Welcome to the Gender & Aggression Project
This project was initiated through the support for a CIHR New Emerging Team grant (Gender and Aggression Project; nominated Principal Investigator: Dr. Marlene Moretti) and funded through the Institute of Sex, Gender and Health. A major focus of this research was launching a comprehensive, longitudinal study of adolescent girls at high-risk for involvement in aggressive and antisocial behaviour. A multi-disciplinary team was assembled with the aim of documenting the experiences of risk and protective factors in the lives of these young women along with their associated mental health and social outcomes.
The initial wave of data collection (WAVE I), resulted in the recruitment and assessment of one of the largest samples of high-risk adolescent girls in Canada and the US to date, comprised of two cohorts totaling 220 high-risk girls and 98 matched adolescent boys of comparable risk status. Continued follow-up of these samples (WAVE II - ) – both completed and in progress – focuses on a wide range of functional domains including adjustment in educational, vocational, romantic and parental roles and well as physical health outcomes.
This project involves collaboration across two sites – Site 1 is based in Vancouver, British Columbia at Simon Fraser University and Site 2 is based in Charlottesville, Virginia at the University of Virginia. A core set of parallel assessment procedures and research measures are administered across sites to ensure comparability of the samples and to foster collaboration.
The Data Dictionary is intended to serve as a common resource to investigators, students and researchers working on the Gender and Aggression Project. The Data Dictionary is a living document that will evolve alongside the project and will serve as a historical record of administrative, research and dissemination materials. The data dictionary is also a ‘one-stop’ shop for accessing: sample and measure descriptions, study documentation (research protocols, concept paper templates, funding applications, ethics and consent forms, research publications, etc) and key contact information. Perhaps most importantly, the Data Dictionary is meant to be a resource that encourages communication and collaboration between investigators while promoting high scientific standards of accuracy in the analysis and reporting of findings from the Gender and Aggression Project.