Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Peer violence among children and adolescents is a major concern both within Canada and globally. Bullying and victimization have been shown to lead to negative health outcomes and poor mental health in children and adolescents. Previous research has shown that adolescents with strong connections with themselves, with others, with nature and with something “transcendent” have a strong level of “spiritual health” and that spiritual health has strong protective effects for mental health. In my grant, I propose to examine spiritual health as a protective health asset for mental health in children who are victims of peer violence. Using the latest 2017/2018 survey cycle data (n~= 25,000) from the Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study I will describe patterns of violence, including physical fighting and indicators of bullying, among children and adolescents. I will also profile the importance of spiritual health among these peer-victimized children. Finally, I will conduct in-depth regression analyses within groups that have experienced peer violence to determine if spiritual health, overall and by domain, has protective effects on their mental health. Overall, this is a novel approach in the study of peer violence and may inform future interventional research on peer violence. The findings may also provide evidence for new mental health promotion strategies for vulnerable children and adolescents.