Courtney Medina, B.A.
Graduate Student
Courtney joined the TAYA Lab in the fall of 2023 as a Developmental Psychology Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh. Her primary mentor is Dr. Choukas-Bradley and her co-mentor is Dr. Andrea Medrano.
Courtney graduated with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2021, where she double majored in Psychology and Human Developmental and Family Studies and minored in Latinx Studies. Following her graduation, she worked as a research project coordinator in UNC’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience under Drs. Eva Telzer and Kristen Lindquist, where she conducted research on the neural correlates of adolescent risk-taking, social media use, and socioemotional development.
Courtney is interested in exploring the developmental pathways in which sexual and romantic experiences impact adolescent mental health and well-being, including experiences of sexual and dating violence. More broadly, she is interested in investigating sociocultural influences on adolescent development such as social media use, sexualization and objectification, and gender role beliefs. During her time at Pitt, Courtney hopes to bridge public health, youth-centered, and psychological research methods to promote holistic well-being, especially for queer and Latinx adolescents.