Psychology Professor Presented Posters at Child Development Society Meeting

Dr. Mandy Medvin, Westminster College professor of psychology, presented two posters at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development April 1-5 in Denver.

"The effect of coping and rejection sensitivity on college student aggression" was co-authored with 2008 Westminster graduate Beth Porter and Dr. Charisse Nixon, assistant professor at Penn State Erie-The Behrend College and director of research and evaluation with the Ophelia Project, an organization that does school intervention for the prevention of social aggression.

Medvin said, "This poster stemmed from my spring 2007 sabbatical. It examined how physical aggression, relational aggression, and pro-social behavior (kindness, sharing, cooperation) were influenced by college students' sensitivity to rejection and ability to cope with social stress. We found that higher rejection sensitivity was related to higher levels of relational aggression and lower levels of pro-social behavior. More adaptive coping strategies also led to a greater frequency of pro-social behavior but, in this study, did not influence aggression. This research is valuable for understanding causes of aggressive behavior and how to encourage more positive behaviors among youth."

Rebecca Rihs, a 2008 Westminster graduate, was the first author with Medvin on the second poster, "Age-related differences in moral reasoning for conflict between friends and non-friends."

"This study examined the influence of friendship on moral reasoning in 176 fifth- and ninth-grade students," Medvin explained. "Findings showed that older children rated moral conflicts (e.g., cheating) with friends as more okay and justified their acts based on fairness, while disagreements with non-friends were rated more severely and based on rules or social norms. Younger children evaluated moral disagreements between friends and non-friends similarly. Based on this research, schools should take friendship into account when discussing moral issues with children."

Medvin, who holds the Gibson-Drinko Distinguished Chair of Psychology, has been with Westminster since 1992. She earned an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Contact Medvin at (724) 946-7360 or e-mail medvinm@westminster.edu for more information.

Dr. Mandy Medvin