The Berger Institute at Claremont McKenna College provides the intellectual and experiential home for research and programming focused on contemporary social issues. The Berger Institute produces and disseminates high quality research with implications for policy, practical applications, and theory.
The central theme for our research and programming is How We Thrive. Our research focuses on understanding risk and resilience factors, while our programming emphasizes the development and cultivation of skills that are necessary for successful adaptation in a rapidly changing society. We focus on individual and social factors that impact how children develop, how families thrive, and how people navigate major transitions and milestones. Examples of our work include understanding how to nurture the well-being of individuals from a wide range of social-economic and demographic backgrounds (including gender, culture, race, age), the changing nature of gender and family roles, and understanding the demographic, technological, financial, and political changes impacting our society today.
Berger Alumni Panel Discuss Graduate School
On October 18, 2024 The Berger Institute invited Alumni Dr. Frida Liu ‘04, Joceyln Chang ‘23, and Isabel Mendiola ‘18 to hold a graduate student panel. Each panelist gave personal insight into their experiences obtaining their graduate degrees in psychology, medicine,...
Cara Hagan: Where Ritual and Civic Practice Meet
The Berger Institute teamed up with the Gould Center for Humanistic Rights to invite Cara Hagan to the Athenaeum on January 29th, 2024. Cara Hagan, Associate Professor and Program Director for the MFA in Contemporary Theatre Performance at The New School, describes...
Changes in Maternal Depression and Children’s Behavior Problems: Investigating the Role of COVID-19-Related Stressors, Hair Cortisol, and Dehydroepiandrosterone
The COVID-19 pandemic was a stressful time to be a parent, and every family reacted differently to the huge changes in their everyday lives. With this in mind, Dr. Stacey Doan and colleagues were interested in investigating COVID-19-related stressors and how mothers...
Are Negative Emotions Bad for Our Health? Not as Much as We Think
From the angry CEO in the movies who has a heart attack to the numerous articles on WebMD suggesting why people should control their anxiety, negative emotions are commonly seen as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). While research has shown this is indeed...