Articles from:September 2020

• Brock expands partnership with Niagara Workforce Planning Board

  Tuesday, September 22, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 22 September 2020 – R0143

  Brock University made its long-time collaboration with the Niagara Workforce Planning Board (NWPB) official by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Tuesday, Sept. 22.

  The partnership formalizes both Brock and NWPB’s efforts in contributing to the local community by supporting the health, vitality and well-being of the region, as well as addressing workforce development challenges. This includes working toward a shared commitment to helping build and nurture a prosperous Niagara community comprised of a diverse and talented workforce.

  The livestreamed event kicked off with an engaging and informative panel discussion on a joint report by the Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) at Brock and the NWPB about Niagara’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as gender equity in the region’s workforce.

  Moderated by Julie Rorison, Brock’s Manager of Community Relations, the discussion included a variety of panelists across Brock, the NCO and the NWPB.

  “One of the central goals of the NCO is to be a clear demonstration of Brock’s commitment to the Niagara community,” said Charles Conteh, Associate Professor of Political Science at Brock and NCO Director. “The Niagara Workplace Planning Board and NCO have enjoyed a longstanding relationship going back to the founding years of the NCO. We see this MOU as an institutional affirmation of this partnership.”

  Brock President Gervan Fearon noted that Brock’s commitment to collaboration benefits more than just the University, but the local community.

  “Community is deeply defined within the DNA of Brock University,” said Fearon. “The evolution of Brock’s community engagement has moved beyond the tradition of bricks and mortar into meaningful, reciprocal relationships that will help us achieve our strategic objective to enhance the life and vitality of the local region and beyond.”

  Over the course of the University’s history, Brock’s commitment to community has come in many shapes, forms and initiatives across the region, including:

  • MOU agreements that see Brock researchers and students working alongside local healthcare providers, community support agencies and other partners
  • Helping local municipalities deal with the impacts of climate change
  • Providing land and human resources to help Niagara prepare to host a successful Canada Summer Games
  • Providing scientific and business support for local manufacturing, agriculture and the wine industry
  • Contributing research and knowledge to support and expand economic sectors

  “This commitment to collaboration and community engagement can be seen in the initiatives that have already shaped the types of partnership we have across the region,” said Fearon. “There’s an opportunity to further contribute research and knowledge and expand across the Niagara region and strengthen our vital economic sectors. Collaboration makes us all stronger.”

  One of the highlights of the event was a discussion about Niagara’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on women in the workforce. The conversation, which was led by Thalia Semplonius, Project Manager, NWPB, Carol Phillips, Research Co-Ordinator, NCO, Kate Bezanson, Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Associate Professor of Sociology, and Felice Martinello, Professor of Economics, focused on the NCO’s latest report, “The economic impact of COVID-19 on Niagara women in the workforce.”

  Vivian Kinnaird, Chief Executive Officer, NWPB, said she’s excited to see the already-strong relationship between Brock and the NWPB flourish and looks forward to a more established and fruitful partnership.

  “We really are looking forward to working on deepening our research, as well as working with Co-op, Career and Experiential Education to add value to the community impact of Brock’s work, workplace development and career planning,” said Kinnaird. “It’s a vital time and COVID has really highlighted some of these issues. We’re thrilled to engage with Brock in supporting newcomers to the area.”

  A video recording of Tuesday’s event can be viewed on the Brock Community Engagement website here.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Personality traits linked to COVID response in young adults

  Tuesday, September 22, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 22 September 2020 – R0142

  Young adults who are lax with abiding by COVID-19 protocols score low on the honesty-humility and conscientiousness categories of a scale measuring personality traits, says new Brock University research.

  The recently released study “The influence of demographics and personality on COVID-19 coping in young adults,” found introverts find it more difficult coping with the isolation of lockdowns than their extroverted counterparts.

  And if you want to get youth to abide by COVID-19 protocols, it might take some hard lessons.

  “What our findings suggest is that if you want to get more young adults buying into it, you have to make the consequences more immediate and more personal, so things like higher fines, expulsions from schools, and emphasizing COVID-19 can still make young adults very sick,” says Brock Professor of Child and Youth Studies Tony Volk, lead author of the study, published September 15 in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

  In May, Volk and his team sent out four online questionnaires to 516 young adults between the ages of 24 and 35 in Canada and the U.S.

  “We were interested at the beginning of the pandemic in seeing whether personality related to people’s responses to COVID,” he says. “At that time, it was already emerging the group least likely to comply with COVID restrictions in Europe were young adults, so in a sense, we could see this happening.”

  The first two questionnaires asked participants their concerns about the future, in their personal lives and their employment prospects. The third questionnaire was based on the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, while the fourth measured distinct areas of behaviour change — both adaptive and maladaptive — since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  The questionnaires measured personality traits using the HEXACO Personality Inventory. Co-developed by Brock and the University of Calgary, it measures six major dimensions of personality: honesty-humility; emotionality; extraversion; agreeableness (versus anger); conscientiousness; and openness to experience.

  Volk says the HEXACO scale is able to pinpoint people’s motives and identify patterns more precisely than other personality scales to differentiate “between behaving badly because they’re being selfish, because they’re angry and lashing out, or because they’re callous or overly anxious.”

  The team found a strong link between conscientiousness and planning and problem-solving, which Volk says indicates “the ability to think in a forward way, be disciplined, prepare, and follow rules and regulations.”

  Low scores in the conscientiousness and honesty-humility measures were associated with failure to follow COVID-19 protocols and negative coping behaviours such as drinking, partying and having bleak thoughts.

  The team found a strong link between conscientiousness and planning and problem solving, which Volk says indicates “the ability to think in a forward way, be disciplined, preparing, following rules and regulations.”

  On the flip side, lower levels of conscientiousness translates into a lack of planning, being less future-oriented and living more for today, “so being selfish was also associated with being willing to take risks for your own immediate benefit without considering necessarily the future consequences,” says Volk.

  Making the situation worse is the perception that young adults are less likely to catch and die from COVID-19, making them less personally affected by the virus and the consequences of breaking pandemic rules, he says.

  Youth who didn’t abide by COVID-19 protocols weren’t motivated by anger or rebellion, unlike some adults who don’t follow these measures. Youth are primarily focused on self and the “here-and-now.”

  Other findings include:

  • People with higher incomes have more available options for support, including social and emotional support
  • Parents who have many children are likely to seek out avoidance strategies such as consuming more alcohol as a way of coping
  • Women are more likely to engage in problem-solving, but they have greater anxiety; men are more likely to practise avoidance behaviours and display higher selfishness and/or recklessness

  Funding the study was the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Brock’s Faculty of Social Sciences.

  Brock Professor of Child and Youth Studies Tony Volk is available for media interviews.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases