Jaana Juvonen (1959- )
Juvonen was born in Finland and graduated in 1984 with her ME from the University of Turky, Finland. She followed that with her Masters from the Unviersity of Jyvaskylna in Education Psychology. After receiving her Masters she moved to the United States and began working towards her PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of California-Los Angeles in 1990.
Juvonen studies relationships with peers and how it relates to adaptive functioning. Specifically she examines three areas: 1) social motivation analysis of perceived deviance and peer rejection, 2) development of self-presentation strategies, and 3) perceived peer group norms and public behavior of teens, bullying or peer harassment in school. Her research is guided by the social-cognitive theoretical approach. Juvonen stated in an interview that her research goes against the trends in psychology because she does not study the brain.
She is currently a professor at the University of California-Los Angeles where she has taught several courses. Her favorite and most commonly taught courses are Social and Emotional Development and Adolescent Development. She has always enjoyed studying adolescents and her daughter, Miina has recently turned 14 which Juvonen is enjoying immensely. She believes that Miina is her major accomplishment.
Juvonen is originally from a small town in Finland, and skypes with her family once a week along with annual trips back home to see her parents and brother. She enjoys family time, including playing beach tennis with Bernie Wiener, her husband, and Miina. She loves wearing bright colors like orange, green, and yellow. She stated that the smartest move she ever made was taking a break from teaching at UCLA to work for Research and Development (RAND) for two years. When she returned to UCLA she was put on a ten year track and had a new appreciation academia.
Similar to Murdock, her degree does not include a clinical license, but she refers to her therapeutic approach being at more of a societal level. She has consulted with school districts to help in the education and prevention of school bullying.