Rashmita Mistry headshot

Rashmita S. Mistry

Moore Hall 3302A
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521

P: (310) 825-6569

W: www.cuesi.seis.ucla.edu/

Office Hours

By appointment

Rashmita S. Mistry

Professor

Rashmita S. Mistry, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist whose research examines how children’s and adolescents’ socioeconomic and racialized environments shape their developmental competencies (i.e., psychological, social, and academic outcomes); how youth perceive, reason about, and experience social and economic inequality; and the role that socialization processes — at home and school — play in shaping their beliefs, identities, and behaviors.

Departments

Programs

Areas of Expertise and Advising Interests

Research Centers

Titles and Positions

  • Professor of Education
  • Director, Children’s Understanding of Economic and Social Inequality Lab

Education

  • Ph.D., Child Development and Family Relationships, University of Texas-Austin 1999
  • M.S., Experimental Psychology, San Jose State University, 1992
  • B.A., Psychology (Minor in Child Development), San Jose State University, 1989

Awards, Honors and Fellowships

  • Board of Directors, MDRC. 2023 –
  • Elected Member-at-Large of Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development. 2017-2023.
  • CSES Award for Distinguished Leadership in Psychology. Committee on Socioeconomic Status, American Psychological Association. 2023.
  • Elected Fellow, Association of Psychological Science. 2017.
  • (Inaugural) Lena Astin Faculty Mentoring Award, Department of Education, 2017. University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Outstanding Teaching & Mentoring Award (2016). Society for the Study of Psychological Issues.
  • Distinguished Teaching & Mentorship Award, Department of Education, 2010. University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Select Publications

  • Gershoff, E. T., Mistry, R. S., & Crosby, D. C., Co-Editors. (2014). Societal Contexts of Child Development: Pathways of Influence and Implication for Practice and Policy. Oxford University Press.
  • Kinnard, L., Mistry, R. S., McGuire, L., & Elenbaas, L. (accepted). “The Ball Is in His Court. It’s up to Him.”: Parental Communication About Meritocracy. Developmental Psychology.
  • Mistry, R.S., Elenbaas, L., McGuire, L., & Patton, S. (forthcoming, 2025). Growing Up Amid Economic Inequality: Children’s and Adolescents’ Reasoning, Perceptions, and Experiences of Inequality and Economic Hardship. To appear in: G. Carlo, D. Lapsley, D. Liable, & A. Davis (Eds), Handbook on the Developmental Science of Social Justice. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Kimura, A. M., Mistry, R. S., Durazi, A., Lobo, F. M., Nguyen, S. T., Saavedra, J. A., Lee, R. M., Huynh, V. W., Stein, G. L., & the Asian American Families Study Collaborative. (2025, online). Engaging or waiting: Variations in Asian American parents’ motivations and approaches to racial socialization during middle childhood and early adolescence. Developmental Psychology.
  • Mistry, R. S., Hazelbaker, T., Montoro, J. P., Yo, J., & Kimura A. M. (2025) Nurturing the healthy development of chidlren of color in a racialized society. In M. H. Bornstein, & P. E. Shah (Eds.), Handbook of pediatric psychology, developmental behavioral pediatrics, and developmental science. American Psychological Association.
  • Mistry, R. S., Strassberger, M., Avila, O., Metz, R., Yassine, A., & Hill, C. J. (2022). Understanding Family’s Experiences of Poverty: Results of a Qualitative Study Exploring the Perspectives of Children and Their Parents. OPRE Report 2022-67. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  • Mistry, R.S., Elenbaas, L. (2021). It’s All in the Family: Parents’ Economic Worries and Youth’s Perceptions of Financial Stress and Educational Outcomes. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 50, 724–738.
  • White, E. S., & Mistry, R.S. (2019). Teachers’ civic socialization practices and upper-elementary school-age children’s civic engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 23, 183-202.
  • Nenadal, L., & Mistry, R.S. (2018). Teachers’ reflections on using an inquiry-based approach to talk with young children about wealth and poverty. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42, 44-54.
  • Mistry, R. S., Nenadal, L., Griffin, K. M., Zimmerman, F. J., Cochran, H. A., Thomas, C.-A. & Wilson, C. (2016). Children’s reasoning about poverty, economic mobility, and helping behavior: Results of a curriculum intervention in the early school years. Journal of Social Issues, 72, 760–788.