Isabella Romano, ARCH Lab alumnus (BSc 2017), recently published a paper with members of the COMPASS team, titled “High school bullying and mental disorder: an examination of the association with flourishing and emotional regulation”.

Her paper examined the relationship between self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, and bullying involvement in Canadian high school students. Data came from the COMPASS study, a large-scale study of Canadian youth in grades 9-12. Results showed that one-third of youth in the study screened positive for clinically-relevant anxiety, and 40% reported symptoms of depression. Twenty percent of youth were involved in bullying – either as the perpetrator, victim or both.

Results showed that both the victim and victim-perpetrator role were associated with increased likelihood of anxiety and depression. The same effect was not observed for perpetrators. Recommendations for school-based prevention efforts focused on promoting emotional intelligence and flourishing are discussed.