Education
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Educational Psychology, 2002
M.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Educational Psychology, 1999
B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Psychology, 1994
Research Interests
• Peer relationships in childhood and adolescence
• Developmental psychopathology
• Social cognition
• Stress response systems
• Teacher-child relationships
Courses Taught
HDFS 3010: Child Development in the Family
HDFS 3930: Peer Relationships in Childhood and Social Skills Training
Accomplishments
Troop-Gordon, W. (PI) 2018-2020
AEES ARESS Agriculture Research SEED Grant Program $45,000
Parent Responses to Peer Victimization
Troop-Gordon, W. (PI) 2018
AEES ARES Equipment Funding Program $16,400
Acquisition of Portable Eye Trackers for Studying Visual Attention and Health-related Psychosocial Development
Vaughn, B. (Troop-Gordon: Co-PI) 2018-2020
AEES ARESS Agriculture Research SEED Grant Program $2,500
An Experimental Approach to Studying Social Behavior During Early Childhood Using Eye Tracking Technology
Troop-Gordon, W. (PI) 2017-2020
NICHD R15 HD089044-01A $435,000
Increasing children’s defending behaviors: Using Deviance Regulation Theory to combat bullying
Research Projects
The Friendship Hero Project: This is a two-year longitudinal test of a classroom activity, based on Deviance Regulation Theory, to promote defending behavior, reduce bullying, and foster socioemotional and school adjustment in 4th and 5th grade. We are excited to have thirteen schools participating in this project and are grateful to all the children and teachers who are volunteering their time to work with us. Evaluation of the intervention includes assessments of children’s bullying role behavior, socioemotional adjustment, and school achievement in the fall, winter, and spring of the school year, using self-report, peer-report, and teacher-report data. This research is being funded by the National Institute of Health, NICHD R15 HD089044-01A.
Parents Responses to Peer Victimization: This is an innovative, event-triggered assessment of parents’ responses upon learning that their child, between 4th and 7th grade, has been bullied. Interviews will be conducted with fifty parent-child dyads from the Auburn-Opelika and surrounding communities. Interviews will be supplemented with parent-report and child-report questionnaires, and a follow-up interview will be conducted three months later. This study will provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding of parents’ behavioral and emotional responses to their children’s bullying experiences, the socialization practices parents use to help their children cope with bullying, and the effects of those efforts on children’s subsequent peer experiences and emotional well-being. This research is being funded by the AEES ARESS Agriculture Research SEED Grant Program.
Visual Attention and Dominance in Preschool. Young children disproportionately attend to their more dominant peers during free play. In this project, we will use eye tracking technology to examine more specifically the parameters that determine attention to dominant peers, including attention to dyads as they negotiate power and control in a structured activity. This research is being supported by the AEES ARES Equipment Funding Program and the AEES ARESS Agriculture Research SEED Grant Program (PI: Dr. Brian Vaughn).
Selected Publications
Brigham, E. F., & Troop-Gordon, W. (2023). Predicting the development of dependency on the teacher in late childhood: The role of peer victimization and peer beliefs. Social Development, 32(2), 598-617.
McWood, L. M., Frosch, C. A., Wienke Garrison, C. M., Erath, S. A., & Troop-Gordon, W. (2023). “But there’s only so much you can do…” Parent support-giving within the context of peer victimization. Journal of Early Adolescence, 43(4), 455-489.
Troop-Gordon, W., Schwartz, D., Mayeux, L., & McWood, L. M. (2023). Peers and psychopathology. In B. Halpern-Felsher (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health, 3, 167-181.
Crumly, B., Thomas, J., & Troop-Gordon, W. (2022). Does social withdrawal inhibit defending bullied peers and do perceived injunctive norms mitigate those effects? Developmental Psychology, 58, 161-175.
McConnell, L., & Troop-Gordon, W. (2021). Attentional biases to bullies and bystanders and youth’s coping with peer victimization. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 41, 97-127.
