I am a social psychologist whose areas of teaching and research address in various ways two fundamental questions of human concern: "Who am I?" and "Where do I fit in?" In my research, I investigate the self-concept, its development in youth and its effects on behavior; issues of self and social integration, including the individual and community, alienation, and civility; and the personal consequences of experiencing the social structure.
Areas of Interest: methods and statistics, social psychology, the self and its relation to social systems.
I am a social psychologist whose areas of teaching and research address in various ways two fundamental questions of human concern: "Who am I?" and "Where do I fit in?" In my research, I investigate the self-concept, its development in youth and its effects on behavior; issues of fairness in social relationships; issues of self and social integration, including the individual and community, alienation, and civility; and the personal consequences of experiencing the social structure. My most recent research includes a study of mattering (the sense that one is a significant part of the lives of other people, institutions, one's community, or society as a whole) and its effects on adolescent behavior; in particular, I will soon have published a book (Wiley-Blackwell) studying anti-social and self-destructive behavior among young people (ages 12-18). Based on a national survey of 2004 adolescents and one parent (figure), and using an index to measure mattering that I have developed, the book details the strong negative effects of failing to matter to family and friends on a wide range of dysfunctional behaviors, including violence (within and without the family), alcohol use, binge drinking, illegal substance use, suicide attempts. I am also currently publishing research on child maltreatment; the latest published article reveals that those young people who are physically abused develop a sense of social isolation from other people and school as a social institution.
Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistantship, Dean of the College Office, 2004-2005. Research on Mattering.
Group Research Project, Dean of the College Office, 2003-2004. Research on Mattering.
Family Matters: The Importance of Mattering to Family in Adolescence. Wiley-Blackwell. 2009.
Gregory C. Elliott, Melissa Colangelo, and Richard J. Gelles. 2005. "Mattering and Suicide Ideation: Establishing and Elaborating a Relationship." Social Psychology Quarterly, 68, 223-238.
Gregory C. Elliott, Susan M. Cunningham, Meadow Linder, and Melissa Colangelo. 2005. "Child Physical Abuse and Self-Perceived Social Isolation among Adolescents" Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20, 1663-1684.
Gregory C. Elliott, Suzanne Kao, and Ann-Marie Grant. 2004. "Mattering: Empirical Validation of a Social-Psychological Concept." Self and Identity, 3, 339-354.
Gregory C. Elliott, Roger Avery, Elizabeth Fishman, and Brandon Hoshiko. 2002. "The encounter with intimate violence and risky sexual activity among young adolescent females." Violence and Victims, 17, 569-592.
Gregory C. Elliott. 2001. "The self as social product and social force: Morris Rosenberg and the elaboration of a deceptively simple effect." Pp. 10-28 in T. Owens, S. Stryker, and N. Goodman (eds.), Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research: Sociological and Psychological Currents. New York: Cambridge University Press.
