Faculty
Heather Sears
Title: Professor
Previous Degrees/Licensing/Training Obtained:
BSc (Hons), Acadia University;
MA & PhD, University of Victoria;
Licensed Psychologist, New Brunswick
My research focuses on various aspects of adolescents' development. My primary interest is adolescents' help-seeking behavior, particularly how adolescents' gender and individual and relational characteristics combine to predict this behaviour, and how parents, siblings, and peers socialize adolescents to use help seeking to manage problems. I am also interested in families with adolescents, particularly how parents and youths work through normative events (e.g., talking about sexual health) and non-normative events (e.g., a parent's illness with cancer).
Recent or Selected Publications:
Byers, E.S., & Sears, H.A. (in press). Mothers who do and do not intend to discuss sexual health with their young adolescent. Family Relations.
Byers, E.S., Sears, H.A., & Foster, L.R. (2012). Factors associated with middle school students’ perceptions of the quality of school-based sexual health education. Sex Education.
Sears, H.A., & Byers, E.S. (2010). Adolescent girls' and boys' experiences of psychologically, physically, and sexually aggressive behaviors in their dating relationships: Co-occurrence and emotional reaction. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma, 19, 517-539. [Special Issue]
Sears, H.A., Graham, J., & Campbell, A. (2009). Adolescent boys’ intentions of seeking help from male friends and female friends. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 738-748.
Teaching:
Undergraduate courses: Adolescent Development, Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
Graduate courses: Assessment Skills with Children and Adolescents; Child and Adolescent Psychopathology; Clinical and Developmental Issues in Families
Contact Information:
Office: Keirstead 217
Phone: (506) 458-7122
Fax: (506) 447-3063
