Teena Willoughby is a Canadian developmental psychologist.

Early life and education

Willoughby earned her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in psychology from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

before enrolling at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

for her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and PhD.

Career

Upon receiving her PhD, Willoughby joined the department of psychology at

Brock University Brock University is a public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The university bears t ...

in 1995. As an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

, she co-led a research project with Linda Rose-Krasnor aimed at studying children's language and literacy skills. The following year, Willoughby was appointed the inaugural director of the Brock Research Institute for Youth Studies (BRIYS) and received over $4 million in research funding to study youth development. As a result of her knowledge of youth development, Willoughby and Eileen Wood were asked to co-edit Anastasia Goodstein's media education resource ''Totally Wired'' in 2008. She also received Brock's inaugural Graduate Mentorship Award in 2011. Beginning in 2011, Willoughby started to study the long term effects video games had on childhood development. She co-authored a lab-controlled study with Paul J. C. Adachi titled ''The effect of video game competition and violence on aggressive behavior: Which characteristic has the greatest influence?'' The study followed 42 college students as they played '' Conan Exiles,'' a violent game, or '' Fuel,'' a competitive game, for 12 minutes. They concluded that competitiveness, not violence, in video games may influence aggressive behavior. She collaborated with Adachi again in 2013 to complete a longitudinal, self-report study covering 1,771 high school students over four years. The paper, titled ''Demolishing the Competition: The Longitudinal Link Between Competitive Video Games, Competitive Gambling, and Aggression,'' re-affirmed their previous studies results that competition results in aggressive behavior, not violence. Encouraged by their findings, Adachi and Willoughby began to study the effects sports video games had on youth behavior. They found that youths who played sports video games were more likely to join them in real life. As a result of Willoughby's research, the

Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; french: Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the M ...

granted her $1.43 million to study youth risk-taking in 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby, Teena Living people Academic staff of Brock University University of Waterloo alumni University of Western Ontario alumni Canadian women psychologists Year of birth missing (living people)