About Vonnie's Work
Vonnie McLoyd is a developmental psychologist who studies the interactive influences of race, ethnicity, family, and economic hardship on human development.
McLoyd examines social variables in detail to understand how they contribute to the way an individual grows and changes. She has been a pioneer in attempting to describe the psychological processes through which economic deprivation influences African-American families and children. Her work helps to provide the basic information needed for the development of effective prevention and intervention programs for African-American communities. McLoyd has served on the editorial boards of Child Development, Developmental Psychology, the Journal of Black Psychology, and the Journal of Research on Adolescence, and was an associate editor of Child Development (1993-96). She is president of the Society for Research on Adolescence (2004-2006).
Biography
McLoyd was a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts (1975-1978), and a professor and a senior research scientist at the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan (1978-1998). She is a professor and research scientist at the Center for Developmental Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
McLoyd received a B.A. (1971) from Talladega College, and an M.A. (1973) and a Ph.D. (1975) from the University of Michigan.
Last updated January 1, 2005
Published on July 1, 1996