Stephanie M Reich

Professor, Education
School of Education

Child Development, Parenting, Peer Interactions, Media, Program Evaluation

Google Scholar Profile

Fellow, American Psychological Association
Fellow, Society for Community Research and Action
Fellow, Developmental Psychology (APA)
Fellow, Society for Media Psychology and Technology

Biography

Stephanie M. Reich earned her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Reich's research is focuses on understanding and improving the social context of children’s lives. As such, her empirical investigations center on two contributors to children’s socialization: parents and peers. The bulk of her interest examines parent and peer interactions in early childhood with additional research investigating peer interactions in adolescence. Her professional goal is to illuminate how parents and peers affect children’s socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical development with the aim of creating interventions to promote physical and mental health and academic success.


The bulk of Dr. Reich's work explores direct and indirect influences (i.e., transactions) on the child, specifically through the family, online, and school environment. Her research on the family has focused on parenting behaviors and the direct and moderational influences of maternal knowledge, efficacy, support, and home and community environment on development. Dr. Reich has also been involved in peer research where she has been examining the role of individual behaviors (e.g., aggression, emotional regulation, prosocial behavior) and peer interactions (e.g., in-person and on-line) on range of child outcomes.

Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Award for Service, UC Irvine
Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Fostering of Undergraduate Research, UC Irvine
Distinguished Early Career Applied Contributions to Media Psychology and Technology Award, Division 46 American Psychological Association
Early Career Award, Society for Community Research and Action (division 27 of APA)
Dean’s Honoree for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching - Department of Education, UCI
Newbrough Award for Academic Writing
Julius Seeman Award for Academic and Professional Excellence
National Institutes of Health’s Office of Loan Repayment and Scholarship Award for Pediatric Research

Reich, S.M., Dore, R., Krager, A., Chen, A.Y., Mayfield, K., Franza, D., & Cabrera, N. (in press). The bidirectional relationship of parenting stress, media use for behavior management, and children’s behavior problems from 9 to 30 months. Developmental Psychology.

Alonso, A., Cabrera, N, Spinard, T., & Reich, S.M. (in press). Maternal and paternal sensitive parenting at 9 months and children’s socioemotional competence and executive function at age 3. Parenting, Online preprint. doi: 10.1080/15295192.2025.2571523

Reich, S.M., Starks, A., Su, Z. (2025). One Size Does Not Fit All: The importance of development in digital design and utilization. In C. James & M. Ito (Eds). Youth Wellbeing in a Technology Rich World. MIT Press.

Reich, S.M. & Madigan, S. (2025). Parenting in a rapidly evolving digital age. (p. 371-377) In D. Christakis & L. Hale (Eds.). Children and Screens: A Handbook on Digital Media and the Development, Health, and Well-being of Children and Adolescents. Springer.

Reich, S.M., Aladé, F., Cingel, D., Uhls, Y., Takeuchi, L., & Warren, L. (2025). Media and Parenting: Current findings and future directions. (p. 379-385). In D. Christakis & L. Hale (Eds.). Children and Screens: A Handbook on Digital Media and the Development, Health, and Well-being of Children and Adolescents. Springer.

Alonso, A., Cabrera, N.J., Kerlow, M.A., & Reich, S.M. (2025). Mothers’ and fathers’ emotion socialization: Longitudinal relations with toddlers’ social competence. Infant Behavior and Development, 78, 102034.

Hernandez, J. M., Ben-Joseph, E.P, Reich, S.M. & Charmaraman, L. (2025). Parental digital media monitoring: US family characteristics and early adolescent social technology use. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 33, 759-776. doi: 10.1007/s10826-023-02734-6

Renick, J., Reich, S.M., & Pham, H. (2025). Towards developmentally informed school climate research. Contemporary School Psychology, 29, 695-714.

Yeo, G-H., Reich, S.M., Liaw, N., Yee, E, & Chia, Y.M. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analysis of digital mental health literacy interventions on mental health. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), 26, e51268.

Starks, A., & Reich, S. M. (2024). Children’s sensemaking of algorithms and data flows across YouTube and social media. Information and Learning Sciences, 125(9), 673-692.

Madigan, S. & Reich, S.M., (2023). Not all things are created equal: Consideration of developmental stage is essential to the debate on the impacts of screens use. JAMA Pediatrics. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.3670

Renick, J. & Reich, S.M. (2024). Elevating student voices and addressing their needs: Using youth participatory action research to improve school climate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Research, 39(6), 1664-1692. doi: 10.1177/07435584231215448

Callahan, M. & Reich, S.M. (2021). Mobile app features that scaffold pre-school learning: Verbal feedback and leveling designs, British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(2), 785-806 doi: 10.1111/bjet.13055

Xu, Y., Yau, J.C. & Reich, S.M., (2021). Press, Swipe, and Read: Do interactive features facilitate engagement and learning with e-Books? Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 37(1), 212-225. doi: 10.1111/jcal.12480

Yau, J., Reich, S.M. & Lee, T.Y. (2021). Coping with stress through texting: An experimental study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(3),565-571. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.004 PMID: 32798096

Reimer, M., Reich, S.M., Evans, S., Nelson, G., & Prilleltensky, I. (2020). Community Psychology: In pursuit of liberation and wellbeing. (3rd edition) London: Palgrave.

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=5673

Last updated
02/26/2026