David Bearison

Developmental Psychology

office: 6304.06
phone: 212.817.8716
email: dbearison@gc.cuny.edu

Biographical Sketch
David J. Bearison, Ph.D.

David Bearison is Professor of Psychology in the Doctoral Programs in Developmental Psychology, (Chair, 1992-98), Educational Psychology, the Concentration in Health Psychology, and Founding Director of the Concentration in Psychology and Law at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Medical Psychology in Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and Attending at the Children's Hospital of New York (CHONY), Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He also is counselor and camp psychologist at CHONY's camp for children who have cancer (a position he is particularly proud of).

He received his doctorate in clinical and developmental psychology from Clark University where he was a Scholar and then a Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health. He was a Research Fellow of the Merrill-Palmer Institute, a Clinical Intern in Psychology at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, a pre-doctoral Fellow in Pediatrics at Harvard University Medical School, a Senior Fellow in Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School, twice a Lady Davis Fellow and Visiting Professor of Psychology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, twice a Rockefeller Foundation Resident Scholar in Bellagio, Italy, and a Visiting Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society of Pediatric Psychology.

David Bearison’s research is about children's cognitive, social, and emotional development, with particular regard to their peer relations and how they understand and adjust to trauma. He has authored more than 60 studies in leading scientific journals in psychology, education, medicine, nursing, and social work. His books include Thought and Emotion (Earlbaum),"They Never Want to Tell You" -- Children Talk about Cancer (Harvard University Press), and Pediatric Psychooncology: Psychological Perspectives on Children with Cancer (Oxford University Press). His latest book, Collaborative Cognition: Children Negotiating Ways of Knowing (Ablex) considers new methods of studying how children jointly negotiate innovative ways of thinking and knowing. It recently was described as a "cognitive revolution" in a review in Contemporary Psychology. He presently is preparing a book for Oxford University Press about: When Treatment Fails: How Medicine Cares for Dying Children. His research has been supported by the W. T. Grant Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, the City University of New York, the U.S. Office of Education, the March of Dimes Foundation, and the Starbright Pediatric Foundation.

Dr. Bearison has served on editorial boards of leading scientific journals, including Human Development, Cognitive Development, and the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. He was a founding member of the Board of Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, the first and preeminent journal devoted to the study of gender differences and equities. He presently is on the editorial boards of The Narrative Study of Lives and International Studies on Adolescent Health. He participates on various research advisory councils of federal agencies and professional associations and is on the Health Care Advisory Board of Starbright World, a private online community for seriously ill children. He is a member of the Task Force on End-of-Life Issues for Children and Adolescents of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Bearison consults to state and local agencies, philanthropic foundations, and the courts on matters of children’s welfare and human development.

Publications: Books

Bearison, D. J. (forthcoming). When treatment fails: How medicine cares for dying children. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bearison, D. J., & Dorval, B, (with G. LeBlanc, A. Sadow, & D. Plesa and Commentary by A. Stetsenko). (2001). Collaborative cognition: Children negotiating ways of knowing. Westport, CN: Ablex.

Bearison, D. J., & Mulhern, R. K. (Eds.). (1994). Pediatric psychooncology: Psychological perspectives on children with cancer. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bearison, D. J. (1991). "They never want to tell you" -- Children talk about cancer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (1993). Translated and published as "Keiner spricht mit mir darüber" -- Krebskranke kinder erzählen von ihren efrahrungen. Munich, Germany: Droemer Knaur Verlag.

Bearison, D., & Zimiles, H. (Eds.). (1986). Thought and emotion: Developmental perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum..

Some recent journal articles and book chapters

Anderson, J., Bearison, D. J., Cohen, I. T., Kazak, A. E., Meyer, C., Sourkes, B. M., & Walco, G. W. (in press). Report of the Children and Adolescents Task Force of the Ad Hoc Committee on End-of-Life Issues, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

LeBlanc, G., & Bearison, D. J. (in press). Teaching and learning as a bi-directional activity: Investigating dyadic interacts between child teachers and child learners. Cognitive Development.

Bearison, D. J. (in press). Palliative care at the end -of-life. In R. T. Brown (Ed.), Pediatric Hematology/Oncology: A Biopsychosocial Approach. New York: Oxford University Press.

Holden, G. Bearison, D. J., Rode, D. C., Fishman-Kapiloff, M. F., Rosenberg, G, & Onghena, P. (2003). Pediatric pain and anxiety: A meta-analysis of outcomes for a behavioral telehealth intervention. Research on Social Work Practice, 13, 693-704.

Holden, G., Bearison, D. J., Rode, D., Rosenberg, G., & Fishman, M. (2002). The impact of a computer network on pediatric pain and anxiety: A randomized controlled clinical trail. Social Work in Healthcare. 36, 21-34.

Dragone, M. A., Bush, P. J., Jones, J. K., Bearison, D. J., & Kamani, S. (2002). Development and evaluation of an interactive CD-ROM for children with leukemia and their families. Patient Education and Counseling, 46, 297-307.

Bearison, D. J., Minian, N., & Granowetter, L. F. (2002). Medical management of asthma and folk medicine in an Hispanic community. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 27, 385-392.

Kameny, R., & Bearison, D. J. (2002). Cancer narratives of adolescents and young adults: A quantitative and qualitative analysis. Children’s Health Care, 31, 143-173.

Granowetter, L., Polgreen, D., & Bearison, D. J. (2001). Hospital staff caregivers’ responses to patient death. Medical and Pediatric Oncology, 37, 300.

Bearison, D. J. (2000). Contributions of developmental psychologists to pediatric oncology. Developmental Psychologist: Newsletter of the Division of Developmental Psychology of the American Psychological Association, 1-6.

Kameny, R. R., & Bearison, D. J. (1999). Illness narratives: Discursive constructions of self in pediatric oncology. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 14, 73-79.

Bearison, D. J. (1998). Pediatric psychology and children's medical problems. In I. E. Sigel & K. A. Renninger (Vol. Eds.), Child psychology in practice, W. Damon (Series Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed.) (pp. 635-712). New York: Wiley.