Naomi Andrews

Associate Professor

905-688-5550 x4654
[email protected]

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Dr. Naomi Andrews is an Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies and holds a Ph.D. in Family and Human Development from the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Mothercraft’s Breaking the Cycle program – a prevention and early intervention program for mothers with substance use issues and their young children – and the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research at York University.

Broadly, her research focuses on applying a relational perspective to understand children and youth’s social adjustment and problem behaviors (e.g., aggression, victimization). From the lens that these problem behaviors are inherently social phenomena, she has focused on disentangling the complex social relationship processes that underlie problem behaviors. Through three related but distinct lines of work, Dr. Andrews is interested in: 1) understanding how children and youth’s peer relationships and the social context contribute to involvement in problem behaviors; 2) considering youth’s gender identity and gender-based peer experiences, particularly in relation to problem behaviors, social functioning, and relationships; and 3) applying a relational perspective to conduct meaningful, community-based intervention and evaluation research. Her goal is for this basic and applied research to have meaningful implications for decreasing children and youth’s involvement in problem behaviors in school or other social settings, understanding gender identity and intergroup relations, and promoting healthy relationships. Please visit Dr. Andrews’ lab website.

Research Interests

  • Peer relationships
  • Aggression
  • Gender
  • Intervention
  • Healthy relationships
  • Trauma
  • Mother-child relationships

Publications

Below is a subset of Dr. Andrews’ peer-reviewed publications. For a full list, please click on her Google Scholar page.

Peer-Reviewed Publications:
(Student co-authors indicated in italics)

