CAMPBELL LEAPER
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
B.A., Boston University
Distinguished Professor of Psychology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Office: Room 355 Social Sciences 2
E-mail: cam@ucsc.edu
Campbell Leaper is a developmental and social psychologist investigating gender and sexism during development. His research program investigates the behaviors, attitudes, self-concepts, and social-interactive contexts that create gender divisions in people’s lives from childhood into adulthood—and perpetuate systemic gender inequalities in society.
Themes addressed in Professor Leaper's research projects: sexist attitudes in relationships; gender-based discrimination and academic motivation; ethnic-racial identity and gender attitudes; and gender-related variations in communication in family and peer contexts. (Please go to his Research page for more information about past and ongoing projects in his Gender Development Research Lab.)
Professor Leaper is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, a Member of the Society for Research in Child Development, and a Member of the Society for Research on Adolescence. Also, he is the recipient of the Golden Apple Teaching Award and the Martin Chemers Award for Outstanding Research. Furthermore, Professor Leaper was co-founder and organizer of the biennial Gender Development Research Conference (2001-2020).
Professor Leaper advises and collaborates with graduate students in the developmental psychology program. For information on graduate and undergraduate students previously or currently working with Professor Leaper, please go to the links to his Students and Photos pages.
You can make a tax-deductible donation to support Professor Leaper's research and his students at this LINK.
Recent Publications
Current or former graduate advisees in bold Click on title for link to article
- Gutierrez, B. C., & Leaper, C. (2025). Ambivalent sexism linked to Mexican-heritage ethnic identity and gender messages from older relatives, familial peers, and nonfamilial peers. Journal of Latinx Psychology.
- Leaper, C., (2024). The development of ambivalent sexism: Proposals for an expanded model. British Journal of Developmental Psychology.
- Leaper, C., & Gutierrez, B. C. (2024). Sexism and gender-based discrimination. In M.-K. Lei, E. Neblett, & W. Troop-Gordon (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2nd ed.).
- Starr, C. S., & Leaper, C. (2024). That’s not me: (Dis)cordanance between pSTEM stereotypes and self-concepts predicts high school students’ pSTEM identity. Social Psychology of Education.
- Gutierrez, B. C., & Leaper, C. (2024). Linking ambivalent sexism to violence-against-women attitudes and behaviors: A three-level meta-analytic review. Sexuality & Culture.
- Starr, C. R., & Leaper, C. (2023). Gender, race, perceived representation, and stereotyped attitudes in relation to undergraduates' pSTEM identity and motivation. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.
- Wilson, A. R., & Leaper, C. (2023). Do ethnic-racial identity dimensions moderate the relations of outgroup discrimination and ingroup marginalization to self-esteem in Black and Latinx undergraduates? Race & Social Problems.
- Shirefley, T. A., & Leaper, C. (2022). Mothers' and fathers' science-related talk with daughters and sons while reading life and physical science books. Frontiers in Psychology.
- Leaper, C. (2022). Origins and consequences of childhood gender segregation: Towards an integrative developmental systems model. In D. P. VanderLaan & W. I. Wong (Eds.), Gender and sexuality development: Contemporary theory and research. New York: Springer.
- Gutierrez, B. C., & Leaper, C. (2022). Reconstructing culture: A latent profile analysis of Mexican-heritage young women's cultural practices, gender values, and ethnic identity. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology.
- Leaper, C., Gutierrez, B. C., & Farkas, T. (2022). Ambivalent sexism and perceived relationship qualities in young adult heterosexual dating couples. Emerging Adulthood.
- Gutierrez, B. C., Halim, M. L. D., & Leaper, C. (2022). Variations in recalled familial messages about gender in relation to emerging adults’ gender, ethnic background, and current gender attitudes. Journal of Family Studies.
In the News
- New York Times (2024, Feb 10). "For Gen Z, an Age-Old Question: Who Pays for Dates?"
- UCSC News (2021, Dec 2). "Holiday gifts that challenge gender stereotypes can support children's development."
- Under the Cortex (2021, Nov 15). "Toys, tots, and gender." Association for Psychological Science's Under the Cortex podcast.
- Los Angeles Times (2021, Oct 9). "California will require large retailers to provide gender-neutral sections."
- Los Angeles Times (2019, Sep 25). "These L.A. parents don't want to assign a gender to their baby, so the government did for them."
- Washington Post (2018, Oct 4), "Beyond ‘no means no’: What most parents aren’t teaching their sons about sexual consent."
- New York Times (2018, June 1), "In the #MeToo Era, raising boys to be good guys."
- Yahoo! News (2017, Dec 19), "Should boys play with dolls?"
- Slate (2017, Nov 6), "Sexism starts in childhood."
- New York Times (2017, June 2), "How to raise a feminist son."
- USA Today (2017, Mar 13), "Gender reveals: Insanely popular — and also outdated?"
- KGO-810 (2015, July 17). "DreX and Heather: Gender-neutral clothing, toys, and names with UC Santa Cruz Professor Campbell Leaper"
- Psychology Today (2014, May 28). "#YesAllGirls too."
- BBC News (2013, Nov 12), "Prattle of the sexes: Do women talk more than men?"
- Santa Cruz Sentinel (2013, Jan 21), "UCSC psychology study reveals students have traditional marriage preferences."
- Jezebel (2012, Dec 4), "Nobody wants heterosexual women to propose marriage (including heterosexual women)."
- CBS News (2008, May 15), "Sexual harassment a hurdle for teen girls."