Karen S. Mooney

Lecturer of Psychology and Coordinator for Human Development Minor and Concentration
Bailey 135
585-245-6047
mooneyk@geneseo.edu
She/Her/Hers

Karen Mooney has been a member of the Geneseo faculty since 2012.

Office Hours

  • Drop-in office hours for Spring 2025
    • Mondays 4:00 - 5:00 pm
    • Tuesdays 1:30 - 2:30 pm
    • Fridays 3:00 - 4:00 pm

Research Interests

My research focuses on the quality of peer relationships (friendships and romantic relationships) in both adolescence and emerging adulthood, and utilizes both variable-oriented (comparing the values of variables to the values of other variables) and person-oriented (differentiating subgroups of individuals on the basis of distinctive patterns) approaches, taking advantage of their complimentary nature.

Recent Courses Taught

  • PSYC 215 Child Development
  • PSYC 216 Adolescent Development
  • PSYC 250 Introduction to Behavioral Statistics
  • PSYC 321 Developmental Psychology: Emerging Adulthood
  • PSYC 321 Developmental Psychology: Family Psychology
Portrait of Karen Mooney

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 2007

  • M.S., Developmental Psychology, Purdue University, 2003

  • B.A., Psychology, Gettysburg College, 1997

Selected Publications

  • Hiatt, C., Laursen, B., Mooney, K. S., & Rubin, K. H. (2015). Forms of friendship: A person-centered assessment of the quality, stability, and outcomes of different types of adolescent friends. Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 149-155. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.051

  • Mooney, K. S., & Laursen, B. (2011). Relationship networks. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence, Volume 4 (pp. 2334-2338). New York, NY: Springer.

  • Laursen, B., & Mooney, K. S. (2008). Relationship network quality: Adolescent adjustment and perceptions of relationships with parents and friends. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78, 47-53. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.78.1.47

  • Mooney, K. S., Laursen, B., & Adams, R. E. (2007). Social support and positive development: Looking on the bright side of adolescent close relationships. In R. K. Silbereisen & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Approaches to positive youth development (pp. 189-203). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

  • Laursen, B., Furman, W., & Mooney, K. S. (2006). Predicting interpersonal competence and self-worth from adolescent relationships and relationship networks: Variable-centered and person-centered perspectives. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 572-600. doi:10.1353/mpq.2006.0030

Classes

  • PSYC 216: Adolescent Development

    An overview of the nature and course of human development during adolescence. Biological, cognitive, social, and personality development are considered, with emphasis on families, schools, and cultures as contexts for adolescent development.

  • PSYC 250: Intro to Behavioral Statistics

    Computation, application, and interpretation of the major descriptive and introductory inferential techniques. Topics include measurement, frequency distributions, graphing, central tendency, variability, binomial and normal distributions, standard scores, correlation, regression, hypothesis testing, z-tests, one-sample t-tests, two-sample t-tests, analysis of variance, and nonparametric significance tests.