APF Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest: Vonnie C. McLoyd.

This award recognizes a distinguished career and enduring contribution to psychology in the public interest. Vonnie C. McLoyd has made outstanding contributions in the public interest as a scholar, mentor, and leader in professional affairs. Her scholarship advanced understanding of the processes through which poverty harms children and provided evidence of the protective effects of social support on parents and children experiencing poverty and neighborhood violence. Her work helped transform the study of African American children to one focused on normative development, contextual influences, and sources of within-group variation. She increased ethnic diversity in psychology through her extensive mentorship and activities undertaken as a leader in the Society for Research on Adolescence, the Society for Research in Child Development, and the Association for Psychological Science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).