Dr. Kam Sripada is a neuroscientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and currently manages the Centre for Digital Life Norway, a national biotechnology innovation centre. Dr. Sripada has studied how social and environmental factors influence child brain development and can contribute to global health inequalities. Dr. Sripada’s research, science communication and advocacy seek to strengthen international collaborations that promote healthy brain development starting in early life. Dr. Sripada’ is a member for the (ISCHE), an affiliate member of the University of British Columbia’s Social Exposome Cluster, and previously Research Fellow at UNICEF. You can learn about her work .

Speaking at the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, Dr. Sripada explains that “children are uniquely vulnerable to climate change.” Childhood is a time of rapid brain development and growth, which means that trauma experienced during early childhood can have permanent, life-long consequences for brain development and health. Climate change creates sudden traumatic events, including flooding, heat waves and wildfires, and slower onset impacts like rising sea levels, water scarcity and the spread of vector-borne diseases. This has immediate, negative impacts families and for children, the effects may last into adulthood.

When water and food are scarce, children suffer from undernourishment. Vector-borne diseases experienced in childhood lead to worse health outcomes for these children as they grow into adulthood. There are other, less direct impacts of climate change for children. Confronted with decreased access to food and water, families may withdraw their children from schools to place them in paid employment or, for girls, into marriage. In these ways, climate change has far-reaching consequences for children, in the immediate and for the adults that they will become. Risks from climate change are compounded by early life exposures to air pollution, toxic chemicals, and other contaminants that are harmful to children’s health and brain development, said Dr. Sripada.

New actions are being taken to mitigate and to adapt to climate change in ways that protect children. Internationally, the United Nations Child Fund (UNICEF) has recently broadened its health focus to include the impact of climate change on children. Dr. Sripada co-led the creation of the new UNICEF programme, , which launched in 2021 and directs stronger actions by the organization to protect children from including . In addition, the new UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Index seeks to measure the impact of climate change for children. In 2021, UNICEF estimated that one billion children worldwide are at extreme risk due to climate change, in particular through greater exposure to heat waves, cyclones, and riverine and coastal flooding. Fifty percent of victims of such “natural” disasters, caused or exacerbated by climate change, are children (Save the Children, 2007). For some, the trauma created by experiencing disaster and displacement can lead to lasting mental health problems into adulthood.

Locally, nationally and internationally, children are acting to call attention to climate change, on their own terms and in their own voices. , a climate change justice advocate from Kenya, is speaking out to challenge white saviourism and ensure that the children most immediately affected by climate change, in the Global South, have a voice and are heard. Around the world, Fridays for Futures climate change strikes by children remind both children and adults of the urgency of taking action to mitigate climate change, despite a difficult present and challenging futures. 

Dr. Sripada concludes that it is critical to engage the next generation about climate change. She observes that children are taking up the challenge, all the way up to high-level United Nations meetings, where they are demanding that governments do more to protect them and their right to healthy futures. “We are at a moment when the decisions we take to mitigate and adapt to climate change can aggravate risks, creating greater inequality,” Dr. Sripada warns, “or we can join with activists like Eric to protect children’s well-being now and into the future.” 

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The talk will take place Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 2 to 4pm, in the conference room at 519 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus.

Right: Sir Richard Bowlby

Richard Bowlby is not a clinical person, but for the last 20 years he has been addressing the issue of attachment and fatherhood, relating his own life experience as well as bringing some of his father’s experiences and findings. 

Participants will hear his perspectives and have an opportunity to ask questions.

Seating is limited. Tickets cost $20 and may be purchased at the door or by mail to The Phoenix Centre, 130 Pembroke St. W., 2nd Floor, Pembroke, ON, K8A 5M8.

The event is sponsored by the LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research, the Centre for Child Mental Health and The Phoenix Centre for Children & Families.

For more information, contact Charlene Chaput at cchaput@phoenixctr.com.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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, a visiting scholar at the LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research, will deliver a LaMarsh talk Wednesday, June 15, from 1 to 2pm, in 163 Behavioural Science Building, Keele campus. His talk, “The Role and Meaning of Work in Individual Lives During Emerging Adulthood: Trajectories and Adaptation” will be based on data collected in a four-wave longitudinal design in which 175 Israeli emerging adults with the mean age of 22 years were followed over a period of seven years. The focus of the study was on the occupation and relationship decision-making process.

