Michael Cunningham, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Psychology

Suzanne and Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow | Associate Provost, Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
(504) 862-3308
Office Address
3016 Percival Stern Hall
School of Science & Engineering
CV
Cunningham headshot

Education & Affiliations

Ph.D., 1994, Emory University

Biography

Joint Appointment: African and African Diaspora Studies Program

Courses

Advanced Adolescent Psychology: PSYC 715
Children of Color: PSYC 716
Research Methods in Urban Communities: PSYC 439
Adolescent Psychology: PSYC 339
Introduction to African American Psychology: PSYC 331
Black Youth: Developmental Perspectives: PSYC 461

Research

Professor Cunningham 's primary research interests include examining adolescent development in diverse contexts. Specifically, he examines resilience and vulnerability in African American children and adolescents. Dr. Cunningham is not currently accepting graduate students this cycle.

Selected Publications

Brock, J. E., Brown, R. P., Johns, N. E., Cosson, K., Cunningham, M., & Raj, A. (2025). In honor culture linked with depression: Examining replicability and robustness of a disputed association at the state and individual levels. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221251348586
  
Cunningham, M. (2025). Reflections on Black leadership in graduate education at a private historically White institution. In H. T., Frierson, (Ed.) Voices of Black Graduate Deans in Advancing Graduate Education at Historically White Universities, pp. 191-208. Emerald Publishing, UK.
  
Chae, D. H., Lewis, A., Cunningham, M., Reed, E., Rogers, L. O., Skeer, M., Martz, C., & Liu, C. H. (2025) Promoting ColorBRAVE conversations in families: Leveraging early childhood racial socialization to advance public health justice. In T. Yip (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Ethnic and Racial Discrimination and youth development, chapter 22. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.
  
Lee, X. W., Wing, S. A., White, A., Hodges, J., & Cunningham, M. (2024). The healing power of the village: Race-related stress and coping among Black American adolescents in urban and racially homogenous communities. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 34,1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2023.2263514
  
Yates, A. K., Obus, E., Peele, H., Petrovic, L., Wing, S., & Cunningham, M. (2024). The function of power: A herstorical model of power, trauma, and policing African Americans. Psychological trauma: theory, research, practice, and policy, 16(3), 363.
  
Cunningham, M., Swanson, D. P., Youngblood, J. II, Seaton, E. K., Francois, S., & Ashford, C. (2023). Spencer’s phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST): Charting its origin and impact. American Psychologist, 78(4), 524–534. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001051
  
Chae, D., H., Chung, K., Cunningham, D. J., Martz, C. D., Smith, E. A., & Cunningham, M. (2023). Racism, stigma, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In Duncan, D. T., Kawachi, I., & Morse, S. S. (Eds.), The social epidemiology of COVID-19. Oxford University Press.
  
Cunningham, M., Francois, S., & Scott, K. (2022). Perceived parenting practices associate with African American adolescents’ future expectations. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2022.11.002.

Hodge, J. D., & Cunningham, M. (2023). Academic self-esteem as a buffer between negative youth experiences and academic achievement in African American adolescents. Youth & Society, 55(5), 824-847. 0044118X211063919.
  
Cunningham, M. (2022). Bridges of developmental science. Research in Human Development, 19 (1-2), 1-4. DOI: 10.1080/15427609.2022.2117678