About us:
The IVY lab, run by Dr. Laura Lambe, focuses on better understanding the link between young people’s relationships and their mental health, with a specific focus on bullying, peer victimization, and bystander intervention. We are located in the Department of Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS.
Our lab is located in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This land is covered by the Treaties of Peace and Friendship, which recognized Indigenous title and established ongoing nation-to-nation relationships. As a lab committed to supporting youth and interrupting victimization, we strive to honour Indigenous knowledge, histories, and contributions through our research, partnerships, and daily practices.
Our lab is located in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This land is covered by the Treaties of Peace and Friendship, which recognized Indigenous title and established ongoing nation-to-nation relationships. As a lab committed to supporting youth and interrupting victimization, we strive to honour Indigenous knowledge, histories, and contributions through our research, partnerships, and daily practices.
Research context and mission:
Canada has a failing report card when it comes to the well-being of our youth – we currently rank 30th out of 38 affluent nations for protecting our children’s well-being, with bullying remaining one of the top 10 threats facing our youth. Nova Scotia is no exception, with the 2024 Auditor General’s Report on School Violence reporting a 60% increase in school violence in Nova Scotia over the last seven years. Bullying is associated with a host of adverse outcomes, including increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance use, eating disorders, and poorer academic achievement. There is also developmental continuity between bullying and other aggressive behaviours – children involved in bullying are likely to experience ongoing relationship difficulties across development, including dating violence and sexual violence, further emphasizing the need for prevention and early intervention. At its core, bullying is a social relationship problem, with peers being present for 85% of bullying episodes. Peers play a critical role in shaping bullying dynamics, with a minority of these bystanders intervening to defend their victimized peers. While relatively rare, peer defending is very effective in stopping bullying, ending within 10 seconds when a bystander intervenes. Bullying and bystander behaviours, however, are also shaped by the larger social ecology in which youth are embedded, including peers, family, schools, communities, and larger societal systems (e.g., racism, transphobia, homophobia). Dr. Lambe's research addresses these issues through 3 main research goals:
Canada has a failing report card when it comes to the well-being of our youth – we currently rank 30th out of 38 affluent nations for protecting our children’s well-being, with bullying remaining one of the top 10 threats facing our youth. Nova Scotia is no exception, with the 2024 Auditor General’s Report on School Violence reporting a 60% increase in school violence in Nova Scotia over the last seven years. Bullying is associated with a host of adverse outcomes, including increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance use, eating disorders, and poorer academic achievement. There is also developmental continuity between bullying and other aggressive behaviours – children involved in bullying are likely to experience ongoing relationship difficulties across development, including dating violence and sexual violence, further emphasizing the need for prevention and early intervention. At its core, bullying is a social relationship problem, with peers being present for 85% of bullying episodes. Peers play a critical role in shaping bullying dynamics, with a minority of these bystanders intervening to defend their victimized peers. While relatively rare, peer defending is very effective in stopping bullying, ending within 10 seconds when a bystander intervenes. Bullying and bystander behaviours, however, are also shaped by the larger social ecology in which youth are embedded, including peers, family, schools, communities, and larger societal systems (e.g., racism, transphobia, homophobia). Dr. Lambe's research addresses these issues through 3 main research goals:
- To describe the situational, social-cognitive factors that predict peer defending behaviours in the moment.
- To harness social power in peer contexts to promote bystander intervention and reduce victimization.
- To understand the multilevel risk and protective factors that influence youth relationships, aggressive behaviours, and mental health.
We highly value co-creating research with community partners and use novel methods (e.g., virtual reality) to answer these research questions.