Right: Shmuel Shulman

“Taking a biographical approach, we focus on the processes of occupation and relationship decision-making among young people rather than on concrete outcomes,” says Shulman, whose research covers developmental processes and psychopathology during adolescence and young adulthood. “That is the subjective meaning that certain options and outcomes have for the young person and on his or her subsequent adaptation.”

In addition to the four assessments, at the fourth wave the participants were given an in-depth interview covering work and love domains. As part of a broader interview, young people were asked to talk about their work experiences, feelings and expectations about work and its meaning. They were also asked to reflect on changes and turning points in their work and career histories.

Qualitative analysis of the interviews yielded four main constructs of personal inner work meanings and their evolvement over time, reflecting adaptive and maladaptive trajectories. “Our findings show that the multiplicity of experiences can be traced to individual personality and relational attributes,” says Shulman. “For example, self-efficacy, self-criticism, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation explain the different trajectories that young people embark on.”

He will discuss the importance of examining subjective meanings in developmental processes as well as the role of personality constructs in coping with developmental tasks during emerging adulthood.

Shulman has more than 100 publications, including books and papers. His work has focused mainly on understanding the development and processes in adolescent romantic relationships. Recent research on young adults, however, has also examined the process associated with consolidation of occupational identity and its interplay with commitment in relationships.

For more information or to RSVP, e-mail lamarsh@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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"If a child is bullied at home by his or her parents or siblings, they’re going to learn the patterns they need to learn about the use of power and aggression in relationships," says Debra Pepler [Distinguished Research Professor in psychology at 91��ɫ’s LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research].

These "children who are morally disengaged tend to think that the other child is just deserving of it, that they’re not human. They really disregard that child’s basic rights."

Pepler, who works at 91��ɫ [Faculty of Health] and the in Toronto, co-founded the Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network.

She says that for most kids, bullying or being bullied are minor problems that pass with time. But 10 to 15 per cent require extra support, and chronic bullies need help from mental health experts.

Pepler found that "85 per cent of the time, we saw bullying in the schoolyard or in the classroom, other children are there, and they form the audience for bullying and they reinforce the child who is bullying."

Her findings show that chronic bullies are more likely to skip school, abuse substances, sexually harass others, use violence in romantic relationships and eventually get into crime.

"They don’t have that voice inside that says, ‘Is this a good idea, should I do this?’ They’re really willing to go along to keep their friends, to keep their status, and do all sorts of negative things when they’re exposed to peer pressure. If we wanted to identify and help those children who are going to cost society the most in terms of criminal behaviour . . . we would be looking at the children who are involved in high rates of bullying."

These kids "probably need mental health services, (and) they and their families need a lot of support around how to develop the social-emotional capacity for healthy relationships." Schools need to keep track of every occurrence of bullying and focus their resources on the chronic bullies, she says.

Combating the stigma against reporting bullying to adults requires re-educating both children and adults, Pepler says.

"Children have a responsibility to tell when it’s happening, either to (teachers) or to someone else, because it violates a child’s rights, to be bullied. A child who is bullied isn’t safe, and similarly a child who bullies others is really in need of help."

This approach also helps combat cyberbullying because "the children who are cyberbullying are the children who traditionally bully," Pepler says.

She says teaching math and literacy is different from teaching kids how to interact positively. "Two plus two always equals four, and Cat on the Mat always looks the same, but social-emotional development is hugely complex," she says.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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One of them was an article co-authored by members of 91��ɫ’s LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research, psychology Professor Jennifer Connolly and Distinguished Research Professor Debra Pepler in the Faculty of Health, along with Professor Wendy Craig (MA ’89, PhD ’93) of Queen’s University and Adele Goldberg (MA ’91, PhD ’10).

