People

Lab Director

Dr. Danielle Molnar (PhD Psychology, Brock University)
I am a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth and an Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University. My training is in personality/social psychology. My research focuses on the biological, psychological, social, and developmental factors that contribute to adjustment and well-being across the lifespan, with a particular focus on how perfectionism is related to health, adjustment, and well-being during adolescence. I strongly support transdisciplinary research and my own research spans across domains from psychology and sociology to biology and immunology. I also really enjoy working with members of the community, ensuring that we get the word out on young people’s, parents’ and educators’ experiences with perfectionism, including its costs and consequences.

I have a passion for statistics and a solid background in quantitative methods. I love to teach foundational statistics courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level and is particularly interested in statistical modeling, dyadic data analysis, and longitudinal data analyses.

On a personal level, I love spending time with my family, Alice Cooper and rock music in general, F1 racing (Forza Ferrari!), playing scrabble, books of all kinds, and traveling (especially visiting beautiful sunny beaches).

Graduate Students

Melissa Blackburn

Melissa is a third year Ph.D. Candidate in Child and Youth Studies at Brock. She has completed her Honours B.A as well as her M.A. in Child and Youth Studies under the supervision of Dr. Molnar; she is excited to continue working with the DPHWB lab for her doctoral studies! Broadly, her program of research focuses on perfectionism among young people, particularly with respect to the impact of perfectionism on youth well-being. Her doctoral dissertation will take involve an in-depth, multi-methods examination of the relationship between perfectionism and self-compassion among adolescents.

Vanessa Zarb

Vanessa is a second year Child and Youth Studies Master’s student. She recently completed an individual thesis, under the supervision of Dr. Danielle Molnar, on how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced youth’s subjective well-being through school delivery and social connection. Vanessa’s passion for research stems from a quantitative perspective and she hopes to continue her research through an MA and PhD.

Lab Affiliates & Research Assistants

Dr. Natalie Spadafora
Dr. Natalie Spadafora is a post-doctoral fellow at the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University, working under the supervision of Dr. Magdalena Janus. Her current post-doctoral work has been focused on investigating kindergarten educator perspectives of the learning situation during the first school shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Natalie completed her graduate degrees in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University under the supervision of Drs. Marini and Volk. Her research to date takes a psychoeducational perspective, investigating issues to do with child and adolescent development, with an emphasis on peer relationships and antisocial behavior (e.g., bullying, classroom incivility). She is also interested in factors that impact the teaching and learning of youth.

Natalie Tacuri

Natalie is a third year PhD Candidate in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education & Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at McGill University. She completed her Honours Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in the Department of Child and Youth Studies under the supervision of Dr. Dawn Zinga and Dr. Danielle Molnar. Natalie’s doctoral research is taking a feminist ethnographic approach to examine the sexualization of girls who participate in competitive dance. Natalie’s research interests include dance education, girlhood studies, sexualization, student-athletes, and feminist theories, and methodologies.

Hanna Puffer

Hanna is a second year Master’s student in the Psychology department at Brock. She completed her undergraduate thesis at Brock under the supervision of Dr. Hodson and is continuing her graduate work with him as well. Her research interests include prejudice reduction, discrimination, and attitudes towards women’s participation in transactional sex. She is excited to begin her Ph.D. in the Fall, under the continued supervision of Dr. Hodson, while staying involved with the DPHWB Lab.

Georgia Cronin

Georgia is in her third year of her undergraduate studies in Medical Sciences at Brock. She initially heard about the lab through their dance research, as she is part of the Badgers Dance Pak. The areas of research investigated by the DPHWB lab allow her to further explore dance and perfectionism, which she sees in her day-to-day life. She am excited about gaining insight into how a lab runs and what conducting research entails.

Grace Cumming

Grace is currently in her fourth year of the Medical Sciences program at Brock. She is excited about the opportunity to contribute to the DPHWB lab and gain research experience. Grace plans on attending medical school or pursuing a master’s degress after completing her undergraduate studies.

Tabitha Leishman

Tabitha is a fourth-year psychology undergraduate student with a special interest in developmental psychology and adolescent mental health. Having witnessed the effects of poor adolescent mental health in her roles at the Canadian Mental Health Association as well as Pathstone Mental Health, she is passionate about understanding and mitigating the impacts of perfectionism on young people. In the Fall, she is thrilled to be starting an individual thesis project, supervised by Dr. Molnar. Upon completing her undergrad, she aims to continue her research by pursuing an M.A..

Oryana Ashour

Oryana is a fourth-year student in the psychology research stream, completing her minor in Labour Studies at Brock University. She is currently completing her co-op placement at the DPHWB Lab as a Research Assistant. Oryana is very excited to gain more experience in the research field. Oryana’s research interests include the influence of perfectionism on first-generation students and those of immigrant status. Additionally, she is interested in the psychology of work and understanding the role that work can play in our daily life. In the future, Oryana hopes to continue to work in the research field.

MITACS Interns

Jana Scholzen

Jana is currently doing a Globalink research internship by Mitacs at the DPHWB Lab at Brock University. In Germany, she studies psychology (undergraduate; Bachelor’s degree) in her fourth semester (second year) at the University of Bonn. Additionally, she works as a student assistant in the Department of General Psychology II, where she conducts electrocephalograms, including preparation and cleaning of every item, recruiting test subjects, scheduling appointments, and collecting as well as saving data. Her research interests primarily focus on perfectionism and its effects on mental health as well as perfectionism in teens. She will be doing qualitative as well as quantitative research while working in the DPHWB Lab.

Valeria Escobar Arciniegas

Valeria is currently in her final year of her undergraduate studies in Psychology at the University of San Buenaventura in Cali, Colombia. For the past two years, she has been working as a research assistant focusing on promoting social and emotional learning in children and youth. She has a keen interest in clinical psychology, particularly in working with teenagers. She plans to continue her research in the future. During her Mitacs internship, she is eager to explore perfectionism, its relationship with stress, and its impact on both the academic and personal lives of young people.

Sofia Bermudez Barcenas

Sofia, a final year undergraduate student from the University of San Buenaventura in Cali, Colombia, is currently engaged in the Mitacs internship program at Brock University. Her research interests revolve around children, youth, and social-emotional learning, including aspects such as compassion in the context of children in Colombia. For her internship at Brock University, Sofia would like to focus on perfectionism and its ramifications on mental well-being, delving into the intricate realm of youth psychology. She is particularly intrigued by the interplay between perfectionism and its impact on the social and emotional development of young people.