Gail M. Ferguson

Assistant Professor of Psychology

General Interests
"I am interested in cultural similarities and differences in children and adolescents' sense of self and well-being. Research projects of mine have examined how Jamaican versus North American youth perceive different aspects of the self such as physical attributes, and how teenagers' views of their actual and ideal selves relate to their self-esteem and emotional well-being. I am also interested in parent-adolescent relationships cross-culturally and within immigrant groups. Currently, I am working on a cross-cultural web-based survey of mother-adolescent relationships across families in Illinois, New York and Kingston, Jamaica, entitled 'The Culture and Family Life Study'."

Years at Knox: 2008 to present

Education
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, 2006, Bowling Green State University.
M.A., Clinical Psychology, 2003, Bowling Green State University.
B.A., Psychology with Highest Honors, Cum Laude, 2001, Williams College.
Diploma and Head Girl, 1996, Ardenne High School, Kingston, Jamaica.

Recent Recognition
Research
Role model research featured in: "Surprise! Jamaican students choose parents as primary role models." October, 2007. The Jamaica Gleaner.

Body attitudes research featured in Savacool, J. "Women's ideal bodies then and now." Marie Claire Fashion Magazine, The Body Issue, 102-110, April 2003.

Awards
Selected as Promising Junior Scientist to attend Inter-American Collaboration Workshop of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD), Gramado, Brazil, 2007.

RiSE-Up Award, American Psychological Society Student Caucus, 2004. (Graduate student award for research in socially and economically disadvantaged populations)

Recent Accomplishments
Publications
"Self-discrepancies in adolescence." To appear in Levesque, R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of adolescence. Springer. Invited essay under preparation.

"Adolescent psychological and academic adjustment as a function of discrepancies between actual and ideal self-perceptions." Co-authored with Hafen, C. and Laursen, B. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, In press.

"Self-Esteem, Skin Color and Rural/Urban Residence: Specially Annotated Methods." Co-authored with Cramer, P. To appear in L. Cook & T. Bastick (Eds.), Annotated research methods in Caribbean Research. Invited book chapter under review.

"Self-representations of Jamaican adolescents: Perceived parental ideal, own ideal and actual self." Co-authored with Dubow, E. F. Caribbean Journal of Psychology 2.2 (2007): 27-43.

"Gender Differences in role models and academic functioning among Jamaican high school students." Caribbean Journal of Education, Special Issue on Gender and Education 29.1 (2007): 92-125.

"Self-Esteem among Jamaican children: Exploring the impact of skin color and rural/urban residence." Co-authored with Cramer, P. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 28.4 (2007): 285-380.

"Ethnic/racial attitudes and self-identification of Black Jamaican and White New England children." Co-authored with Cramer, P. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 34.4 (2003): 395-416.

Presentations
"A Me Dis": A Study of Jamaican Adolescent Identity Construction Using a Graphical Measure. In R. Craven, J. Eccles, M. Trinh Ha (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Biennial SELF Research Conference. Sydney: SELF Research Center, University of Western Sydney, 2006.

"Self-Representations of Jamaican Adolescents: Actual, Ideal, and Perceived Parental Ideal." 2nd annual Caribbean Child Research Conference, Kingston, Jamaica, October 2007.

"Role Models, Gender, and Academic Achievement in Jamaica." 2nd annual Caribbean Child Research Conference, Kingston, Jamaica, October 2007.

"Negative Causal Effects of Academic Self-Concept on Academic Achievement?" Poster session at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, San Francisco, California, August 2007.

"Actual and Ideal Identity Profiles among Jamaican Adolescents and Relations with Functioning." Poster session at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Boston, Massachusetts, March 2007.

"Gender Differences in Jamaican High School Students' Academic Achievement: Fact or Fiction?" Poster session at the annual national convention of the American Psychological Society, May, 2004.

"The 'Other' dilemma: Culturally competent helping strategies for Biracial American clients." Presented with Vasconcelles, E. Poster session at the annual convention of the Ohio Psychological Association; Columbus, Ohio, October 2004.

"Personal Strivings: Adults with Serious Mental Illness and their Parents Describe the Future." Presented with Stein, C., Hunt, M., Mann, L. Paper presented at the 1st Annual National Supported Education Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 2003.

Campus & Community Involvement
Instructional Support Committee, Knox College.

Consulting Editor, Caribbean Journal of Psychology.
Student/Early Career Council of the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD).
Invited Speaker, Rochester Jamaican Organization (RJO) community seminar, Rochester, New York.
Invited Speaker, Caribbean Calendar community seminar, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

What Students Say
"I can honestly say that I would not have had such a successful senior year without Gail's help and guidance. Not only is she incredibly smart, as she was consistently able to provide me with additional information and great suggestions about my work, but she was also there for me when I needed her to listen, support and keep me on track. Gail was able to motivate me to produce high quality work. Knox college students are lucky to have such a great professor available to them."
-Jessica Wilson, Biology and Psychology Major

"Gail is probably one of the most positive professors at Knox. Her classes are very much discussion-based, and she makes clear that she appreciates any input and insight her students have. She somehow manages to pursue cross-cultural research and prepare fascinating classes involving everything from video clips to real life observations, yet still finds the time to watch out for the welfare of her students, both in and out of class."
-Rachel Bauer, Psychology and Creative Writing Major

"The short description of Gail Ferguson is "tough but fair." She has high standards, but is dedicated to helping her students succeed. She teaches the valuable lesson of taking psychology outside the classroom and applying it to daily life. Her classes are unique in that they include cross-cultural research conducted by herself and others. She is enthusiastic not only about sharing her own work, but also about helping students find resources to investigate topics of their own interest. If you're interested in a particular question, so is Gail!"
-Erin Coleman, English Literature Major

Contact
309-341-7108
gmfergus@knox.edu