Education and Child Development
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450
Professional Summary
As a developmental scientist, Dr. Prokasky is interested in understanding the biological and environmental influences on early childhood development. Dr. Prokasky is passionate about applying research and making data-driven recommendations to practitioners and policymakers to improve the lives of vulnerable children.
Dr. Prokasky has strong quantitative skills and specializes in longitudinal modeling, multilevel models, latent class/profile analysis, analysis of variance (with and without repeated measures), and multiple regression. Dr. Prokasky has an extensive background in running federally funded, multi-site research projects, and working with external stakeholders and funders to design and implement equitable program evaluations using both quantitative and qualitative data.
Education
- PhD, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 2019
- MS, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 2012
- BA, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 2007
Research Interests and Projects
- Development within the context of the family system
- Family economics and poverty
- School readiness
- Childcare access, affordability, and quality
- Sleep and bedtime routines in children
- Child temperament
Selected Publications (within the last 5 years)
- Iruka, I. U., Sheridan, S., Koziol, N., Schumacher, R., Kerby, H., Prokasky, A., & Choi, D.-H. (2022). Examining malleable factors that explain the end of kindergarten racial/ethnic gaps. Elementary School Journal, 122(3).
- Sheridan, S. M., Knoche, L. L., Boise, C., Witte, A., Koziol, N., Prokasky, A., ... & Kerby, H. (2021). Relationships as malleable factors for children’s social-behavioral skills from preschool to grade 1: A longitudinal analysis. Early Education and Development, 1-21.
- Prokasky, A., Fritz, M., Molfese, V. J., & Bates, J. E. (2019). Night-to-night variability in the bedtime routine predicts sleep in toddlers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 49, 18-27.
- Acar, I.H., Frohn, S., Prokasky, A., Molfese, V. J., & Bates, J. E. (2019). Examining the associations between performance based rating of focused attention in toddlers: Are we measuring the same constructs? Infant and Child Development, 28(1), e2116.
- Prokasky, A., Lecannelier, F., Sanchez-Perez, N. & Gartstein, M. A. (2018). Sleep, temperament, and behavior problems. In M. A. Gartstein & S. Putnam (Eds.), Toddlers, Parents and Culture (pp. 160-169).
- Acar, I. Prokasky, A., Linhares, M. B. M., Lecannelier, F., & Putnam, S. (2018). Parental responses, toddler temperament, and behavior problems. In M. A. Gartstein & S. Putnam (Eds.), Toddlers, Parents and Culture (pp. 183-190).
- Huitron, B., Dominguez-Sandoval, G., Prokasky, A., Gonzalez-Salinas, C., & Han, S. Y. (2018). Cross-cultural differences in children’s sleep. In M. A. Gartstein & S. Putnam (Eds.), Toddlers, Parents and Culture (pp. 100-110).
- Gartstein, M. A., Prokasky, A., Bell, M., Calkins, S., Bridgett, D. J., Braungart-Rieker, J., Leerkes, E., Cheatham, C. L., Eiden, R. D., Mize, K. D., Jones, N. A., Mireault, G., & Seamon, E. (2017). Latent profile and cluster analysis of infant temperament: Comparisons across person-centered approaches. Developmental Psychology, 53(10), 1811-1825.
- Prokasky, , Rudasill, K., Molfese, V., Putnam, S., Gartstein, M., & Rothbart, M.K. (2017). Identifying child temperament types using cluster analysis in three samples. Journal of Research in Personality, 67, 190-201.
Professional Affiliations
- Society for Research in Child Development
- International Congress on Infant Studies
Awards
- Folsom Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award, University of Nebraska- Lincoln (2021)