Meet Jenn

Jenn McGibbon

OSP Lab Manager

As a lifelong athlete and all-around sports fan, Jenn’s academic and career interests revolved around athletics. In 2017, she attended Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College to pursue an associate’s degree in Health and Exercise Science and planner to transfer to an Athletic Training program.

After becoming a mom, she realized that a career as an athletic trainer would dramatically reduce the time spent with her family and decided to find an alternative pathway to working with athletes. She transferred to Penn State in 2020 to complete her degree in psychology with the goal of helping populations of specialized individuals, including athletes, improve their mental performance. Her research in the OSP lab focuses on the role of anxiety in athletic performance, a phenomenon personally experienced in her previous roles as a NCAA Division I lacrosse goalie and professional disc golfer. Her research goals include developing a better understanding of how various components of anxiety affect individual performance and determining the underlying reasons behind gender differences in competitive-state anxiety.

Jennifer currently resides in Weaverville, North Carolina and enjoying her gap year before starting grad school in Fall 2023 at Boston University. In her free time, she can be found outside in the yard with her family (partner, Ty, and their daughter, Frankie) and their dog, Ollie. As a family, they are often found playing tennis or golfing, in the kitchen testing new recipes, and cheering on their minor league baseball team, the Asheville Tourists.

BS in Psychology, Winter 2022 | Penn State World Campus

Email Jenn

Conferences and Presentations

  • McGibbon, J., and Nelson, A. (2023, February). Harnessing athletic identity to decrease competitive-state anxiety in collegiate tennis players. Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA

  • Rosenberg, E., McGibbon, J., and Nelson. A. (2023, February). Student perceptions of sex education curriculums and effects on relational readiness. Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

  • Nakano, H., McGibbon, J., and Nelson, A. (2023, February). Youngism is real: A literature review of ageism to young adults. Digital poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.  

  • Nakano, H., McGibbon, J., and Nelson, A. (2023, May). Youngism is real: A literature review of ageism to young adults. Accepted poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, D.C.

Roles in the Lab

  • Overseeing Lab Manager (January 2023 – present)

  • Morning Lab Meeting Facilitator (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023)

  • Team Lead for the Masculinities Research Pod (March 2023 – present)

  • Lab Manager (Summer 2022 – Fall 2022)

  • Mentor (Fall 2022)

  • Morning Lab Meeting Facilitator (Summer 2022)

  • Research Assistant (Fall 2021 – Spring 2022)

Academic Membership

  • Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society

  • Psi Chi

  • Phi Kappa Phi

  • Penn State Alumni Association

  • American Psychological Association – Student Affiliate

    • Division 17: Society of Counseling Psychology

    • Division 47: Society for Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

  • Society for Personality and Social Psychology – Student Affiliate

Academic Distinctions

  • Graduated Summa cum laude – December 2022

  • Recipient of the Evan Pugh Scholar Award – Senior – March 2022

  • Recipient of The President’s Freshman Award – April 2021

World Campus Organizations & Clubs

  • WC Psychology Club Officer – Membership Coordinator (2022)

  • WC Psychology Club Member (2021)

Research Topics:

My research focuses on the role of anxiety in athletic performance, particularly the subcomponents of athletic identity, competitive-state anxiety, and personality traits that are potential indicators of paradoxical performance.