News

Discover the latest achievements of the Laursen Lab.

Congratulations to Brett Laursen who was named FAU Scholar of the Year (2023-24)!

Congratulations to Sharon Faur who successfully defended her dissertation!

         Committee Members: Brett Laursen (Chair), Erika Hoff, David Bjorklund, Jaana Juvonen, Michael Maniaci

Congratulations to Michael Yoho who sucessfully defended his dissertation!

         Committee Members: Brett Laursen (Chair), Erika Hoff, David Bjorklund, Goda Kaniušonytė, Michael Maniaci

Laursen lab research featured in US News & World Report: The Perils of Not Being Attractive or Athletic 

 

Recent Student Publications

*Leggett-James, M. P., & Laursen, B. (in press). More about being fun: Making friends to maximize social status. Journal of Personality.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12899

*Faur., S., *Leggett-James, M. P., Kaniušonytė, G., Žukauskienė, R., & Laursen, B. (2024). Perceptions of relationship quality that predict friendship dissolution during childhood and adolescence: Social support matters more than negativity. Developmental Psychology, 60, 560-566. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001676

*Faur, S., *Valdes, O., Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., Boivin, M., & Laursen, B. (2024). Reconsidering the failure model: Using a genetically controlled design to assess the spread of problems from reactive aggression to internalizing symptoms through peer rejection across the primary school years. Child Development, 95(1), 261-275. doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13994

*Faur, S., Laursen, B., & Juvonen, J. (2023). Adolescents with few friend alternatives are particularly susceptible to influence from friends. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52, 637-650. doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01718-x

Laursen, B., *Leggett-James, M. P., & *Valdes, O. (2023). Relative likeability and relative popularity as sources of influence in children’s friendships. PLoS ONE, 18(5): e0283117. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283117

*Leggett-James, M. P., Eckstein, K., *Richmond, A., Noack, P., & Laursen, B. (2023). The spread of political alienation from parents to adolescent children. Journal of Family Psychology, 37, 947-953 doi.org/10.1037/fam0001098

*Leggett-James, M. P., *Faur, S., Kaniušonytė, G., Žukauskienė, R., & Laursen, B. (2023). The perils of not being attractive or athletic: Pathways to adolescent adjustment difficulties through escalating unpopularity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52, 2231-2242. doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01835-1

*Leggett-James, M. P., & Laursen, B. (2023). The consequences of social media use across the transition into adolescence: Body image and physical activity. Journal of Early Adolescence, 43(7), 947-964. doi.org/10.1177/02724316221136043

*Faur, S., & Laursen, B. (2022). Classroom seat proximity predicts friendship formation. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 796002.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.796002

Guimond, F.-A., *Altman, R., Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., & Laursen, B. (2022). The interchangeability of liking and friend nominations to measure peer acceptance and friendship. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46(4), 358–367. doi.org/10.1177/01650254221084097

Laursen, B., & *Faur, S. (2022). What does it mean to be susceptible to influence? A brief primer on peer conformity and developmental changes that affect it. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46, 222–237. doi.org/10.1177/01650254221084103

*Valdes, O. M., *Shawcross, L & Laursen, B. (2022). Being nice and being mean: Friend characteristics foreshadow changes in perceptions of relationship negativity. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 32, 314-324. doi.org/10.1111/jora.12604

*Yoho, M., *Faur S., & Laursen B. (2022). Conflict moderates the longitudinal association between aggression with classmates and popularity: Leveraging disagreements into peer status. Personality and Individual Differences, 190, 111538. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111538.

 

Laursen lab featured in the Wall Street Journal: How Children Use Conflict to Win Popularity

 

Congratulations to Brett Laursen!

On International Friendship Day (30 July), Brett was named a world expert on friends and is now the 2nd leading world expert on friendship. More details here: https://expertscape.com/ex/friends

Congratulations to Lab Member Mary Page James!

Mary Page recently passed her Comprehensive Examinations, making it official: She is a doctoral candidate.

Mary Page was awarded the Florida Atlantic University Department of Psychology Jack B. Walker Memorial Scholarship.

Mary Page successfully defended her M.A. thesis, Direct and Indirect Associations from Peer Perceptions of Being Fun to Interpersonal Outcomes During Pre- and Early Adolescence.

          Committee Members: Brett Laursen (Chair), David Bjorklund, Erika Hoff