Gershoff explores how neighborhoods, schools, early childhood education settings, and public policies affect children and youths, focusing on how socioeconomic resources and exposure to violence influence them.

More specifically, Gershoff’s current research interests center on four topics: (1) how parental discipline affects child and youth development; (2) how contexts of poverty, neighborhoods, schools, and cultures affect children, youth, and families; (3) how exposure to various forms of violence (from parents, communities, and terrorism) affect child and youth development; and (4) how enriched early childhood educational environments can improve the lives of low income children and their families. Dr. Gershoff is committed to using advanced applications of structural equation modeling and hierarchical modeling to understand the dynamic and multilayered contexts of children’s lives.