Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Bullying represents a common peer interaction among Canadian children that negatively impacts mental and physical health across the lifespan. The proposed research will investigate connections between bullying, mental health, and peer relationships as they develop among elementary school children. Different patterns of bullying and victimization experiences will be examined over three years among elementary school children. Mental health problems will be explored as potential predictors and consequences of bullying and victimization involvement over time. It is hypothesized that mental health problems such as aggressive and defiant behaviours will be associated with bullying, while mental health problems such as depression and anxiety will be related to victimization. In addition, peer relationships will be explored as risk and protective factors for children with different levels of involvement in bullying and victimization. It is hypothesized that negative peer contexts (antisocial peers, exclusive peer dynamics, etc.) will place children at risk for bullying and victimization, while positive peer contexts (supportive peers, inclusive peer dynamics, etc.) will protect children from bullying and victimization. Finally, rates of bystander intervention during bullying, reasons for intervening (or not), and individual characteristics that may predict intervention will be examined. It is hypothesized that confidence in one's ability to influence peers will predict intervention for girls and empathy will predict intervention for boys. Healthy peer relationships are essential for fostering mental health among Canadian youth. Taken together, this research will provide crucial information about bullying prevention and intervention to educators and health professionals across Canada. Workshops and written materials based on findings will be distributed to parents, educators, and health professionals to promote healthy peer relationships among Canadian children.