Decision-making, action, reasoning & Equity LAB

projects

Critical Decision-Making Study (upcoming: Fall 2026) 

• Design: Qualitative - phenomenological interview study 

• Participants: adolescents & young adults

• Purpose: examine how adolescents and young adults who are aware of oppression choose to be active/inactive.

• Funding: New Faculty Initiative Grant (Illinois State University), University Research Impact Award (Illinois State University)

• Conceptual foundation: Critical decision-making bridges people's awareness of oppression to their related action/inaction. (Cerda-Smith, 2026)

Teen Election Study (Fall 2024)

• Design: Daily Diary Study: 20 consecutive days throughout the 2024 U.S. Election.

• Participants: adolescents attending high school in North Carolina 

• Purpose: explore adolescent daily critical consciousness processes on a daily basis

• Funding: American Psychological Association, Division 15

• Findings: 

  • Participants reported taking critical action frequently, especially before and a few days following the election. Participants were more likely to take critical action on days when they reported political stress and negative emotions. Lagged (spill-over) effects were not significant. Critical action may increase or decrease stress and negative emotions. (Cerda-Smith et al., 2026)

  • Participants’ critical motivation (i.e., motivation to address social justice issues) and negative election-related emotions fluctuated significantly from day to day. On days with higher negative election-related emotions, participants tended to report enhanced motivation to address racism. However, effects were small, indicating that there is still much to explore regarding the factors that predict daily fluctuations in adolescent motivation to address social justice issues, especially in a polarized political world. (Najafian et al., 2026)

Dual Pandemics Longitudinal Study (2020-2023)

• Design: Longitudinal, mixed methods (surveys, interviews, daily diary). Research-practice partnership. 

• Participants: students and teachers at a public high school in the Southeastern U.S.

• Purpose: To understand and promote adolescent well-being, equity, and positive relationships throughout the Dual Pandemics (i.e., COVID-19 and racism). Click here for more study details. 

• Funding: American Educational Research Association, Education Research Service Project 2020

• Findings: 

  • Qualitative: Students and teachers described their racism analysis, racial reflectivity, and antiracist action in relation to a school-wide antiracist program. Critical Race Consciousness is a useful theoretical framework to examine outcomes associated with antiracist programming. (Cerda-Smith et al., 2026)  

  • Quantitative: Researchers offer a novel, multi-method qualitative approach for examining student outcomes associated with school-based antiracist programming which involves (1) examining patterns of student intervention engagement, (2) measures of key constructs that connect to antiracism, psychological well-being, and school connectedness, (3) schoolwide surveys with smaller samples of daily diary participants, (4) documenting variation in intervention engagement and examining post-intervention outcomes. (Cerda-Smith et al., 2024) 

  • Quantitative: Longitudinal (cross-lagged) associations between critical reflection, belonging, and school racial climate differed based on schooling context (in-person/online). (Cerda-Smith et al., 2024)

Relevant works

Presentations: 

Cerda-Smith, J. (2026, April). Adolescents’ Daily Critical Reflection during the 2024 U.S. Election. [Presentation].

Society for Research on Adolescence 2026 “Progressing, Not Pivoting: Moving Critical Consciousness Research Forward in Today’s World” Preconference Meeting, Toronto, Canada.

Cerda-Smith, J., Najafian, S., Mulvey, K.L. (2026, April). Adolescents’ Daily Schooling Experiences and Critical

Reflection. [Research Symposium]. Society for Research on Adolescence 2026 Biennial Meeting, Toronto, Canada.

Cerda-Smith, J., Grant, C., & Mulvey, K.L. (2024, April). Antiracist School-Based Intervention Impacts on Student and Teacher Critical Race Consciousness. [Roundtable session]. 2024 American Education Research Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Grant, C., McNally, A., Wilson, B., & Cerda-Smith, J. (2023, April). Stamped Intervention: Impacts on Student and Teacher Critical Reflection. [Poster]. 2023 NC State Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium, Raleigh, NC.

Grant, C., Vaka, S., & Cerda-Smith, J. (2022, December). Cognitive impacts of the Stamped intervention. [Poster]. 2022 State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research Symposium, Wilmington, NC. 

Cerda-Smith, J., Yust, P,. Weeks, M., Mulvey, K.L., & Asher, S. (2022, April). Adolescent Well-Being and School

Diversity: A Needs-Based Partnership Examining Virtual Learning and Interventions in Light of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism. [Poster session]. 2022 American Education Research Association Conference, San Diego, CA.

Cerda-Smith, J. (2022, February). The Impact of School-Based Interventions for the Dual Pandemics of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism. Psychology Department Visit Day Graduate Research Symposium, Raleigh, NC.

Publications: 

Najafian, S., Cerda-Smith, J., Neupert, S., & Mulvey, K. L. (2026). Within-Person Relationships between Adolescents’ Daily Election Exposure, Negative Election-Related Emotions, and Motivation to Address Social Justice Issues. Social Development, 35(4), e70081. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.70081 

Cerda-Smith, J., Najafian, S., Neupert, S.D., & Mulvey, K.L. (2026). Daily Critical Action During the 2024 U.S.

Election. Journal of Social Issues. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.70070 

Cerda-Smith, J., Najafian, S., Neupert, S., & Mulvey, K. L. (2026). Daily fluctuations in adolescents’ political stress.

Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 26, e70073. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.70073

Byrd, C. M., Sas, A., Halls-Gordon, R., Cerda-Smith, J., Jackman-Ryan, S., & Patterson, J. (2026). How School Racial Climate Creates Opportunity Structures for Belonging: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 38(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10078-4  

Cerda-Smith, J., Grant, C., Yust, P.K.S, Mathews, C.J., Mulvey, K.L. (2025) “A different pair of glasses”: Impacts of a school-based antiracist program on student and teacher critical race consciousness. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 84, 102429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2025.102429  

Cerda-Smith, J. (2025). Critical Decision-Making: Bridging Critical Reflection and Critical Action. New Ideas in Psychology, 80, 101206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2025.101206

 Cerda-Smith, J., Yust, P.K.S, & Mulvey, K.L. (2024) Longitudinal associations between critical consciousness, school racial climate, and belonging in school. Applied Developmental Science, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2024.2345361

Cerda-Smith, J., Yust, P. K. S., Weeks, M. S., Asher, S. R., & Mulvey, K. L. (2024). A novel approach for evaluating a schoolwide antiracist curriculum intervention. AERA Open, 10, 23328584231223476. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584231223476 

funding

We extend our sincere appreciation to the following organizations for their support:  

New Faculty Initiative Grant, College of Arts and Sciences, Illinois State University (2026-2027)

American Psychological Association, Division 15 Policy Grant (2023-2024)

American Education Research Association, Education Research Service Project Grant (2020-2021)