Funding by the Spencer Foundation, a private institution focused on funding for education, a research team at Wayne State University examines the long -term impact of bullying and mental health on social and academic progress on adolescents.
Hannah L. Schacter, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a School of Partners at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, received the grant along with the co-commander-in-chief of Adam Hoffman, Ph.D.
The one -year grant for about $ 50,000 is funded through the Foundation’s small research grants on the educational program and will benefit their study “Understanding the impact of peer victimization and mental health at the Gymnasium for the persistence of the College”.
The grant focuses on how adolescent experiences during the Gymnasium affect their long -term effects, in particular their academic persistence during the college. We have plenty of evidence that children who are intimidated by their peers not only do worse in terms of their mental health, but also have negative academic results. In the middle and high school, they show a worse commitment to the classroom, get lower grades and feel less motivated. ”
Hannah L. Schacter, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wayne State University
Schacter said that researchers know much less about how such impacts remain beyond high school, especially on the academic progress of young people.
“We have an ongoing timeless study that we started in the fall of 2020 with a group of ninth graders,” Schacter said. “We have carried out surveys and surveys with this team throughout the four -year high school. This grant allows us to continue observing this team at college and see if their previous experiences are intimidated by academic or socially.”
Schacter hopes to continue his study to observe a wider range of students exposed to different conditions to determine if their results are consistent.
“The current team started the ninth grade during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Schacter said. “I would like to recruit another bigger team in the future to compare some of what we see among students who were not in high school during Covid.”
“This funding by the Spencer Foundation will allow Dr. Schacter and its research team to get a valuable picture of the long -term result of bullying in our younger generation,” said Ezemenari M. Obasi, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Innovation at Wayne State. “I look forward to seeing the impact of this important project.”
