https://www.melaniedirks.ca/home daily 1.0 2021-11-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1630704719112-ZPC1D477084MQOW90NUI/yann-bigor-iPWgG1AfABM-unsplash_Mont_Royal.jpg Home Photo by Yann Bigor on Unsplash https://www.melaniedirks.ca/research daily 0.75 2023-11-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1633468914026-EGQDH9AXBFTBBCGXAK4S/kids+in+school+jeswin-thomas-tJUjeaNIOZs-unsplash.jpg Research - We are a team of researchers in the Department of Psychology at McGill University who study the social lives of children, adolescents, and young adults. Broadly, we are interested in (a) identifying the skills needed to develop and maintain high-quality interpersonal relationships; (b) understanding how experiences in relationships contribute to the onset and maintenance of psychological symptoms. Our work focuses on peer relationships, friendships, and sibling relationships. We use different methodologies to answer our research questions, including observational approaches, daily diaries, questionnaires, and tasks examining emotion recognition and production. Ongoing projects are described below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/8c88a238-71aa-4cb7-85bc-986d3ab1678c/friends+in+a+fieldpriscilla-du-preez-cIfLUEZYLVg-unsplash.jpg Research - The Everyday Lives of Adolescents Annie Dillard famously noted “How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives.” For adolescents, every day is filled with interactions with classmates, friends, siblings, and parents, exchanges that may shape the quality of their relationships, as well as their emotional well-being. We are conducting a series of daily-diary studies in which we ask adolescents to tell us about everyday interactions, including conflict, victimization, prosocial treatment, and support. We are examining the associations between these everyday experiences and emotional (e.g., daily mood and loneliness) and social adjustment (e.g., quality of interpersonal relationships). Current graduate students: Allison MacNeil, John Cyfko, Nour Haddad, Anik Setti Collaborators: Kristina McDonald, Kristen Dunfield, Alexa Martin-Storey, Wendy Craig, Holly Recchia, Frank Elgar, William Bukowski Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/bc151f1f-7531-4d9f-900a-4f61fb811d10/friends+noorulabdeen-ahmad-MW_2Osq-yIE-unsplash.jpg Research - Skills for Success in Friendship We are interested in understanding skills that contribute to the maintenance of high-quality friendships; that is, those that are high on positive features, like support and companionship, and low on negative features, such as conflict and fighting. We recently created a measure assessing competence in friendship for young adults, and are currently working on projects assessing how provision of social support, as well as emotion recognition and expression skills, are associated with friendship quality during adolescence and young adulthood. Current graduate students: Erin Macdonald, Ally Zikic, Katya Santucci, Anik Setti Collaborators: Jennifer Bartz, Lauren Human, Amanda Rose, John Lydon Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/355e3ae4-ce6b-475f-8b7c-263ef0aada49/kids-in-a-hammock-janko-ferlic-zHJ4ph3GRyg-unsplash.jpg Research - Friendship Victimization and Dissolution Friendship is typically thought of as a positive context, but sometimes friendships are characterized by negative interactions. The most commonly studied negative feature in friendship is conflict (i.e., how often friends argue and disagree); however, more severe negative behaviors, such as victimization, may occur, and may be particularly consequential for well-being. We are currently developing a measure of victimization in friendship for young adults and adolescents. We are also interested in understanding when and why friendships end. For example, we recently published a paper showing that the more strongly young adults endorse destiny beliefs about friendship (e.g., “Potential friends are either destined to get along, or they are not”) the more likely they are to report that they would end a friendship when challenges occur. Current graduate students: Katya Santucci Collaborators: Wendy Craig, Alexa Martin-Storey, John Lydon Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/bc439f3c-be6c-4636-83d8-399f8cc389b7/frqsc.png Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/8a1df1f9-2efc-46e5-bdfd-6274440a8cbb/SSHRC.png Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/5b4376a7-00c5-41c3-af03-254d32d84a7d/PHAC.jpg Research https://www.melaniedirks.ca/publications daily 0.75 2026-01-21 https://www.melaniedirks.ca/new-page daily 0.75 2021-07-01 https://www.melaniedirks.ca/media daily 0.75 2024-12-22 https://www.melaniedirks.ca/prof-melanie-dirks daily 0.75 2024-10-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1630705993789-D2WUEURVVBIRET5X39OL/Dirks+head+shot.jpg Prof. Melanie Dirks - Prof. Melanie Dirks trained as a clinical and developmental