Perspectives on Peer Conflicts in Schools
With Hariclia Petrakos, Ana Maria Velásquez, Gabriel Velez, and Cecilia Wainryb
Funded by SSHRC
Student Collaborators: Angelica Restrepo, Laura Pareja Conto, Lys Evenou, Ricardo Salas Dorado, Shahd El Tahrawi, Tiana Ferracane, Vilma Escorcia Vera
Overall, this line of our work examines youths’ and school authorities’ reasoning about punitive and restorative justice models in Canadian and Colombian schools. In a series of quantitative and qualitative studies, we are exploring (a) adolescents’ and educators’ viewpoints on preventing and addressing peer conflicts in schools, (b) their reasoning for supporting more restorative and/or punitive orientations to harm, and (c) their perception of the role that different community members (e.g., teachers, parents, administrative staff, school counselors, other peers) have in the resolution of peer harms.
The Role of Parents in Supporting Children’s Moral Development
With Melanie Dirks, Monisha Pasupathi, and Cecilia Wainryb
Funded by SSHRC
Student Collaborators: Alyssa Scirocco, Anna Saint-Martin, Jaclyn Ohayon, Mawuena Badasu, Nazila Tolooei, Teresa Pirro, Tiffany Konov
This aspect of our work examines how parents help their children in making sense of and learning from transgressive and prosocial morally-laden experiences. In a series of studies, we have examined mothers’ and children’s conversations about moral socialization strategies in conversations about their 6- to 16-year-old children’s experiences of harming and being harmed by agemates, as well as situations in which they have helped or been helped by their friends. We are also interested in (a) the socialization strategies that parents and children judge to be most effective in supporting children’s moral learning in different contexts, (b) how parents’ thinking about their own moral transgressions is related to their constructions of meaning about their teenagers’ transgressions, and (c) the factors that support or undermine children’s willingness to disclose peer conflicts to their parents.
Families’ Perspectives on Daily Sibling Interactions
With Melanie Dirks and Nina Howe
Student Collaborators: Christine Kinsley, Emilie Chodat, Kerem Araboglu, Laura Amodeo
In an ongoing daily diary study led by Christine Kinsley, we are examining the positive and negative aspects of daily interactions between siblings. Our goals are to assess similarities and differences between children’s and parents’ reports of daily interactions, to examine how global measures of sibling relationship quality are associated with everyday interactions, and to examine how sibling interactions are linked to between- and within-family variations in parental stress.
Children’s and Adolescents’ Judgments and Experiences of Prosocial Action and Refusal
Student Collaborators: Ecem Unsal, Gabrielle Leclerc, Jasmine Manan, Nasim Tavassoli, Zoe Adler
In a project led by Nasim Tavassoli, we are examining how children, adolescents, and young adults make judgments about their own and others’ prosocial actions and refusals. We are especially interested in documenting the lessons learned from non-prototypical prosocial experiences (e.g., those in which individuals help others but ultimately regret doing so). As part of the same study, we are also examining parents’ prosocial socialization goals and intervention strategies, and how parents’ efforts to support their children’s prosocial development are balanced with other pragmatic and prudential concerns.
Philosophical Dialogues as Contexts for the Development of Children’s Intellectual Humility
With Natalie Fletcher, Bruce Maxwell, Baptiste Roucau, and David Waddington
Funded by SSHRC
Student Collaborator: Miranda Reid
This collaboration with Brila Youth Projects examines the development of children’s critical, creative, and caring thinking in the context of their participation in philosophical dialogues and creative projects. We are especially interested in how children’s experiences with collaborative philosophical dialogue can support the development of epistemic virtues such as intellectual humility, and the role of adult facilitation in supporting children’s development.