Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002 - Human & Community Development
M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1999- Human & Community Development
B.S., Allegheny College, 1997 - Psychology

• 2006   National Family Life Extension Specialists Early Achievement Award
• 2006  Innovations in Student Development Award, Minnesota College Personnel Association
• 2006   College of Human Ecology Award for Innovation and Mission Advancement, University of Minnesota
• 2005 New Career Excellence Award, College of Human Ecology

Promoting Positive Family Development, Strengthening Families, Normative Adolescent and College Student Development, and Parenting Adolescents and College Students

In consultation with the instructor, the following opportunities may be available:
FSoS 2191/3191/4191: Independent Study in Family Social Science
FSoS 4294: Internship in Family Social Science
FSoS 5193/8193: Directed Study in Family Social Science

My research and discovery attempts a paradigm shift away from the historically negative model of youth risk-taking behaviors to a normative model of youth exploration, one that sees this behavior as functional, intentional and part of an active process of identity formation.

Study of Healthy Youth Experimentation – This project includes collecting focus group data from teenagers and parents of teenagers from across Minnesota, to better understand youths’ experiences experimenting with a variety of behaviors, and the experiences of parents raising youth who are exploring. Next, these data were used to develop and pilot a self report measure of youth risk-taking designed to: (1) get rich descriptive information on the context in which youth experimentation occurs, and (2) begin to identify the factors that determine whether experimentation is healthy and functional (i.e. promotes positive development) or whether it is simply dangerous (i.e. prevents or interferes with positive development).

Outreach and engagement project web page: http://fsos.cehd.umn.edu/projects/parentingteens.html

Teen-Link - A searchable database of books, journal articles and web sites on teen issues.www.teenlink.umn.edu

My outreach and engagement focuses on developing resources to help parents understand normative adolescent and college student development and communicate with their adolescent and college student around risk-taking behaviors, and training professionals in this area of research. I am currently involved in four key projects.

1. I am partnering with Marjorie Savage, Director of the Parent Program at the University of Minnesota to develop an on-line course for parents of college students, Seminar for Parents: Alcohol use on campus (http://projects.cehd.umn.edu/parentseminar/). Parents can enroll in this course at: http://projects.cehd.umn.edu/parentseminar/onlinePortal/
2. I am part of a national workgroup to compile and develop age-paced newsletters for parents, starting prenatally and continuing through adolescence.
3. In collaboration with a team of Extension Educators, we are expanding and evaluating the Teen Talk fact sheet series, and developing take-and-teach lessons, designed to be used by professionals and volunteers in a one-hour session with parents of teenagers (http://www.parenting.umn.edu/programs/familiesWithTeens/teenTalk/).
4. In collaboration with a team of Extension Educators, we are developing online research updates for professionals, What's new with teenagers and their families? Research update for professionals.

Willoughby, B., & Dworkin, J. (in press). The relationships between emerging adults’ expressed desire to marry and frequency of participation in risk behaviors. Youth & Society.

Dworkin, J., & Larson, R. (2006). Adolescents’ negative experiences in organized youth activities. Journal of Youth Development [Online], 1(3). Available at: http://www.nae4ha.org/directory/jyd/index.htm

Marczak, M., Dworkin, J., Skuza, J., & Beyer, J. (2006). What’s up? What young teens and parents want from youth programs. New Directions in Youth Development: Theory, Research, and Practice, 112, 45-56.

Dworkin, J., & Walker, S. K. (2006). Successfully navigating the Extension job market. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 98, 38-40.

Senyurekli, A. R., Dworkin, J., & Dickinson, J. (2006). Online professional development for Extension Educators. Journal of Extension [Online], 44(3).  Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2006june/rb1.shtml

Dworkin, J., & Lee, C-Y. S. (2005). Individuation revisited: Implications for parent education. Journal of Extension [Online], 43(6). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2005december/rb8.shtml

Dworkin, J. (2005). Risk-taking as developmentally appropriate experimentation for college students. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20, 219-241.

Dworkin, J. B., & Karahan, A. (2005). Parents Forever: Evaluation of a divorce education curriculum. Journal of Extension[Online], 43(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2005february/rb6.shtml

Dworkin, J., & Bremer, K. L. (2004). "If you want to win, you have to learn to get along:"Youth talk about their participation in extracurricular activities. The Prevention Researcher, 11, 14-16.

Dworkin, J. B., Larson, R., & Hansen, D. (2003). Adolescents' accounts of growth experiences in youth activities. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32, 17-26.