psychologist, earning her PhD at Yale University. She completed a pre-doctoral clinical internship at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University before joining the faculty at McGill University in 2009, where she is now Full Professor. Prof. Dirks’ research focuses on (a) mapping the social and emotional skills children, adolescents, and young adults need to develop and maintain healthy relationships with peers and siblings; (b) understanding how interpersonal functioning contributes to psychological symptoms. Prof. Dirks has taught Psyc 304 (Child Development) (sample syllabus; 2020 Songabus; 2021 Songabus) and Psyc 412 (Developmental Psychopathology)(sample syllabus; 2021 Songabus). Her contributions to teaching and mentoring have been recognized with the Leo Yaffe Award, awarded by McGill’s Faculty of Science, and McGill’s Principal’s Prize for Teaching. In September 2024, Prof. Dirks became the second woman to serve as Chair of McGill’s Department of Psychology. She is also currently serving as the Chief Scientific Officer for QARL AI. https://www.melaniedirks.ca/news daily 0.75 2026-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/a5be237b-58ed-4569-b051-969075c16191/P8081144.jpeg News Dr. Macdonald’s dissertation focused on factors that contribute to effective social support between friends during young adulthood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/0f568644-965b-4ddb-839b-f5e5f36dc033/P8081162.jpeg News The CASC Lab came out in force! Clockwise starting far left: Ally Zikic, John Cyfko, Erin Macdonald, Melanie Dirks, Kimberly Drinkell, Maya Ladki, Nour Haddad, Anik Setti, and Katya Santucci https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/136a045a-bed3-479b-a785-ba682179f4cb/IMG_3507.jpg News Ally Zikic introduced Boston to blue hat friend and green hat friend while discussing her work on the role of expressive accuracy in affective communication between friends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/eef3be65-15fb-4cf3-a10d-0b0b6a719493/IMG_3525.jpg News Katya Santucci getting ready to explain what predicts dissolution in the friendships of young adults. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/b3e3121c-138a-45d9-9bb6-389a3d3f0c83/ISSBD+Group+Photo.jpg News Profs. Bowker, Dirks, Laursen, and Bukowski getting ready to present in front of the largest screen imaginable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/49ce185b-c857-491b-af2b-883f5bcc527c/ISSBD+Action+Shot.jpg News Presenting and praying that there are not any typos in the slide deck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/a51b2eac-9421-49b1-9a6a-a5b9b8dbc0ba/Dryburgh+ISSBD.jpg News Nicole Dryburgh presenting her recent work on links between food insecurity and aggressive behavior in adolescence. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/339b6cdf-a516-472c-bce3-160e72fdaeda/MacNeil+ISSBD.jpg News Allison MacNeil presenting her work on daily links between food insecurity and well-being in a sample of adolescents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/87c8f063-c527-4dc6-8c53-6b9ff4e186ee/CRDH+2024.png News Katya Santucci and Ally Zikic both gave terrific talks on their research at CRDH 2024. Katya’s work focuses on the associations between young adults’ implicit beliefs about relationships and the stabilty and quality of their friendships. Ally examines how accurate recognition and expression of emotions contributes to functioning in friendships. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/d20295ca-bcd4-49b6-83ee-fbdd1e3d08c7/CRDH+Posters+2024.png News The CASC Lab was also well-represented at the CRDH 2024 poster session. Clockwise starting top left: Former undergraduate thesis student and current research coordinator Kimberly Drinkell, undergraduate thesis student Alicia D’Agata, undergraduate thesis student Hailey Knowles, doctoral student Anik Setti, doctoral student Nour Haddad, undergraduate student Laurence Jette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/eb4d7a48-485f-42c1-a1d5-3f41fe0902af/Dryburgh+defense+1.jpeg News The soon-to-be Dr. Dryburgh presenting her work on the development of a measure assessing friendship victimization in adolescence and emerging adulthood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/dc1382b6-cd37-483c-8118-e0b6e27fb234/Dryburgh+defense+2.jpeg News The CASC Lab is (almost) all here! From L to R: Katya Santucci, Allison MacNeil, Nicole Dryburgh, Melanie Dirks, Ally Zikic, Tom Khullar, John Cyfko, Erin Macdonald. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1d8676f1-ff8b-41f0-88f4-72ceca1c9c4b/Traf+Medium.jpg News - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/d874bdb0-2982-4e75-ab4b-c2862ab9a424/SRA_3.jpg News CASC Lab Doctoral Student Katya Santucci presents her work on apologizing in the friendships of young adults. