Faculty photo

Nestor Tulagan

he/him/his

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling & Human Development

PhD, University of California, Irvine, 2020

Office Location
491 LeChase Hall
Telephone
(585) 275-6355
Web Address
Website

Office Hours: By appointment

Mentorship and Advising Statement (PDF)

Research Overview

Professor Tulagan’s (he/him/his) primary research examines how parents and other social figures (siblings, teachers, peers, etc.) contribute to the development of achievement motivation and social identities of ethno-racially minoritized adolescents and emerging adults in the United States. His work addresses four interrelated questions.

  1. In what ways do ethno-racially minoritized adolescents and emerging adults develop achievement motivation for important academic domains?
  2. In what ways do adolescents and emerging adults connect their achievement motivational beliefs to their social identities (e.g., racial-ethnic and gender identities)?
  3. In what ways do social figures (i.e., parents, siblings, teachers, peers) support adolescents and emerging adults in their academic and social identity development in integrative ways (i.e., how academic socialization pairs with racial-ethnic socialization)?
  4. In what ways do social figures’ support respond to youths’ academic and psychological needs and ameliorate the negative effects of barriers like racism and socioeconomic adversity?

Professor Tulagan directs the Flourishing, Achievement Motivation, & Identity Research Lab (affectionately called the FAM&I Lab). Visit the FAM&I Lab website to learn more.

Professor Tulagan uses strength-based and promotive theoretical frameworks that highlight the cultural assets that minoritized individuals possess but are often disregarded by deficit-based research. Aligned with this commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, he has also partnered with local communities and academic programs to deliver research-based and family-informed workshops that aim to enhance parents’ educational support at home.

Professor Tulagan joined the University of Rochester in 2023, holding a joint appointment with the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education and Human Development and the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Psychology. Before joining the University of Rochester faculty, Professor Tulagan was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral (2020-23) Research Fellow at the University of California in Irvine.

Selected Publications

  • Starr, C. E., Tulagan, N. B., & Simpkins, S. D. (in press). Black and Latinx parent's STEM support matters: How patterns of parent support relate to adolescents' STEM outcomes across high school. Developmental Psychology.
  • Tulagan, N. B., Soto-Lara, S., Ramos Carranza, P., Puente, K., Pantano, A., & Simpkins, S. D. (in press). “If I can’t help, I find someone who can”: Latinx parents’ responses to math challenges. Social Psychology of Education.
  • Gülseven, Z., Puente, K., Tulagan, N., Zarrett, N., Vandell, D. L., & Simpkins, S. D. (2024). Children’s self-control as an antecedent of adolescent prosociality and adult civic engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 28(2), 178–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2022.2158827
  • Tulagan, N. B. & Eccles, J. S. (2023). Patterns of African American parents' educational involvement: Associations with adolescents' academic performance and motivational beliefs. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33, 1407–1421. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12887
  • Reich, S. M., Liu, Y., Tulagan, N., Martin, E., Dahlin, M., & Cabrera, N. (2023). Applying a family stress model to understand patterns of stress, media use, and child behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Children and Media. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2023.2187853
  • Tulagan, N. B., Puente, K., & Simpkins S. D. (2023). Latinx adolescents’ school-related science conversations with family members: Associations with adolescents’ science self-concept and task value in high school. Applied Developmental Science, 27(2), 156-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2022.2045201
  • Starr, C. R., Tulagan, N., & Simpkins, S. D. (2022). Black and Latinx adolescents’ STEM motivational beliefs: A systematic review of the literature on parent STEM support. Educational Psychology Review. 1-41 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09700-6
  • Reich, S. M., Tulagan, N., Dahlin, M., Labbaf, S., Dutt, N., Rahmani, A. (2022). Pregnant in a pandemic: Connecting perceptions of uplifts and hassles to mental health. Journal of Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053221120115
  • Reich, S., Dahlin, M., Tulagan, N., Kerlow, M., Cabrera, N., Piroutek, M. J., & Heyming, T. (2021). Caregivers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and their children’s behavior. Journal of Family Issues, 44(4), 1093-1112. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X211055511
  • Tulagan, N. & Eccles, J. S. (2021). African American mothers’ socialization strategies to address adolescent-related academic expectations and risk concerns. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30, 855–869. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-01922-6
  • Simpkins, S. D., Tulagan, N., Lee, G., Ma, T.-L., Zarrett, N., & Vandell, D. L. (2020). Children’s developing work habits from middle childhood to early adolescence: Cascading effects for academic outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 56(12), 2281–2292. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001113