - that children, already from the early age of 12 months, are already able to recognize the situation / situation in which another person is, and can also react to this through gestures. “This is not happenstance. These modes of behavior patterning begin from very early on. " ( "These are not random movements / gestures. These basic patterns of behavior set in at a very early age." ) Explained Dr. Radke-Yarrow in an interview with the New York Times in 1981.

In another long-term study, she investigated the effects of the behavior of depressed mothers on the emotional development of their children. She published the results in 1998 in the book "Children of Depressed Mothers" . The book was based on a study of 98 families. 68 of the 98 mothers taking part in the study suffered from depression, and numerous fathers of these children - the study also took these into account - showed the same basic pattern. Against the background of this family situation, the emotional development of children was observed from early childhood to puberty .

In various other studies, Marian Radke-Yarrow researched the connection between good / correct / healthy nutrition and the emotional development of newborns and toddlers. She became president of the prestigious American Psychological Association (APA), was the co-editor of several psychological journals, and lectured widely in the United States and Europe.

Marian Radke-Yarrow died of leukemia on May 19, 2007 at the age of 89 .

Private

Marian Radke (-Yarrow) married Leon J. Yarrow in 1949. Leon Yarrow worked for the Federal Security Agency's Children's Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health before joining the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda in 1965 . The couple stayed together until Leon Yarrow's death in 1982. The marriage resulted in a son - Andrew L. Yarrow.

Works (selection)

• The Relation of Parental Authority to Children's Behavior and Attitudes , 1946
• They Learn What They Live: Prejudice in Young Children (with Helen G. Trager), 1952
• Child Rearing: Inquiry Into Research and Methods (with John D. Campbell and Roger V. Burton), 1968
• Recollections of Childhood: A Study of the Retrospective Method , 1970
• Human Aging: A Biological and Behavioral Study , 1971
• Childhood in China , 1975
• Development of Antisocial and Prosocial Behavior , 1986
• Risk and Protective Factors in the Development of Psychopathology , 1989
• Children of Depressed Mothers: From Early Childhood to Maturity , 1998

Awards

• G. Stanley Hall Award , the highest honor awarded by the American Psychological Association (APA)
• Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the Society for Research in Child Development

Web links

• Washington Post Obituary - English
• Obituary in the New York Times - English
• Obituary and picture - English