Alexa Martin-Storey

Université de Sherbrooke | UdeS · Department of Psychoeducation

Background Adolescents with a history of conduct problems (CP) are at heightened risk of increased service utilization as they develop. While the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear, early CP have also been linked with peer victimization and internalizing problems. The goals of the current study were: (1) to examine peer victimizatio...

Objective: While research has extensively documented higher rates of internalizing problems among sexual minority youth compared to their heterosexual peers, less is known about externalizing problems among sexual minority youth and the mechanisms that underlie this vulnerability. Experiencing different forms of violence is a significant risk facto...

Although friendship is a key source of support and intimacy for adolescents, adolescent friendships can also involve victimization, which can be harmful to youth well-being. To date, our understanding of victimization in friendship has been limited by a lack of measures that comprehensively capture the variety of negative behaviors occurring in thi...

OBJECTIFS DU CHAPITRE : 1) Mieux comprendre le stress minoritaire et sa contribution potentielle dans les inégalités en matière de santé et les habitudes de consommation de substances psychoactives (SPA) chez les jeunes trans et non-binaires (TNB); 2) Situer l'évaluation des habitudes de consommation des jeunes TNB dans une perspective écosystémiqu...

Background Child maltreatment is a significant social problem impacting both health and society, with severe and enduring consequences. Certain children, such as those with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism, may be more at risk of experiencing maltreatment. However, little research has examined the characteristics of these children. This st...

Young people with conduct problems (i.e., chronic behavioural issues characterized by rule violation, aggressive behaviour, classroom disruption) are particularly vulnerable to experiencing negative mental health and academic outcomes and are among the most frequent users of school-based mental health services. The behaviours associated with conduc...

Understanding the link between intimate partner violence and relationship satisfaction is important because of the prospective links between this type of satisfaction and mental and physical health. The need to better understand experiences of intimate violence among plurisexual people (those who experience sexual and/or romantic attraction to more...

Objective: To examine agreement between parental reports of head injury and evidence of head injury in medical records and to compare these two measures in predicting early conduct disorder (CD). Design and setting: Parent survey data was compared with records of child head injury from the National Health Services Register (Régie de l'assurance...

Adolescent alcohol use has significant consequences for concurrent and longitudinal health and wellbeing, with sexual minority youth consistently reporting higher levels of alcohol use than their heterosexual peers. Understanding how individual-difference variables like aggressive behavior are associated with variability in sexual minority adolesce...

Services developed to address conduct problems in school contexts show limited efficacy. The current study examined how young adults with childhood histories of conduct problems retrospectively understood service efficacy, inefficacy, and what suggestions they had for service improvement. Participants were 41 young adults from Québec (17–21 years o...

Gender and, to a lesser extent, sexual identity, are relevant factors in understanding variance in the prevalence, consequences, and treatment of conduct problems. The current study uses thematic analysis to explore how youth with early‐onset conduct problems and extensive histories of school‐based service use perceive gender and sexuality as impac...

Introduction Risky sexual behaviors in adolescence are associated with negative health and psychological functioning outcomes. Although the association between behavior problems and risky sexual behaviors is well established, addressing these problems requires understanding the mechanisms that help explain this association. Adolescent attachment, w...

Despite social awareness of the problem of slut-shaming for adolescent girls, no existing measure captures this construct. Using data from a sample of 202 girls from Québec, Canada (ages 14-17; 68% White), preliminary validation is provided for the Slut-Shaming Instrument, a seven-item measure of negative peer experiences related to being perceived...

For emerging adults, high-quality friendships can be an important source of companionship and support. The most commonly studied negative interaction between friends is conflict, yet work with youth suggests more serious victimization also occurs in friendship. In the current study, we developed and obtained preliminary psychometric evidence for th...

Dating violence during adolescence is a major public health issue: it is highly prevalent and extensive research has documented its physical and psychological consequences, yet very little has focused on its sexual consequences. The present study investigated the longitudinal associations between dating violence victimization (psychological, sexual...

Addressing the higher rates of sexual violence experienced by gender and sexual minority students in university contexts requires an understanding of responses to disclosures of sexual violence. Using data from a large-scale study of sexual violence in university contexts, the current study examined (1) whether gender and sexual minority status was...

Background Children with conduct problems (CP) have been found to be heavy and costly medical service users in adulthood. However, there is little knowledge on how medical service use develops during childhood and adolescence among youth with and without childhood CP. Knowing whether differences in developmental trajectories of medical service use...

Youth with conduct problems have poorer academic outcomes than their typically developing peers. The objective of the current study was to examine how sexual minority status was associated with trajectories of teacher-rated mathematics and language arts (i.e., reading and writing) achievement in seven consecutive years across the transition to adol...

