Happy Holidays from the ASPIRE Lab!☃️🎄❄️

Congratulations to our two undergraduate thesis students, Mariana and Sienna, on giving fantastic presentations about their proposed studies! Well done!🥳

Exercise and sports don’t just have physical benefits! In this week’s fun fact, we explore the psychological benefits of physical activity and participating in team sports!

The ASPIRE Lab had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Samuel Kim as a guest speaker last month! He shared insights from his dissertation research on youth help-seeking and coping with bullying.

Thank you, Dr. Kim, for joining us and inspiring thoughtful discussion!

The ASPIRE lab is excited to share our latest publication 📢
Family functioning and youth adjustment: The role of sibling and friend security

Want to learn more? Free to access!

Introducing the ASPIRE Lab team for the 2025-2026 school year! 🎉

To learn more about our team and our current projects, check out our lab website at lnkd.in/gGmjgBhb.

Check out this week's Fun Fact! This week, we dive into what it means to be a helpful friend in the context of negative peer experiences.

Congratulations to our MA student Charlotte on being awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship!🥳

Please join the ASPIRE Lab in congratulating our lab coordinator, Patricia Forbes, on her acceptance to the Clinical Psychology program (MA) at the University of Exeter! 🥳

Welcome back! 🎉

The first day of a new school year is here, and we’re wishing everyone the very best as you dive into the semester. The ASPIRE Lab is looking forward to an exciting year filled with research, events, and opportunities to connect. Here’s to a successful semester!

The ASPIRE Lab at TMU is recruiting 200 Canadian teens for a study on youth disclosure with siblings and friends! For more info, contact us at aspirelab@torontomu.ca

The ethics protocol for this study has been reviewed and approved by the Toronto Metropolitan Research Ethics Board (REB 2024-244).

Want to learn more? Free to access!

Persram, R. J., Dirks, M. A., Craig, W. M., & Recchia, H. E. (2025). Stability of distinct relational profiles of adolescent sibling relationships and friendships: A latent transition analysis. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. doi.org/10.1177/0265...

Check out this week's Fun Fact Friday! This week we dive into sibling and best friend conflict resolution strategies.

To wrap up an incredible academic year, the ASPIRE Lab team celebrated with an end-of-year picnic at Toronto’s Harbourfront! Thank you to everyone who made this year a huge success, we’re so proud of all we've accomplished together. Here’s to even more discovery, and fun next year!

Congratulations to our two undergraduate thesis students, Julia and Jamilah, on giving fantastic poster presentations and for graduating this past week!

This past winter semester, the ASPIRE Lab was proud to welcome their very first undergraduate PSY 700 practicum student. Congratulations to Sanaa Mansuri on successfully completing her practicum and for graduating this past week!

The ASPIRE Lab is extremely pleased to introduce MaDi Rainbow and Hayden Wong as our newest Research Assistants! We can’t wait to see the incredible contributions they will bring to our team. Please join us in giving them a warm welcome!