Left: Debra Pepler

The article, “”, is available in a virtual Special Issue: Decade in Review published this month and representing the best of the Journal of Research on Adolescence in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

The Society for Research on Adolescence and the journal's editorial team say the 10 articles embody “the exemplary quality of scholarship upon which the journal has solidified its reputation as a leading publication in the field of adolescent research.”

“Mixed-Gender Groups, Dating, and Romantic Relationships in Early Adolescence”, first published in the journal’s May 2004 issue, details a study on the dating-stage and developmental-contextual models of romantic relationships during early adolescence.

Right: Jennifer Connolly

The study looked at same-gender friendships, affiliation with mixed-gender groups, dating and romantic relationships in a sample of 1,284 young adolescents of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds. Data was collected cross-sectionally in Grades 5 through 8, as well as longitudinally in the fall and spring of an academic year.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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It’s not that concerned educators are “out to get” best friends. But they are trying to nudge close pals apart a little bit, so that they don’t become too insular. Twosomes can turn into threesomes, and such cliques are often behind bullying. “When three or four kids get together, they can decide someone is not good enough to join their group. They can ramp each other up to do worse and worse things,” says Debra Pepler, a psychology professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, who is an expert on bullying and helps to run , a bullying information website.

. . .

Just as adult relationships aren’t always healthy or turn sour over time, kids can also get wrapped up in negative dynamics. Pepler says some close friends actually bully each other: they know each other’s secrets and can make a pal upset with a few choice words – whether about chubby ankles, a crappy slapshot or that time he wet his pants last year.

Pepler is a core member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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The radio series, and its companion , features commentary from Professor Debra Pepler. Pepler is distinguished professor in the Faculty of Health's Department of Psychology, senior associate scientist at the , and a member of 91��ɫ's LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution.

Pepler is an expert on bullying behaviour among teens and children; Part 1 of the radio series sites groundbreaking research she conducted with Professor Wendy Craig of Queen's University into children's bullying activity on schoolyards. Craig and Pepler currently co-lead (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), which provides anti-bullying resources for educators, parents and children.

Part 3 airs on January 21, 2011 at 9 pm on CBC Radio 1. Parts 1 and 2 are currently available for download on the . A connected to both the audio and film documentaries is also available with additional resources.

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Stages of Change training will involve the participation of some 21 community agencies Jan. 24, 27 and 28 at 91��ɫ as part of the Toronto Youth Outreach Worker (YOW) program, which is based on a positive youth development perspective. The training will be held at 91��ɫ’s LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution.

Right: Gregory Knoll

Trainees will explore the connection between theory and current best practices supported by an integration of developmental and contextual theories – the stages of change and encounter. Outreach workers will explore how to apply these models of change in their work with marginalized youth, while the supervisors will incorporate stage-based theories into a model of supervision.

The goal is to incorporate theory and evaluation components into the YOW program design to increase the effectiveness of the intervention, while generating a standardized reporting protocol to guide outreach activities.

“Feedback from youth outreach workers and supervisors in past training sessions has highlighted the relevance and effectiveness of the training. Youth outreach represents a contemporary, proactive approach to working with marginalized youth, one which LaMarsh Centre and the YOW program are now pioneering,” says Knoll. “Youths are made aware of positive opportunities, alternatives and choices through the YOW program. This can only result in more positives for society.”

Left: Debra Pepler

The YOW program is one of several place-based interventions supported by the in Ontario. It was created to prevent and intervene in anti-social or violent behaviour among youth and to promote the development of skills, engagement and civic participation, including that of community/peer leadership.

The Stages of Change training will be a replication of the pilot project that was conducted in East Toronto through east Metro Youth Services in 2010. Through the processes of knowledge translation between researchers and community practitioners, the Stages of Change training and accompanying reporting protocol emerged based on the particular needs of the YOW program.

The research evaluation component will examine the data collected by YOW participants for one year following the training. If it supports the effectiveness of integrating a theoretical framework into the YOW program design, the model could be introduced in other high-needs communities and over time could become a model approach to engaging marginalized youth.

Widespread adoption of an evidence-based approach to training outreach workers and engaging marginalized youth would ensure that young people receive the necessary supports and services, reducing their risk for later criminal and/or mental health difficulties.

