Nicole Legate interview about the psychological impact of online bullying

Assistant Professor of Psychology Nicole Legate is interviewed about the psychological impact of online bullying in an article in The Globe and Mail. Read the full article here.

Prof. Legate teaches undergraduate courses in introduction to psychology and a special topics seminar in prejudice and stigma. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rochester in 2014, and completed a pre-doctoral internship at the University Counseling Center at the University of Rochester. Her research interests are focused on how the social environment (friends, family, peers, etc.) can support those with a stigmatized identity to buffer against minority stress and its impact on health, but also how the social environment can thwart these individuals and contribute to the mental and physical health disparities gap. Much of this work has focused on the coming out process, finding that lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are more ‘out’ with those who support their autonomy, and that they experience better mental and physical health with these people when they come out. Another major focus is on how environments can pressure people to exclude or hurt others, and the costs associated with doing that.