Tracy Vaillancourt

Tracy Vaillancourt
Tracy Vaillancourt
Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Violence Prevention
Full Professor
Professor - Cross appointments


Room
LMX 424
Phone
613-562-5800 ext. 4134


Professor Tracy Vaillancourt holds the Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Violence Prevention. She is a full professor in the Faculty of Education, a cross-appointed full professor in Counselling Psychology and the School of Psychology, and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance (CIGI). She co-leads the Health and Peer Relations Study (HPRS). Professor Vaillancourt's research examines the links between bullying and mental health, with a particular focus on social neuroscience. Her work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of Public Safety Canada's National Expert Committee on Countering Radicalization to Violence.

Books

Vaillancourt, T. (Forthcoming 2027). Mean: The Psychology of Female Rivalry and How to Break the Cycle. Simon & Schuster 

Journals & other
 

Brittain, H., Vaillancourt, T. (2026). Temporal associations between bullying victimization, mental health, academic achievement, and school absences across elementary and secondary school. Nature-Scientific Reports.

Karasz, S. G., Krygsman, A., Brittain, H., Vaillancourt, T. (2026). Indirect peer victimization, friendship quality, and anxiety in young adulthood: A longitudinal test of evolutionary pathways. Evolution and Human Behavior.

Nordahl, M.A., Vaillancourt, T., Wang, M. V., Idsoe, T., Brandlistuen, R. E. (2026). Teacher–child relationships in early childhood education and care: Implications for bullying and externalizing and internalizing problems, Child Development 

Frith, B., Brittain, H., Carley, J., Farrell, A., Webb, T., Roy, A. K., Julien, A., Eriksson, E., MacMillan, H., Craig, W., Kerr, G., & Vaillancourt, T. (2026). Abuse of soccer referees in Canada: Associations with anxiety and depression symptoms and demographic factors. Psychology of Violence

Vaillancourt, T., van Noordt, S., Krygsman, A., Brittain, H., Davis, A. C., Palamarchuk, I. S., Arnocky, S., Segalowitz, S.J., Crowley, M. J. & Schmidt, L. A. (2024). Behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion in women: the role of facial attractiveness and friendliness. Nature-Scientific Reports

Full list of publications and other scholarly contributions.

Research interests

  • Mental health (children and adolescents)
  • Agression
  • Bullying in schools
  • Social neuroscience