Mark Van Ryzin, Ph.D.

Research Associate
Oregon Social Learning Center

Primary research and clinical interests

Mark J. Van Ryzin was awarded a PhD in Educational Psychology by the University of Minnesota in 2008. His primary research interests are social, motivational, and developmental processes in adolescence, particularly in the educational context. He is especially interested in non-traditional school environments and their potential to address the diverse range of student needs and interests that are found among today’s youth. His work is influenced by ideas from developmental psychology, positive youth development, mentoring, and attachment theory. Before coming to the OSLC, he served as a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of Child Development (ICD) at the University of Minnesota for both the Human Developmental Psychobiology Lab (Megan R. Gunnar) and the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (Byron Egeland, W. A. Collins, & L. Alan Sroufe).

Selected publications

Pellegrini, A. D., & Van Ryzin, M. J. (in press). Socially competent and incompetent aggressors in middle school: The non-linear relationship between bullying and dominance. British Journal of Educational Psychology.

Van Ryzin, M. J. (in press). Protective factors at school: Reciprocal effects among adolescents’ perceptions of the school environment, engagement in learning, and hope. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Van Ryzin, M. J., Johnson, A. B., Leve, L. D., & Kim, H. K. (in press). The number of sexual partners and health-risking sexual behavior: Prediction from high school entry to high school exit. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Van Ryzin, M. J., & Leve, L. D. (in press). Validity evidence for the Security Scale as a measure of perceived attachment security in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence.

Van Ryzin, M. J., Mills, D. L., Kelban, S., Rodriquez-Vars, M., & Chamberlain, P. (in press). Using the Bridges Transition Framework for youth in foster care: Measurement development and preliminary outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review.

Fisher, P. A., Van Ryzin, M. J., & Gunnar, M. R. (2011). Mitigating HPA axis dysregulation associated with placement changes in foster care. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36, 531-539.

Pellegrini, A. D., Van Ryzin, M. J., et al. (2011). Behavioral and social cognitive processes in preschool children’s social dominance. Aggressive Behavior, 37, 248-257.

Van Ryzin, M. J., Carlson, E. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (2011). Attachment discontinuity in a high-risk sample. Attachment & Human Development, 13, 381-401.

Anderson, J. R., Van Ryzin, M. J., & Doherty, W. J. (2010). Developmental trajectories of marital happiness in continuously married individuals: A group-based modeling approach. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 587-596.

Van Ryzin, M. J. (2010). The secondary school advisor as mentor and secondary attachment figure. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 131-154.

Van Ryzin, M. J., Chatham, M., Kryzer, E., Kertes, D., & Gunnar, M. R. (2009). Identifying atypical cortisol patterns in young children: The benefits of group-based trajectory modeling. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 50-61.

Van Ryzin, M. J., Gravely, A. A., & Roseth, C. J. (2009). Autonomy, belongingness, and engagement in school as contributors to adolescent psychological well-being. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 1-12.