Dr. Dunbar is an Assistant Professor in the African American Studies Department. She completed her M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and her B.A. in psychology and sociology at the University of Delaware.

Dr. Dunbar is a Developmental Scientist whose research focuses on understanding the unique developmental challenges that children of color encounter and the family processes and individual factors that influence positive adaptation in the face of these challenges. Specifically, her program of research addresses the following: (1) the detrimental effects of racial/ethnic discrimination on the social-emotional, psychological, and academic outcomes of children of color, (2) the messages parents relay about race/racism and emotions in an attempt to mitigate these effects, and (3) children's individual level protective factors such as emotional, behavioral, and physiological self-regulation, and emotion understanding. Dr. Dunbar’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Selected publications include:

Dunbar, A.S., Ahn, L.H., Coates, E.E., & Smith-Bynum, M.A. (2021). Observed dyadic racial socialization disrupts the association between frequent discriminatory experiences and emotional reactivity among Black adolescents. Child Development.

Dunbar, A.S., Lozada, F.T., & Ahn, L.H. & Leerkes, E.M. (2021). Mothers’ preparation for bias and responses to children’s distress predicts positive adjustment among Black children: An attachment perspective. Attachment and Human Development.

Dunbar, A. S., Zeytinoglu, S., & Leerkes, E. M. (2021). When is parental suppression of black children’s negative emotions adaptive? The role of preparation for racial bias and children’s resting cardiac vagal tone. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.