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/6055d580-2aad-48bf-af98-0b372ae833ac/SRA_2.jpg News Queen’s Doctoral Student Daniel Nault presents his work on adolescents’ vocal responses to provocation by peers. This work was done in the lab of CASC Lab alum and collaborator, Michele Morningstar, in collaboration with Melanie Dirks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/5e05b30a-c9d6-4cc2-b4f3-e09877854c9d/SRA_1.jpg News CASC Lab Doctoral Students Ally Zikic and John Cyfko (pictured here with Katya Santucci) also presented their respective work on empathic accuracy in the friendships of young adults and daily associations between support from siblings and best friends and well-being during adolescence. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/e473e206-429a-4688-a58e-7c8e8aa5498d/IMG_1134.jpg News Allison MacNeil presenting her work on daily associations among parents’ report of food insecurity, parental negative affect, and adolescents’ report of parent-adolescent conflict. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/d2ffa82a-a6f8-42c1-863e-70ee93e6a582/IMG_1135.jpg News Ally Zikic discussing her work examining whether having English as a first language was linked to young adults’ perceptions of support during an interaction with a same-gender friend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/f54bf13b-6f04-4bae-901e-94693c90b7df/Website+stuff.jpg News - Make it stand out CASC Lab-ers Katya Santucci (who received her BA in 2020 and is now a doctoral student in the CASC Lab) and Melanie Dirks at convocation 2022. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/2e71f781-1fd3-435e-986c-d5f3330722ff/Poster+day+2022.jpg News - CASC Lab-ers Melanie Dirks, Katerina Giannoumis, Katya Santucci, and Ally Zikic celebrating poster day, pandemic edition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/8d79e0b2-c7f8-4450-a65a-01b641cf9549/JCCAP+Review+Infographic.png News - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.melaniedirks.ca/contact daily 0.75 2025-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1633461270024-MX4SC4KFR0MXM2RJ1TUZ/View+from+our+lab.jpg Get Involved - Families and Research Participants Thank you for your interest in our work! Parents! Please note that we are currently recruiting participants for two studies. (1) We are recruiting 13- to 16-year-olds for a study on recognizing and expressing emotions. Participants must be able to visit our lab in downtown Montreal (we pay for parking or public transport!) and are encouraged to bring a friend. (2) We are recruiting 14- and 15-year-olds for a study assessing their relationships with a sibling and a best friend. This study takes place completely online and participants can be anywhere in Canada. All participants are compensated for their time. If you are interested in having your teen take part, please reach out out to us at casclab.psych[at] mcgill.ca or by telephone at 514-398-3725. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1633461550635-QVNN2JC9B6P5BT5RTYZC/McGill+Metro.jpg Get Involved - Prospective Graduate Students Prof. Dirks supervises graduate students in both the clinical and experimental PhD programs in the Department of Psychology. Note that the clinical program emphasizes research training; thus, prospective graduate students should have completed at least one undergraduate research project, have strong quantitative skills, and should be excited about a career focused on clinical science. Prof. Dirks is recruiting graduate students to start in 2026-2027. Please note that to ensure that all applicants receive equal consideration, Prof. Dirks does not respond to inquiries about applying to graduate school to work under her supervision. She is excited to review the materials of all prospective students after their applications have been received by the program. https://www.melaniedirks.ca/team daily 0.75 2025-12-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1625184580089-W1Q0P1RON3RMW8Y2P1PQ/Allison+MacNeil.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1633121832745-AFF5WJGEBL2RJ76U0U2K/Cyfko.jpg Team - John Cyfko I am a sixth-year doctoral candidate in McGill’s clinical psychology program. I’m interested in the impact of sibling and friend relationships on day-to-day well-being. Specifically, I am exploring whether an adolescent’s interactions with their siblings and best friend is associated with their mood both the same and the next day. I am also interested the interplay between sibling and best friend relationships, and how overall relationship quality interacts with daily interactions in these relationships. My clinical interests are broad, but lean towards adolescents and adults with severe mental and physical challenges. I am currently completing my full-time psychology residency, split between the Personality Disorder Program and the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit of the MUHC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1633452565857-VTFVXYU372U27MIQPDF1/AllyZ2.jpg Team - Ally Zikic I am