This is the first in a monthly series of articles celebrating research breakthroughs and successes at Brock University over the past 60 years. To read other stories in the series, visit The Brock News.

It was the fall of 1995. The late Zopito Marini had penned a passionate opinion piece on a “new premise” arising out of research and wider societal trends: “bullying is not a ‘childhood rite of passage.’”

The Professor and inaugural Chair of Brock’s then-Department of Child Studies led a team in the Conflict and Development Lab at the time. The group had been researching the social and cognitive roots of conflicts for a decade before his article appeared in Surgite magazine.

Fast forward 30 years, the University is now home to the Brock Research on Aggression and Victimization Experiences (BRAVE) lab. Led by Professor of Child and Youth Studies Tony Volk, the group of professors, graduate and undergraduate students is one of Canada’s largest teams researching child and youth bullying.

Associate Professor of Health Sciences Karen Patte also examines bullying in her work. The Canada Research Chair in Child Health Equity and Inclusion co-leads the national COMPASS study, which surveys more than 100,000 secondary school students across Canada each year on youth health and behaviours.

Bullying is one of many topics Brock researchers explore as they contribute significant knowledge and insights to the field of children’s development, says Acting Vice-President Research Michelle McGinn.

“Over the decades, Brock scholarship has made major inroads in understanding and addressing children’s health and well-being,” says McGinn. “This research has informed public policy and laid the groundwork for many initiatives that support children and their families.”

Around the time Marini wrote his opinion piece, Maureen Connolly was responding to a request from instructors at Lady Spencer Churchill School, who were looking for support to organize a physical activity event for children with disabilities.

The Professor of Kinesiology happily obliged, but her efforts didn’t stop there. That one event spurred the creation of Supporting Neurodiversity through Adaptive Programming (SNAP).

Three decades later, SNAP is a nationally recognized movement education program fostering physical literacy, fitness and social inclusion through adapted activities tailored to individual abilities and skills.

Brock’s expertise on children living with autism also was evident in the Ontario government’s Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Expert Committee, which advised on ASD treatments, services and supports for children, youth and their families.

Professor of Applied Disability Studies Maurice Feldman and then-Assistant Professor of Applied Disability Studies Julie Koudys were members of the committee, which created the Ontario Autism Program Clinical Framework.

Koudys was also on the Ontario Autism Program Advisory Panel, which produced its Recommendations for a New Needs-Based Ontario Autism Program in 2019.

McGinn says that Brock’s long-standing leadership in childhood development, health and well-being “draws upon expertise across Faculties and has spurred important advances in theory and practice.”

Examples include:

• Then-Associate Professor of Education Mary-Louise Vanderlee’s position as co-evaluator of a team commissioned by the Ontario government to examine the implementation of a full-day kindergarten program.
• Patte and fellow Associate Professors of Health Sciences Adam MacNeil’s research on the connection between childhood adversity and the development of allergies and asthma.
• Professor of Psychology Teena Willoughby’s work leading a multi-disciplinary, five-year study — which has resulted in resulting in dozens of further studies — on how biology, physical fitness, personality and environmental factors interact to influence behaviours that pose health risks for adolescents.
• Pathstone Mental Health and Brock University’s partnership involving almost a dozen Brock researchers studying various aspect of children’s mental health.
• Professor of Psychology Caitlin Mahy’s research on children’s future thinking and procrastination behaviours.
• Professor of Psychology Angela Evans’ expertise regarding children’s honesty has shaped best-practices for interviewing child witnesses and victims.
• Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Danielle Sirianni Molnar has been recognized as Canada Research Chair in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth to advance her research on perfectionism, including a recent study connecting perfectionism and bullying.
• Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies and Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Performance Matthew Kwan’s pilot program focused on increasing physical activity among immigrant children.