  1. Lee, G. J., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Motz, M. (2026). A systematic review of Circle of Security – Parenting (COS-P): Effects of an attachment-based parenting intervention within the framework of child maltreatment prevention. Child Protection and Practice, 10, 1-11. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chipro.2026.100333
  2. Edwards, K. T., Dane, A. V., Volk, A. A., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Farrell, A. (2026). To cooperate or manipulate? An evolutionary perspective on bullying and social power. Aggressive Behavior, 52, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.70070
  3. Andrews, N. C. Z., Lee, G. J., Firasta, L., Motz, M., & Pepler, D. J. (2026). Mothers and children experiencing substance use and interpersonal violence: A qualitative study addressing the lived experiences of mothers in an attachment-based parenting intervention. Child Abuse and Neglect, 175, 1-13. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2026.108006
  4. Vitoroulis, I., Buchan-Pham, C., Feng, R. Y., Saade, T.-M., Abu-Obseh, F., Andrews, N. C. Z., Guimond, F.-A., Ryder, A. G., Santo, J. (2026). Racial microaggression and anxiety in young adults: The moderating role of social support networks. International Journal of Behavioral Development. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254261416399
  5. Firasta, L., Chan, E., Motz, M., Kempe, S., Andrews, N. C. Z., Heer, B., Penaloza, D., Premji, S., Poole, N.,McDowell, H., Pepler, D., & Racine, N. (2026). Embedding research in infant and early childhood mental health settings: Practical steps and considerations. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 19(1), 1-14. Doi: https://doi.org/10.5130/wbjs1p29 
  6. Paredes, X. R., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Dawes, M. (2025). Does it hurt more to be called “gay” or “pizza face”? Gender differences in teasing content and associated harm. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 54, 4045-4060. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03302-3
  7. Volk, A. A., Dane, A. V., Craig, W., Spadafora, N., Andrews, N. C. Z., Vitoroulis, I., Farrell, A. H., & Lambe, L. J. (2025). Cooperative versus competitive social power in adolescence. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 12(9), 8-30. Doi: 10.14738/assrj.1209.19332 
  8. Andrews, N. C. Z. & Dawes, M. (2025). “I laughed along for years but hated it inside:” Understanding nuance in peer teasing experiences using a thematic analysis. Journal of Adolescence. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.70032
  9. Andrews, N. C. Z., Dane, A. V., Spadafora, N., Al-Jbouri, E., Volk, A. A., & Farrell, A. H. (2025). A dyadic perspective on evolutionarily relevant aggressive functions: Considering links to victim characteristics. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2025.101851
  10. MacAulay, K., Andrews, N. C. Z., Motz, M., Lee, G. J., & Pepler, D. J. (2025). Pathways of perceived change in an interpersonal violence intervention for mothers: The importance of self-compassion. Behavioral Sciences, 15(6), 739. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15060739
  11. Spadafora, N., Al-Jbouri, E., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Volk, A. A. (2025). Modeling changes in classroom incivility across adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 97(6), 1680-1686. doi: http://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12509
  12. Dawes, M. & Andrews, N. C. Z. (2025). What are the features of playful and harmful teasing and what crosses the line? A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative research on peer teasing. Adolescence Research Review. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-025-00262-6
  13. Rakhra, M., Moore, S., Ramey, H., & Andrews, N. C. Z. (2025). Provision of mental health supports in Ontario elementary schools: A critical literature review. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 37(3), 9-37.
  14. Andrews, N. C. Z., Pakkal, O., & Dawes, M. (2024). Is teasing meant to be mean or nice? Associations between adolescent social experiences and teasing attitudes in emerging adults. Personal Relationships, 31(4), 1027-1046. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12567
  15. Al-Jbouri, E., Volk, A. A., Spadafora, N., & Andrews, N. C. Z. (2024). Friends, followers, peers, and posts: Adolescents’ in-person and online friendship networks and social media use influences on friendship closeness via the importance of technology for social connection. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 2, 1419756. Doi: 10.3389/fdpys.2024.1419756
  16. Andrews, N. C. Z. & Dawes, M. (2024). Using retrospective reports to develop profiles of harmful versus playful teasing experiences. Journal of Adolescence, 96(7), 1512-1526. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12359
  17. Racine, N., Barriault, S., Motz, M., Leslie, M., Poole, N., Premji, S., Andrews, N. C. Z., Penaloza, D., Pepler, D. J. (2024). A comparative effectiveness study of the Breaking the Cycle and Maxxine Wright intervention programs for substance-involved mothers and their children: Study protocol. BMC Psychology, 12(16), 1-10. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01484-w
  18. Andrews, N. C. Z. (2023). A model of peer aggression and victimization on the social spectrum: A relational perspective. Developmental Review, 69, 101088. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2023.101088
  19. Andrews, N. C. Z., Motz, M., Pepler, D. J., Leslie, M., & DeMarchi, G. (2023). A qualitative examination of mothers’ experiences in an interpersonal violence intervention initiative. Journal of Family Violence, 39, 1447-1459.Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00574-y
  20. Andrews, N. C. Z., Cillessen, A. H. N., Craig, W., Dane, A. V., & Volk, A. A. (2023). Bullying and the abuse of power. International Journal of Bullying Prevention – The Legacy of Dan Olweus Special Issue, 5(3), 261-270. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-023-00170-0 *authors listed in alphabetical order.
  21. Al-Jbouri, E., Andrews, N. C. Z., Peddigrew, E., Fortier, A., & Weaver, T. (2022). Building elementary students’ social and emotional skills: A randomized control trial to evaluate a teacher-led intervention. School Mental Health, 15(1), 138-150. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09538-x
  22. Peddigrew, E., McNamara, J., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Sendzik-Sinclair, S. (2022). Transitioning to post-secondary education with a learning disability: Identifying similarities and gaps between first-hand experiences and university transition programs. International Journal for Research in Learning Disabilities, 5(2), 55-69. Doi:  https://doi.org/10.28987/ijrld.5.2.5
  23. Peddigrew, E., Andrews, N. C. Z., Al-Jbouri, E., Fortier, A., & Weaver, T. (2022). Mechanisms supporting students’ social and emotional learning development: Qualitative findings from a teacher-led intervention. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 41(3), 1-18. Doi:10.7870/cjcmh-2022-019
  24. Andrews, N. C. Z., Cook, R. E., & Martin, C. L. (2022). Who am I and what do my peers think: How do gender identity and peer norms relate to other-gender friendship. Social Development, 31(3), 900-915. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12584
  25. Andrews, N. C. Z., Hanish, L. D., Martin, C. L., DeLay, D., & Updegraff, K. A. (2022). Power in aggressor-victim relationships: Exploring social, physical, gender- and ethnicity-based power. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 208-224. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01555-4
  26. Dane, A. V., Lapierre, K. R., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Volk, A. A. (2022). Evolutionarily relevant aggressive functions: Differentiating competitive, impression management, sadistic, and reactive motives. Aggressive Behavior, 48(3), 331-340. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.22020 
  27. Spadafora, N., Al-Jbouri, E., McDowell, H., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Volk, A. A. (2022). Be a little rude, but not too much: Exploring classroom incivility and social network position in adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 42(4), 565-585. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/02724316211058074 
  28. Volk, A. A., Andrews, N. C. Z., & Dane, A. V. (2022). Balance of power and adolescent aggression. Psychology of Violence, 12(1), 31-41. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000398 
  29. Andrews, N. C. Z., McDowell, H., Spadafora, N., Dane, A. V. (2022). Using social network position to understand early adolescents’ power and dominance within a school context. School Psychology, 37(6), 445-454. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000445