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

Healthy development in children and youth depends on the quality of their relationships with family, peers and community members. Positive relationships have been found to be predictive of healthy adult functioning and unhealthy and traumatic relationships were found to be predictive of later hostile relationship patterns including the perpetration of bullying, harassment, and dating violence. These findings suggest that healthy relationships are a critical mechanism in the development of healthy functioning in multiple domains. Currently, there is a lack of healthy relationships programs based on scientific evidence that are also systematically evaluated for efficacy. The proposed research involves the creation (with input from adolescents) of an electronic healthy relationships curriculum that focuses on youth competencies and capacities in the areas of healthy peer, parent, and partner relationships. Approximately one hundred and fifty adolescents (aged 14-16) will be recruited online and from youth-serving organizations to complete the training. Pre, post, and six month follow up assessments will be conducted to determine the efficacy of the program. The following areas will be assessed in adolescent participants: knowledge of healthy relationships and conflict resolution; quality of relationships (including positive and negative aspects) with peers, romantic partners, and family; interpersonal aggression and victimization; and emotional and psychological functioning. The intended outcomes are to develop an evidence-based program that effectively engages, equips and inspires youth to peacefully resolve conflicts, to develop healthy relationships, and to prevent the adverse effects of adolescent interpersonal violence and social isolation.