Shelly Sadek McCoy

Shelly Sadek McCoy

Shelly Sadek McCoy, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Psychology

Education: 

  • Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, 2013.

Principal Research Interests

My main field of research is health and safety risk-taking behaviors. We know that emerging adults (ages 18-25), particularly emerging adults enrolled in 4-year colleges, participate in the highest rates of risky behaviors associated with unintentional injury and death.

My research focuses on understanding developmental changes and individual differences that contribute to this increase in risk-taking behaviors, with particular emphasis on social and cognitive factors. In another line of research using a social-cognitive framework, I have looked at bullying and victimization behaviors among older children and adolescents.

Research Areas: 

  • Health and safety risk-taking behaviors
  • Decision-making
  • Emerging adulthood
  • Bullying
  • Peer relations

E-mail: smccoy@lasierra.edu
Phone: 951-785-2093

Representative Publications

  1. McCoy, S. S., Dimler, L. M., Samuels, D. V, & Natsuaki, M. N. (2017). Adolescent susceptibility to deviant peer pressure: Does gender matter? Adolescent Research Review. http://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-017-0071-2.
  2. McCoy, S. S. & Natsuaki, M. N.  (2017). For better or for worse: Social influences on risk-taking. The Journal of Social Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2017.1294139
  3. McCoy, S. S., Chou, C. P., & Guerra, N. G. (2016). Core competencies. In J. R. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (pp. 1–7). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
  4. Guerra, N. G., Williamson A., & Sadek, S. (2012). Youth perspectives on bullying in adolescence. The Prevention Researcher, 19, 19-21.
  5. Guerra, N. G., Williams, K. R., & Sadek, S. (2011). Bullying and victimization from childhood to adolescence: Developmental changes and implications for prevention. Child Development, 82, 1, 295-310.
  6. Cook, C., Williams, K. R., Guerra, N. G., Kim, T., & Sadek, S. (2010). Predictors of childhood bullying and victimization: A meta-analytic review. School Psychology Quarterly, 25, 65-83.