Brett Laursen

Professor and Graduate Studies Coordinator Ph.D. (Child Psychology) 1989 University of Minnesota Contact Information: Office: Education and Science 270 Telephone: (954) 236-1121 Fax: (954) 236-1242 E-mail: laursen@fau.edu

General Research Interests

Brett Laursen's research concerns parent-child and peer relationships during childhood and adolescence. He is currently involved in several longitudinal projects. The first study concerns children, initially identified by their peers as aggressive or withdrawn during elementary school, who have been followed through middle school and into high school. This inquiry focuses on the role parent-child and friend relationships play in shaping adjustment and developmental trajectories. Professor Ken Rubin of the University of Maryland directs this project. The second study concerns a diverse sample of South Florida youth, their parents, and their friends. This inquiry focuses on normative changes in family and friend relationships across the adolescent years, and will help us to better understand how relationships shape adolescent social and academic competence. Professor Laursen is Docent Professor of Social Developmental Psychology at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and is a member of the Finnish Center of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research, where he collaborates on several longitudinal studies under the direction of Professor Jari-Erik Nurmi. Collaborative projects are underway in Sweden, India, and throughout North America, addressing topics such as homophily in friend and romantic partner relationships, the interplay between personality and peer relationships, and individual differences in trajectories of relationship closeness and conflict. Brett Laursen has received research support from the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the US National Institute of Mental Health, and the Jacobs Foundation. Professor Laursen is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association (Division 7, Developmental) and a Fellow and Charter Member of the Association for Psychological Science, and the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Örebro Universitet, Sweden. He is currently Editor of the Methods and Measures section of the International Journal of Behavioral Development.

Representative Publications

Popp, D., Laursen, B., Burk, W. J., Kerr, M., & Stattin, M. (in press). Modeling homophily over time with an actor-partner interdependence model. Developmental Psychology.

Pursell, G. R., Laursen, B., Rubin, K. H., Booth-LaForce, C., & Rose-Krasnor, L. (in press). Gender differences in patterns of association between prosocial behavior, personality, and externalizing problems. Journal of Research in Personality.

Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Laursen, B. (Eds.) (in press). Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups. New York: Guilford.

Adams, R.E., & Laursen, B. (2007). The correlates of conflict: Disagreement is not always detrimental. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 445-458.

Laursen, B., Bukowski, W.M., Aunola, K., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2007). Friendship moderates prospective associations between social isolation and adjustment problems in young children. Child Development, 78, 1395-1404.

Laursen, B., Furman, W., & Mooney, K.S. (2006). Predicting interpersonal competence and self-worth from adolescent relationships and relationship networks: Person-centered and variable-centered perspectives. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 572-600.

Laursen, B. (2005). Dyadic and group perspectives on close relationships [special issue]. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29(2)

Laursen, B., & Graziano, W. G. (Eds.) (2002). Social exchange in development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development(No. 95). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Laursen, B., Pulkkinen, L., & Adams, R. (2002). The antecedents and correlates of agreeableness in adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 38, 591-603.

Shulman, S., & Laursen, B. (2002). Adolescent perceptions of conflict in interdependent and disengaged friendships. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 12, 353-372.

Adams, R., & Laursen, B. (2001). The organization and dynamics of adolescent conflict with parents and friends. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 97-110.