For more information, contact Gregory Knoll at gknoll@yorku.ca or 416-526-6522.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The event will take place Jan. 13, from 2:30 to 5pm, on the 5th Floor of the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Building, Keele campus. In addition, there will be some short remarks at 3:30pm in 5084 TEL Building, at the south end of the hallway. Refreshments will be served.

The open house will showcase faculty- and student-led research projects, along with short presentations by researchers.

The LaMarsh Centre conducts interdisciplinary research in health, education, relationships and development of infants, children, adolescents, emerging adults and families. Its particular focus is on the health and well-being of Canada’s youth, preventing youth violence and promoting positive development. The aim is to foster a centre of learning, productivity and exchange for new and senior scholars and to create a critical mass of related research activity.

The YIHR takes a determinants approach to health research with sub-areas including diversity and health, health equity and social justice, health and the environment, health law and ethics, health care and health governance. YIHR draws together a range of social, biomedical, environmental and behavioural scientists, as well as researchers from business, law, education and the physical sciences, bridging the divide between the sciences and social sciences to deliver real-world solutions.

The houses the largest university-based survey centre in Canada, conducting major surveys on population health, education, gender, the environment and voting behaviour. It conducts more than 25 survey research projects annually, as well as a range of qualitative research, including focus group studies. ISR staff complete all stages of the survey research process from questionnaire design, sample selection and data collection to the preparation of machine-readable data files, statistical analysis and report writing.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The talk, “Positive Parenting and Positive Development in Children” will take place Wednesday, Nov. 17, from noon to 1pm at the Executive Learning Centre, X106 Seymour Schulich Building, Keele campus. A reception will follow, from 1 to 2pm at the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research. Everyone is welcome to attend, but as space is limited, it is requested that you RSVP for both the talk and the reception at owhchair@yorku.ca.

Right: Marc Bornstein

Armed with the knowledge that things do not always go well in child development, policy-makers, educators and parents share the laudable and well-intentioned goal to develop preventions, interventions and remediations in the service of children, says Bornstein. “But treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is also nurturing what is best. My talk takes a ‘positive youth development’ perspective as its starting point.”

In the first part of the talk, Bornstein will look to the literature to define prominent positive characteristics and values in children. In the second part, he will address the important goal of how children can be best helped to achieve those positive characteristics and values.

“To do this, I will show how parents, who are children’s primary advocates and their front-line defence, are the corps most available and in the greatest number to lobby and labour for children,” says Bornstein. “I discuss direct effects of parents on children as well as indirect effects. I focus on both childhood and adolescence and incorporate new work on brain development. Finally, I discuss a specificity principle that may guide future thinking and action in positive child development.”

As a researcher, Bronstein has received numerous awards for his research from such organizations as the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, the American Psychological Association, the National Institutes of Health, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the American Mensa Education & Research Foundation. In 2008, he was recognized by the Society for Research in Child Development for his efforts in the international and cross-cultural realm with its Distinguished International Contributions to Child Development Award.

Bornstein has been a faculty member at Princeton University and New 91��ɫ, and a visiting scientist, fellow and professor at more than eight universities and research institutes, including the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, University College London, Université René Descartes in Paris, the University of Tokyo and the Sorbonne.

In addition to hundreds of scientific papers, he is co-author of the widely used book series and editor of other book series, including The Crosscurrents in Contemporary Psychology, Monographs in Parenting and Handbook of Parenting. He is the founding editor of and has written several children's books.

Bornstein is also co-editor of a new book that 91��ɫ psychology Professor Maria Legerstee is publishing with University of Toronto Professor David Haley. The book, , will be released later this year by Guilford Press.

Bornstein’s research interests include the origins, status and development of psychological constructs, structures, functions and processes in the first two years of life; the effect of child characteristics and activities on parents; and the meaning of variations in parenting and in the family across different socio-demographic and cultural groups.

The talk is joint venture hosted by the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, Echo’s Ontario Women’s Health Council Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research and The Lillian & Don Wright Foundation.

For more information, visit the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research website. For more information on the LaMarsh Speaker Series, visit the Faculty of Health website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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