Research Team Members

Primary Area of Research:

• Sociology
• Social Psychology
• Mental Health, and Gender and Sexuality

Recent Publications:

• Pasupathi, P., Schankula, C. W., DiVincenzo, N., Coker, S., & Anand, C. K. (2022). Teaching Interaction using State Diagrams. arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.12701.

Research Interests: Community mental health initiatives, and the Means Safety project

Primary Area of Research:

• Allison Leanage is a Research Associate at the Centre for Advanced Research on Mental Health and Society at McMaster University. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and a B.A. (Honours) in Social Psychology from McMaster University. Her doctoral dissertation examined the mental health correlates of children and youth in Canada across immigrant generations in the family, community, and education context with an intersectional lens.
• Her works seek to advance our understanding of the social-contextual determinants of child and youth health and mental well-being and quantitative techniques and methodological innovations within the social sciences. Her research emphasizes social inequalities, especially among vulnerable populations, such as the immigrant generation of children and youth children exposed to economic and social adversities.
• She volunteers at Kids Help Phone line and American Statistical Association providing resources to individuals interested learning statistics within the social sciences on her off-time as she believes it is integral part of being a researcher where giving back to communities are important.

Recent Publications:

• Fox, J., & Leanage, A. (2016). R and the Journal of Statistical Software. Journal of Statistical Software, 73, 1-13.
• Leanage, A. (2021). Mental Health of Children & Youth in Canada (Doctoral dissertation).
• Rooks, R., & Leanage, A. (2021). Health and Working Beyond Retirement Age: Exploring Racial and Gender Intersectionality. Innovation in Aging, 5(Suppl 1), 568.

Primary Area of Research:

• Parent and Child Emotional Regulation
• Family Intervention
• Partner Relationship Quality

Recent Publications:

• Tao, B., Mah, K., Tsang, V. W., Varnals, T., Naveed, S., & Khosa, F. (2023). Gender disparity among psychiatry departments awarded Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grants: A retrospective study. BMJ Leader, 7(Suppl 2).

Primary Area of Research

• Currently, I work on both event coordination with the Advanced Research on Mental Health and Society initiative (ARMS) and data analysis with the Student E-Mental Health project (SEMH). Through ARMS, I helped to coordinate events with various stakeholders including the ARMS Symposium: Mental Health Beyond the Vacuum, the Other Side Film Screening, the MIHE/ARMS Health Equity Speaker Series, Resilience and Connection: An Artistic Exploration of Mental Health Student Art Exhibition, and the 2021-2023 Youth Engagement Program: Mental Health in Our Communities. I also assisted with the development of the upcoming OpenARMS Student Journal.
• As a data analyst for the SEMH project, I work to develop succinct reports and presentations that highlight the current facilitators and barriers of university students’ mental health, using data obtained through the World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) Survey. Detailed reports on the results obtained from each section of the WMH-ICS (Impairment in School and Personal Life, Help-Seeking Behaviours, the Impact of COVID-19, 12-Month Mental Health Disorder Prevalence, and 12-Month High Risk Substance Use) were provided to university stakeholders beginning in June 2023. Several publications are currently in development about the influence of socioeconomic factors, such as generational status and immigration status, on student mental health.
• In my upcoming graduate studies, I will be working with Dr. Neil in Western University’s Faculty of Education to support the development of workshops that enhance the accessibility of STEM programming for neurodiverse youth. My research focuses on reducing systemic barriers to education and exploring both individual- and community-level positive psychology interventions that help youth thrive. Overall, I am working to refine the skills needed to promote accessible and client-informed mental health and educational resources.

Recent Publications

• J. Monaghan, M. Young & D. Vigo. (2023). World Mental Health International College Student Survey: Two Year Data Collection Update. McMaster University Stakeholder Report [Internal].
• M. Young, J. Monaghan, L. Gordon, Z. Lea, A. Leanage, & D. Singh. (2023). Mental Health Among Inter-Generational Post Secondary Students. *In development*
• A. Leanage, M. Young, J. Monaghan, L. Gordon, Z. Lea, & D. Singh. (2023). Generational Impacts on Immigrant University Student Mental Health. *In development*
• D. Singh, R. Repchuck, M. Young, J. Monaghan, & H. Yan. (2023). Emotional Regulation Strategies of Frontline Mental Health Service Providers. *In development*

In Recent Media & Acknowledgements

• R. Finnerty, S. McWeeny, & L. Trainor. (2023). Online group music therapy: proactive management of undergraduate students’ stress and anxiety. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1183311/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Psychiatry&id=1183311
• McMaster Daily News. (2023). Social Science Research Aims to Improve Mental Health Resources Through Golbal E-Mental Health Survey. https://brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/social-sciences-research-aims-to-improve-mental-health-resources-through-global-e-mental-health-survey/
• McMaster Daily News (2022). Meet the Recipients of the The President’s Award of Excellence in Student Leadership. https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/meet-the-recipients-of-the-presidents-award-of-excellence-in-student-leadership/

Current Research Projects:

• Inclusive STEM Programming (Western University Faculty of Education)
• Student E-Mental Health Project
• Youth Engagement Program.

Past Grant/Research Projects:

• Emotions Matter: CMHA Peer-to-Peer Support Workshops
• OPEN ARMS Student Journal, Proactive Wellness Study (McMaster Site)
• Fatherhood Emotional Well-Being.

Research Interests: Social Determinants of Mental Health

Primary Area of Research:

• David (he/him) is a second-year medical student at Queen’s University interested in studying 2SLGBTQ+ health and family medicine trends through a sociological lens.

Recent Publications:

• Rahimpoor-Marnani, P., Kannan, V., Vaz, D., Bhavsar, D., Singh, J., & Mardon, A. (2022). Effectiveness of global rural teleoncology and future routes for teleoncology research in the context of Canadian rural areas: a narrative review of the literature. University of Toronto Medical Journal, 99(1).
• Woo, S., Khan, M. S., Vaz, D., Bhavsar, D., & Mardon, A. (2022). A review of panic buying: the mediation of illusory truth effect and persistence due to herd mentality and confirmation bias. University of Toronto Medical Journal, 99(3).

Primary Area of Research:

• Angel Y. Wang graduated from the University of Chicago in 2019 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Biology. She also completed an MPhil in Criminology at the University of Cambridge in 2020. Her Master’s thesis was focused on integrating criminological theories with existing concepts supporting hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) to provide a better understanding of how HVIPs can be effective in addressing trauma recidivism. More broadly, Angel is interested in the intersection between mental health and trauma, with a specific focus on linking to prevention and intervention measures in both hospital and community settings.

Recent Publications:

• Jones, L. B., Vereschagin, M., Wang, A. Y., Munthali, R. J., Pei, J., Richardson, C. G., … & Vigo, D. V. (2022). Suicidal Ideation Amongst University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Time Trends and Risk Factors. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 07067437221140375.
• Jones, L. B., Judkowicz, C., Hudec, K. L., Munthali, R. J., Prescivalli, A. P., Wang, A. Y., … & Vigo, D. V. (2022). The world mental health international college student survey in Canada: protocol for a mental health and substance use trend study. JMIR research protocols, 11(7), e35168.

Current Research Projects:

• Student E-Mental Health Project – Research Coordinator

Primary Area of Research:

• Mental Health
• Social Psychology
• Addictions
• Community-engaged research