a sixth-year doctoral candidate in the experimental psychology program. Broadly, I am interested in understanding affective social competence in the friendships of adolescents and young adults. In my research, I aim to understand the concept of empathic accuracy – individuals’ ability to accurately infer others’ emotions. Thus far, most empathic accuracy research has focused primarily on the role of the individual who is responsible for reading and understanding their friend’s emotions. My work aims to draw attention to the role of the individual who is expressing and communicating their own emotions to their friend. More specifically, I am interested in examining the role of expressive accuracy – individuals’ ability to accurately express their emotions. Taken together, my work aims to shed light on the importance of the roles of both friends in conversations that involve affective communication. I am also interested in examining age-related differences in these skills from adolescence to young adulthood. In addition to my main line of research, I have conducted some work examining linguistic elements that are associated with perceptions of support during supportive interactions. I am also working on a theoretical review discussing the social cognitions involved in navigating important tasks of friendship, including instrumental and emotional support. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/0176f66f-9bb6-4784-a6d0-dbf565f1133c/Katya+Profile+Photo.jpeg Team - Katya Santucci I am a fifth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at McGill University. My dissertation is focused on advancing understanding of friendship maintenance and dissolution in young adulthood. Specifically, I am interested in examining the role that interpersonal cognition and internalizing symptoms play in shaping friendship outcomes. I am also interested in using our research findings to develop and inform interventions that aim to help young adults maintain and strengthen their friendships. Clinically, I am interested in working with youth and young adults in crisis. I am completing a half-time internship with the Teenage Health Unit at the Jewish General Hospital. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/ac48943f-4b6f-4121-be1c-c72233cc9f47/Anik+Profile+Photo.jpg Team - Anik Setti I am a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at McGill University. I am interested in how youth regulate their emotions, either with or without help, and how greater skill at regulating emotions can help them navigate their relationships with peers. I currently have two more specific research questions. The first asks how emotion regulation influences might help teens better express their feelings to a friend. The second takes a more longitudinal approach and asks how positive and negative interactions with friends over time can impact the development of emotion dysregulation. Clinically, I am interested in working with children, adolescents, and their parents or teachers to promote social competence. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/567106b6-cd08-498e-932d-9becd4a61554/Haddad.png Team - Nour Haddad I am a third-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at McGill University. My doctoral research broadly focuses on the impact of daily interactions with peers on adolescents’ well-being. More specifically, my current research project uses a daily-diary design to examine whether adolescents’ everyday positive and negative interactions with best friends and siblings are associated with their experiences of loneliness. I am also interested in examining whether reciprocal relations between these interactions and loneliness exist over time. Clinically, I am particularly interested in the treatment of internalizing disorders in older adolescents and young adults. I am currently doing a practicum at the MUHC Centre for CBT Research, Training and Intervention. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/a95e32ff-b21b-457a-af14-ae66d314765b/Jordan+profile+photo.jpeg Team - Jordan Pumphrey I am a first-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at McGill University. I am currently interested in exploring how the associations between adolescents’ emotional communication skills and their friendship functioning and quality may be impacted by symptoms of depression. In my undergraduate and master’s work, I examined social cognition and wellbeing in an adult health population. I am excited to continue exploring these important concepts in my doctoral work while expanding my research to adolescent populations. Clinically, I am broadly interested in health psychology interventions and the support of family structures and social networks in the context of chronic health challenges. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60de2a83d7e9981a2cb054a7/1633454440556-9RWEGA7OFH9A9V8XSBVQ/Alumni+photo.jpg Team Drs. Morningstar, Cuttini, Kirmayer, and Dirks