Forms and methods people use to bully change with age but effects are just as devastating

The fourth annual conference, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, features workshops on a variety of topics, including workplace harassment, internet bullying and elder abuse.

The conference is hosted by PREVNet co-directors Debra Pepler and Wendy Craig who have worked together for more than 20 years addressing issues of bullying and aggression.

“There are myths that bullying is just a childhood problem and that children are best left to solve problems themselves,” said Wendy Craig, a psychology professor at Queen’s University.  “But we know that where there’s an imbalance of power, adults need to support children, stop the interaction and, more importantly, provide the child being victimized and the child who is being aggressive with skills to use the next time they are faced with a situation.”

These coping skills are also essential to healthy adult interactions, said Debra Pepler, a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University.

“People develop a pattern of interacting where they feel entitled and able to control others through aggression. These patterns often persist for adults and we try to demonstrate that there are other kinds of skills that people can use to be successful in their interactions.”

Conference workshop highlights include:

Workplace harassment: Workplace bullying and organizational outcomes

Parbudyal and Singh Al-Karim Samnani, York University

Room 205B, Main floor, 10:45am-12:00pm

Studies on workplace bullying have grown significantly over the past two decades, focusing mainly on individual level outcomes such as stress, apprehension, mental health, commitment and motivation.  Research presented at this workshop will draw from other disciplines such as human resources management and industrial relations to explore outcomes at the organizational level.

Electronic/New Media:  Promoting Internet safety

Wendy Craig, Queen’s University

Room 206B, Main floor, 10:45am-12:00pm

The dark side of Internet socializing is on the increase among Canadian youth: cyberbullying is up 20 per cent from four years ago. This workshop will address the benefits and the challenges for youth and adults responsible for youth in using the Internet. Specific strategies addressing education and training, assessment and evaluation, and prevention and intervention will be reviewed.

Elder Abuse: Bullying at its worst, identification and prevention

Sandi Hirst, University of Calgary.

Room 205A, Main floor, 1:15-2:30pm

A discussion of key practical strategies to detect and prevent the occurrence of elder abuse. As older adults become more physically frail, they are less able to stand up to bullying. They may not see or hear as well or think as clearly as they used to, which may mean that they are taken advantage of. Physical or cognitive disorders may make them irksome companions for those who live with them.

Infancy and Early Childhood: Enhancing parent-child interactions through videotaping

Susan Mendolia and Karen Narraway, Toronto Public Health, Healthy Families Program

Room 206E, Main floor, 2:45-4:00pm

Enhancing parent child interaction through the use of videotaping is an intervention used by Toronto Public Health nurses within the Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program (HBHC). Research has demonstrated that parental sensitivity is one of the most important predictors of the quality of parent-child attachment. Videotaping parent-child interactions, reviewing and discussing the videotaped interaction with the parent and guided discussions with the Public Health nurse, enables the parent to observe and reflect upon how they responded to their child. (Videotapes shown in the workshop may not be taped or rebroadcast).

Marginalized and GLBTQ youth:  Kids speak up for safer schools, the findings of the first national climate survey on homophobia in Canadian schools.

Catherine Taylor, University of Winnipeg, Tracey Peter and Sarah Paquin, University of Manitoba

Room 206C, Main floor, 10:45am-12:00pm

This workshop presents the results of a national survey of Canadian high school students undertaken to identify the forms and extent of their experiences of homophobic incidents at school and measures being taken by schools to combat this common form of bullying. The workshop concludes with recommendations for safe school policy development at the ministerial, district, and school levels.

Infancy and early childhood:  Fostering healthy interaction patterns and navigating the challenging social world

Dale Stack and Julie Martin, Concordia University

Room 206E, Main floor, 10:45am-12:00pm

Research demonstrates the vital role parents play in fostering the myriad of skills and abilities infants and preschoolers develop that lay the foundation for adaptive interaction patterns later in life. Drawing from a unique longitudinal study on aggression and social withdrawal in girls and boys across generations, the researchers will highlight how adaptive and maladaptive patterns develop from infancy to middle childhood and may be transferred from parent to child.

For a complete list of workshops, please see the conference program.

PREVNet, Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network, shares up-to-date scientific knowledge and research expertise, builds awareness of bullying and aggression problems, plots strategies, informs public policy-making and shifts attitudes related to bullying.

The network brings together 62 university researchers and 60 graduate students from 26 Canadian universities and 49 national non-governmental organizations.

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 26 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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Media contact:

Killeen Kelly, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22938 / killeenk@yorku.ca