Sexual minority status persists in being linked to poorer adolescent mental health. Using a longitudinal sample (N = 845), we examined how youth's own same‐gender attraction and their perceptions of peers' beliefs about their same‐gender attraction (i.e., assumed attraction) were associated with trajectories of depressive symptoms from grade eight...

Adolescents, in general, are spending more time in online environments, and understanding how youth navigate these contexts may be particularly important for addressing and improving outcomes among sexual and gender minority youth. Taking a developmental perspective, this review discusses online environments as contexts of both risk and resilience...

Sexual harassment (SH) is an important public health problem among adolescents and is associated with negative outcomes. Using a theory‐based, developmentally‐informed approach, this scoping review focuses on SH victimization among adolescents (number of studies included = 20) and aims to (1) examine how the extant literature on correlates of SH de...

Gender and sexual minority university students experience higher rates of sexual violence than their cisgender heterosexual peers. The objectives of this study were to use a qualitative thematic analysis to understand how gender and sexual minority students discuss (a) gender and sexuality in describing their sexual violence experiences and (b) the...

SUMMARY : In response to Bill 2, it is essential to know how the legal or administrative steps taken in Quebec province by trans and non-binary people to affirm their gender are associated with their well-being. Our study examines the links between those transition steps and two indicators of well-being (life satisfaction, psychological distress)....

Many transgender and non-binary (TNB) people undergo social, legal or medical transitions to improve their quality of life and well-being. In order to tailor resources to support their needs, it is essential to understand how transition journeys are associated with individual-level psychosocial well-being. Our study examines three indicators of psy...

Teen dating violence (TDV) victimization is a traumatic experience that can have adverse consequences for adolescents. Current measures that assess TDV do not fully distinguish between psychological and relational forms of aggression, nor do they capture aggressive acts that are common within adolescent relationships. The purpose of this study was...

Introduction Adolescents typically spend decreasing amounts of time with family members, but the COVID‐19 pandemic changed this pattern for many youth. The objective of the current study was to better understand adolescents' perceived change in family relationship quality, and how these perceptions were related to psychosocial functioning during th...

Dans la foulée des débats sociojuridiques actuels au Québec, depuis l’annonce du controversé projet de loi 2, l'objectif de cette étude est d'examiner les associations entre le fait d’entreprendre une démarche de transition légale ou administrative chez les personnes TNB et deux indicateurs de leur bien-être, en tenant compte de l’âge, de l'éducati...

Behavioural disinhibition and depression symptoms have both been suggested as potential mechanisms linking conduct problems (CP) to adolescent substance use; however, their roles have yet to be conclusively identified. The current project examines whether these mental health characteristics mediate the association between CP and early adolescent su...

L’enquête sur l’utilisation et les besoins à l’Université de Sherbrooke de services de santé mentale (UBUSSSM) avait pour objectifs (1) d’établir quels services en santé mentale sont utilisés par les personnes étudiantes et pour quels types de problèmes, (2) d’identifier les caractéristiques des personnes étudiantes qui utilisent ou non les service...

Introduction Childhood conduct problems (CP) are characterized by maladaptive externalizing behaviors and are linked with poor sleep. CP are highly comorbid with other psychological problems, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and depression, which are also associated with disturbed sleep. The present study examined if childhood CP...

RÉSUMÉ : Les personnes trans et non-binaires constituent une population particulièrement hétérogène en termes d'identités et de parcours de transition. Afin de personnaliser les ressources pour les soutenir au besoin, il est essentiel de comprendre comment leurs parcours de transition sont associés à leur bien-être psychosocial. Notre étude examine...

Gender minoritized students experience unique challenges in their school environments that may have consequences for their educational outcomes, including academic engagement. The goal of the current study was to understand the association between gender identity and academic engagement among adolescents attending public high schools in Paraná, Bra...

While research addresses neighborhood disorder as leading to conduct problems, the role of individual-level differences in shaping adolescent perceptions of neighborhood has been overlooked. Data on youth, over-selected for childhood conduct problems (N = 744, 58% childhood conduct problems, 47% girls), were used to examine the link between conduct...

COVID-19 underscores the importance of understanding variation in adherence to rules concerning health behaviors. Children with conduct problems have difficulty with rule adherence, and linking early conduct problems with later adherence to COVID-19 guidelines can provide new insight into public health. The current study employed a sample (N = 744)...

The present study investigated psychometric properties of a French translation of the McLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD; Zanarini et al., 2003) in a large sample of university students (N = 1,350). A confirmatory factor analysis supported the single-factor structure of the MSI-BPD, and its configural, metric a...

Purpose: Sexual and gender minority adolescents report higher levels of dating violence compared with their heterosexual and cisgender peers. The objectives of the present study were to (1) identify latent profiles of dating violence; (2) examine if sexual and gender minority adolescents were particularly vulnerable to certain profiles of dating v...

