Faculty Research Profiles: Philip Rodkin

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Associate Professor (Child Development Chair)

Child Development Division
Educational Psychology
232A Colonel Wolfe School
403 E. Healey MC 422
217 840-1550
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Research Biography

My work examines aggressive elementary school children who are well-accepted by their peers at school. Doctoral students whom I advise and collaborate with have the opportunity to work on two completed investigations and one ongoing research project:

(1) Popularity of Bullying Study. This project is in progress, having just begun in Fall 2004. We are examining peer, teacher, and self reports of bullying and aggression, social status, and social relationships among 600 3rd and 4th grade children sampled from diverse and multicultural Central Illinois schools. Four biannual assessments are anticipated until children are in the 4th and 5th grade in Spring 2006. This project is funded by small grants from the Spencer Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

(2) School Friendship Study. This project tracked two cohorts of 350 children (700 total) biannually from the spring of 3rd grade to the fall of 6th grade with peer, teacher, and self reports of social status, aggression, and other social-personality characteristics. We are analyzing these data collaboratively with investigative teams led by Ruth Pearl and Richard Van Acker at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Tom Farmer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and myself. I am particularly interested in whether the status-aggression connection grows stronger over development. This project was funded by the US Department of Education from 1997-2001.

(3) Status and Aggression Study. This project features 500 4th-5th grade children from suburban elementary schools in Central Illinois for whom behavioral and affiliative reports were obtained in fall and spring. We are examining differences in social status between boys who bully male versus female victims. We are also comparing different techniques and methodologies for revealing the social structure of children's peer relationships at school.

The goal of my work is to understand the socialization and development of aggressive behavior, and eventually to devise interventions that use children's existing social networks to reduce problem behavior in schools.

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Social Psychology, Harvard University, 1994
  • M.A., Social Psychology, Harvard University, 1991
  • B.A., Behavioral Sciences, University of Chicago, 1988

Key Professional Appointments

  • Associate Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007--
  • Chair, Child Development Division, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006--
  • Zero-Time Appointment, Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006--
  • Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000-2007
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Psychology: Social & Health Sciences, Duke University, 1996-2000
  • Acting Assistant Director, Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1997-1998
  • NIMH Postdoctoral Fellow, Carolina Consortium on Human Development, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994-1996

Grants

  • Principal Investigator, Can Bullies be Popular? Developmental Insights, National Institutes of Health, 2004
  • Principal Investigator, The Popularity of Elementary School Bullies in Gender and Racial Context, The Spencer Foundation, 2004

Selected Publications

  • Rodkin, P. C., & Ahn, H-J. (in press). Social networks derived from affiliations and friendships, multi-informant and self-reports: Stability, concordance, placement of aggressive and unpopular children, and centrality. Social Development.
  • Rodkin, P. C., & Berger, C. (in press). Who bullies whom? Social status asymmetries by victim gender. International Journal of Behavioral Development.
  • Rodkin, P. C., & Wilson, T. (2007). Aggression and adaption: Psychological record, educational promise. In P. Hawley, T. D. Little & P. C. Rodkin (Eds.), Aggression and adaptation: The bright side to bad behavior (pp. 233-265). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Rodkin, P. C., Wilson, T., & Ahn, H-J. (2007). Social integration between African American and European American children in majority Black, majority White, and multicultural elementary classrooms. In P. C. Rodkin & L. D. Hanish (Eds.), Social network analysis and children’s peer relationships (pp. 25-42). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  • Rodkin, P. C., Farmer, T. W., Pearl, R., & Van Acker, R. (2006). They're cool: Ethnic and peer group supports for aggressive boys and girls. Social Development, 15, 175-204.