Phone:(480) 727-6621
Fax: (480) 965-8544

E-mail:gary.ladd@asu.edu

Gary Ladd, PhD, 1979, University of Rochester

Developmental

Research Interests: Children’s and adolescents’ friendships, peer group relations, and social competence. My specific interests include: (a) child, family, and schooling factors that predict children’s success and difficulties in peer relationships, (b) peer relationship histories and their role in the development of psychological and school adjustment, (c) the role of stable and changing relationship processes (e.g., stress, support) in the development of child and adolescent social cognitions, perceptions, and belief systems, and (d) the confluence of risky behavior (e.g., aggressive and withdrawn behavior) and relationships (e.g., peer group rejection, peer victimization, friendlessness) as precursors of psychological and scholastic health and dysfunction.

Teaching: Children’s Peer Relationships; Special Topics in Social Development

Selected Publications:

Books:

Ladd, G. W. (2005). Children’s peer relationships and social competence: A century of progress. New Haven: CT: Yale University Press.

Ladd, G. W. (2007). Appraising the human developmental sciences. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Articles:

Ladd, G. W. & Troop-Gordon, W. (2003). The role of chronic peer adversity in the development of children’s psychological adjustment problems. Child Development, 74, 1325-1348.

Ladd, G. W.  (2003). Probing the adaptive significance of children’s behavior and relationships in the school context: A child by environment perspective. Advances in Child Behavior and Development, 31, 43-104.

Ladd, G. W., Herald, S., Slutzky, C., & Andrews, K. (2004). Preventive interventions for peer group rejection. In L. Rapp-Paglicci, C. N., Dulmus, & J. S. Wodarski (Eds.), Handbook of prevention interventions for children and adolescents (pp. 15-48). New York: Wiley.

Ladd, G. W., Herald, S. L., & Kochel, K. P. (2006). School readiness: Are there social prerequisites? Early Education and Development, 17, 115-150.

Ladd, G. W. (2006). Peer rejection, aggressive or withdrawn behavior, and psychological maladjustment from ages 5 to 12: An examination of four predictive models. Child Development, 77, 822-846.

Ladd, G. W. (2007). Social learning in the peer context. In O. Saracho and B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary Perspectives on Research on Social Learning in Early Childhood Education (pp. 133-164), Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Rudolph, K. D., Ladd, G. W., & Dinella, L. (in press). Gender differences in the interpersonal consequences of early-onset depressive symptoms. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly (Special Issue: Gender and Relationships).

Ladd, G. W. (in press). Social competence: An important educational objective? Asia-Pacific Journal of Research on Early Childhood Education.

Ladd, G. W. (in press). Trends, travails, and turning points in early research on children’s peer relationships: Legacies and lessons for our time? In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (pp. ). New York: Guilford Press.

Student Research Projects:

Gazelle, H., & Ladd, G. W. (2003). Anxious solitude and peer exclusion: A diathesis-stress model of internalizing trajectories in childhood. Child Development, 74, 257-278.

Troop-Gordon, W. & Ladd, G. W. (2005). Trajectories of peer victimization and perceptions of the self and schoolmates: Precursors to internalizing and externalizing problems. Child Development, 76, 1072-1091.

Buhs, E. S., Ladd, G. W., & Herald, S. (2006). Peer exclusion and victimization: Processes that mediate the relation between peer group rejection and children’s classroom engagement and achievement? Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 1-13.