Introduction Sexual minority youth experience worse mental health compared to their heterosexual peers, reflecting the consequences of sexual minority‐based stigma. Previous research has focused on contextual variation to understand variability within this vulnerability. Childhood temperament factors such as negative affect, effortful control and s...

PURPOSE : Disparities in psychosocial functioning between transgender and cisgender populations highlight the importance of validating measures assessing mechanisms of resilience for transgender and nonbinary people. Gender congruence is an important mechanism of resilience, as it focuses on the individual's own gender objectives. Moreover, researc...

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals experience intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization at disproportionate rates compared to cisgender and heterosexual individuals. Given the widespread consequences of experiencing IPV victimization, intervention and prevention strategies should identify readily accessible and culturally competent se...

The Dual Failure Model suggests that peer victimization (social failure) and academic difficulties (academic failure) mediate the association between externalizing and later internalizing problems. The present study sought to better understand why children with externalizing problems develop later internalizing problems by testing the Dual Failure...

While sexual and gender minority populations have been increasingly identified as an at-risk population for negative health outcomes, research has only recently begun to focus on sleep health among sexual and gender minority populations. This chapter defines terms relevant for discussing sexual and gender minority populations, focuses on the theore...

Self-continuity, or how an individual understands their sense of self as persisting from past to present and present to future, is an important aspect of the self-concept that is linked to mental health outcomes. This self-concept construct may be particularly pertinent for sexual minority populations, as living in a heterosexist environment may pr...

Objectives: To examine the prevalence and correlates of sending and receiving sexts (i.e., sexually explicit images) in a provincially representative sample of adolescents in Canada. Methods: Data from the 2014 Ontario Child Health Study, a provincial survey of households with children in Ontario, which includes a sample of 2,537 adolescents age...

Gambling disorder has serious negative consequences for individual health and wellbeing, while being more prevalent among college student-athletes compared to the general college population. While previous research reports that sexual minority (i.e., gay, lesbian and bisexual) populations have higher rates of addictive behaviors such as alcohol and...

The high levels of comorbidity between oppositional/conduct problems and hyperactivity/attention problems underscore the need for assessing how vulnerability for peer victimization is shaped by overlap among these behavior problems. Children (mean age 8.39, SD = 0.93) participating in a longitudinal study of the development of conduct problems (N =...

The objectives of this presentation are to estimate the risk of experiencing sexual violence (SV) according to different groups of sexual and gender minorities among undergraduate university students, to identify the specific context of SV and to estimate the risk of presenting symptoms of trauma associated with the violence experienced. Results sh...

Discrimination based on race/ethnicity, sexual minority status, and gender is associated with higher rates of drinking, drug use and risky sexual behavior during adolescence. The current study explored variation in the link between these three types of discrimination and health risk behaviors by focusing on how this association differed according t...

Experiencing sexual violence is an important risk factor for trauma symptoms, and these symptoms significantly impair psychosocial functioning. Sexual and gender minority university students are more likely than their heterosexual and cisgender peers to experience sexual violence (e.g., sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact, or sexual coercion...

Objectif Les individus provenant d’une minorité sexuelle rapportent plus de problèmes de santé mentale que les individus ayant une identité hétérosexuelle. Or, la majorité des recherches canadiennes sur ce sujet ont été réalisées il y a plusieurs années, bien avant les changements culturels et légaux concernant la population lesbienne, gay et bisex...

Introduction: Conduct problems (CP) refer to a variety of antisocial behaviors, including aggression, rule breaking, deceitfulness, destruction of others’ property, as well as comorbid defiance, and are considered early if present before age 10. Early CP, in comparison to adolescent-onset CP, is associated with worse physical and mental health outc...

An exploration of the mediating role of aggressive problems in the relationship between sexual identity status and problem gambling symptomatology among college student-athletes. Analyses were conducted separately for men and women.

Objectives Individuals with sexual minority identities (e.g., identities other than heterosexual such as gay, lesbian bisexual or mostly heterosexual) are at increased risk for a number of negative health outcomes compared to individuals who identify as heterosexuals. The majority of existing Canadian population-based studies on this topic, however...

Background: Gambling addiction can serious long term consequences for college student populations. Student-athletes have been reported as being more likely to engage in addictive behaviors, including gambling, when compared to their peers. While sexual minority university students, and sexual minority student athletes in particular are more likely...

Cette étude vérifie si la composition et l’organisation sociale du quartier résidentiel sont associées au rendement scolaire d’élèves québécois âgés de 12 à 15 ans (N = 630). L’effet modérateur des problèmes de comportement extériorisés sur ces associations est aussi analysé. Les résultats montrent que le désordre physique et social du quartier ain...

