Dr. Zena R. Mello is an Assistant Professor of Psychology. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognition and Development at the University of California, Berkeley, a M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Mello has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, and the American Educational Research Association. She has also been honored with an Outstanding Dissertation Award and Volunteer of the Year designation, and appointed to the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development as the Young Scholar Representative.

Dr. Mello’s research focuses on factors that promote well-being in racial/ethnic minority and low-socioeconomic status (SES) adolescents, with an emphasis on (a) time perspective, a cognitive-motivational concept that comprises thoughts and attitudes toward the past, the present, and the future and (b) perceptions of barriers to school and work given demographic group membership. She employs qualitative and quantitative methodologies to address the following research questions:  How do adolescents’ perspectives on time promote healthy decisions and behaviors toward school and work?  How may time perspective be measured reliably and validly? How are adolescents in the United States, Chile, and Germany similar or different from one another in time perspective? How do adolescents’ perceptions of barriers to school and work due to SES, racial/ethnic, and gender contribute toward academic outcomes?

Representative Publications

Mello, Z. R., Bhadare, D. K., Fearn, E. J., Galaviz, M., Hartmann, E. S., & Worrell, F. C. (in press). The window, the river, and the novel: Examining             adolescents’ conceptualizations of time perspective as the past, the present, and the future. Adolescence.

Mello, Z. R., Worrell, F. C, & Andretta, J. R. (2009). Variation in how frequently adolescents think about the past, the present, and the future in                     relation to academic achievement. Research on Child and Adolescent Development, 2, 173-183.

Mello, Z. R. (2009). Racial/ethnic group and socioeconomic status variation in educational and occupational expectations from adolescence to                         adulthood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 494-504.

Mello, Z. R. (2008). Gender variation in developmental trajectories of educational and occupational expectations and attainment from adolescence to             adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1069-1080.

Mello, Z. R. & Worrell, F. C. (2008). Gender variation in extracurricular activity participation and perceived life chances in Trinidad and Tobago                     adolescents.  Psyche [Psykhe], 2, 91-102.

Mello, Z. R., & Swanson, D. P. (2007). Gender differences in African American adolescents' personal, educational, and occupational expectations and perceptions of neighborhood quality.  Journal of Black Psychology, 33, 150-168.

Mello, Z. R., & Worrell, F. C. (2006). Time perspective, age, gender, and academic achievement in academically talented adolescents. Journal for             the Education of the Gifted, 29, 271-289.