Lara Mayeux

• Ph.D., University of Connecticut

My primary research focus is on the development of peer relationships and friendships in adolescence and emerging adulthood. My research tends to fall into one of two broad areas. The first is understanding social power and popularity in the peer group—how it is developed, how it is maintained, and the processes by which popularity is linked to psychosocial and behavioral adjustment. Along these lines, a major theme of my current research is understanding how processes related to peer status and friendship differ for boys and girls, particularly in adolescence when salient developmental tasks such as identity development and romantic relationships intensify. The second general focus in my lab is the diversity of peer and friendship experiences among LGBT+ youth and young adults. My graduate students and I conduct research in the public schools, in the community, and in the lab, using a variety of methods (sociometric, survey, qualitative, daily diary, and experimental). 

I also collaborate on an interdisciplinary, NOAA-funded project that integrates social science and engineering to better understand the experience of tornado survivors. We explore questions related to sheltering and other protective actions, the role of caregiving and the presence of children in sheltering decisions, and coping both during and following the tornado, among other things.

• Kleiser, M., & Mayeux, L. (2021). Popularity and gender prototypicality: An experimental approach. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(1), 144-158.
• Mayeux, L., & Kleiser, M. (2020). A gender prototypicality theory of adolescent peer popularity. Adolescent Research Review, 5(3), 295-306.
• Mayeux, L., & Kraft, C. (2018). Social goals moderate the association between popularity and social behavior in middle school. Social Development, 27 (4), 699-714.
• Kraft, C., & Mayeux, L. (2018). Associations among friendship jealousy, peer status, and relational aggression in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 38(3), 385-407.
• Houser, J. J., Mayeux, L., & Cross, C. C. (2015). Peer status and aggression as predictors of dating popularity in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 44(3), 683-695.
• Mayeux, L. (2014.) Understanding popularity and relational aggression in adolescence: The role of Social Dominance Orientation. Social Development, 23(3), 502-517.