Introduction: Understanding why adolescent subjective assessments of status matter to their psychosocial outcomes over and above objective assessments of socioeconomic status (SES) requires a better comprehension of how adolescents construct status in themselves and others. Using a qualitative approach, the goal of the current study was to better...

This study examines the association between state laws that prohibit firearm ownership for offenders convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence (MCDV) and firearm ownership in two-parent families with high-conflict male partners with arrest histories. Mixed effects logistic regression models applied to data from the Early Childhood Longit...

Mental health disparities between heterosexual and sexual minority youth are partly explained by the higher rates of victimization experienced by sexual minority youth. The onset and progression of these victimization disparities, however, are poorly understood. Using multirater longitudinal data, trajectories of victimization starting at age 9 wer...

Study Objectives The importance of sleep for health necessitates investigation of disparities in multiple aspects of sleep. Given the potential disruption to sleep posed by the well-documented discrimination experienced by sexual minorities, disparities related to sexual minority status warrant such attention. This study sought to (1) measure diffe...

Purpose: Sexual violence is a pervasive problem on university campuses. Although previous work has documented greater vulnerability for sexual violence among sexual and gender minority students, little is known about contextual variation in vulnerability to this kind of violence. The goals of the current study were (1) to identify vulnerability am...

Background: Improperly stored firearms pose a clear health risk to children. Previous research concurrently links alcohol use with lower levels of firearm safety. The objectives of this study were to assess (1) how families move from unsafe to safer firearm storage practices and (2) how parental drinking was associated with moving away from unsafe...

Two longitudinal studies conducted with early adolescents (ages 10–13) examined the hypothesis that self-continuity, or the degree to which individuals feel that they remain the same person over time regardless of how their specific characteristics may change, would moderate the association between victimization and depressed affect. Both Study 1 (...

Children with conduct problems are at greater risk for internalizing problems. The objectives of this study were to (1) examine trajectories of internalizing problems among children with and without clinically significant conduct problems during the transition to adolescence; and (2) identify how academic achievement, peer rejection, parent socioec...

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the concept of negative anticipated emotions (NAEs) have attracted research attention in the formulation of effective preventive interventions. This approach has identified several key constructs of the TPB (i.e., intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceptions of behavioural control) and NAEs as valid...

Dating violence presents a serious threat for individual health and well-being. A growing body of literature suggests that starting in adolescence, individuals with sexual minority identities (e.g., individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual) may be at an increased risk for dating violence compared with heterosexuals. Research has not, h...

Disparities in health and mental health between sexual-minority and heterosexual individuals emerge in early adolescence, in large part because sexual-minority individuals are stigmatized. In this article, I review and synthesize the role of gender nonconformity in shaping how adolescents experience the stigma associated with sexual-minority status...

The purpose of this study was to examine how sexual minority status (as assessed using both identity and behavior) was associated with trajectories of dating violence. University students from a large Southwestern university completed questions on their sexual minority identity, the gender of their sexual partners, and about experiences of dating v...

Emotion regulation is a key challenge of early childhood. The present study examined emotion regulation behaviour longitudinally from infancy to preschool. The continuity of emotion regulation was explored within the larger ecological context of maternal childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal and maternal use of constructive and no...

Public debate on same-sex marriage often focuses on the disadvantages that children raised by same-sex couples may face. On one hand, little evidence suggests any difference in the outcomes of children raised by same-sex parents and different-sex parents. On the other hand, most studies are limited by problems of sample selection and size, and few...

Nachshen, J., Garcin, N., Moxness, K., Tremblay, Y., Hutchinson, P., Lachance, A., Beaurivage, M., Breitenbach, M., Bryson, S., Burack, J., Caron, C., Condillac, R. A., Cornick, A., Ouellette-Kuntz, H., Joseph, S., Rishikof, E., Sladeczek, I. E., Steiman, M., Tidmarsh, L., Zwaigenbaum, L., Fombonne, E., Szatmari, P., Martin-Storey, A., & Ruttle,...

Mental health disparities between sexual minority and other youth have been theorized to result in part from the effects of the stigmatization on social integration. Stochastic actor-based modeling was applied to complete network data from two high schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Mage = 15 years, N = 2,533). Same-se...

The visibility of a stigmatized identity is central in determining how individuals experience that identity. Sexual minority status (e.g., identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual) has traditionally been identified as a concealable stigma, compared with race/ethnicity or physical disability status. This conceptualization fails to recognize, however...

Objective: To explore the potential for a developmental approach to reveal new insights into the well-documented link between weight and depressive symptoms. Method: Latent class analysis identified multiple trajectories of overweight from 24 months to 15 years in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Car...

The present study sought to determine if exposure to common childhood medical problems (i.e., infections and atopic disorders [e.g., allergies, asthma]) may dysregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Longitudinal data from 96 youth were used to examine this possibility. Medical records were drawn from government databases indicating...