I examine this question by generating evidence on the ways in which friendship and relationship processes influence adjustment, developing and implementing methods that capture the complexities of young people’s relationships, and translating this science into practice through youth engagement and community collaboration. Below are the three main aims of this work, along with selected representative publications.
I investigate how supportive and harmful experiences can co-occur within friendships. Through measure development and longitudinal research, I examine forms of interpersonal adversity, including conflict, victimization, and coercion, to understand when friendship experiences become psychologically and clinically meaningful.
Selected Relevant Work:
My research examines the ways in which friendship and peer experiences influence mental health and well-being across adolescence and young adulthood. Using longitudinal, population-based, and clinically informed approaches, I investigate for whom and under what conditions interpersonal experiences contribute to risk or protection. This work pays particular attention to the role of social position and marginalization, examining how identity-based victimization and other inequitable interpersonal experiences may contribute to mental health disparities and shape developmental pathways over time. I also investigate how friendships shape broader developmental pathways, including the formation of relationships and social connections across differing social contexts.
Selected Relevant Work:
Dryburgh, N. S. J., Dirks, M. A., Kim, S., Martin-Storey, A., & Georgiades, K. (2025). Associations between peer victimization and depression and nxiety disorders during adolescence: A population-representative study. Psychiatry Research. Link
Dryburgh, N. S. J., Miller, R., Duku, E., Cost, K. T., Chen, Y. J., Edwards, J., Nolan, E., & Georgiades, K. (2026). Interpersonal Predictors of Youth Internalizing Symptom Trajectories During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Adolescence. Link
Dryburgh, N. S. J., Georgiades, K., Dirks, M. A., & Martin-Storey, A. (2026). Disability-based peer victimization and mental health disorders in a population-based study of youth. Stigma and Health. Link
Dryburgh, N. S. J., Cho, B., Kline, N. G., & Juvonen,, J. (2026). Do interracial friendships increase the odds of having an interracial romantic relationship later in adolescence? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 36(2). Link
Martin-Storey, A., Dirks, M., Paquette, G., Boutin, S., Dryburgh, N. S. J., Leduc, K., Bolduc, M. L., & Temcheff, C. (2023). The Slut-Shaming Instrument: Preliminary validation, correlates, and links with psychological distress among adolescent girls. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33(4), 1447-1457. Link
Kingsbury, M., Dryburgh, N., & Findlay, L. C. (2026). Associations Between Cybervictimization in Adolescence and Mental Health Four Years Later: A Nationally Representative Study of Canadian Youth. Psychiatry International, 7(3), 127. Link
My third goal is to ensure that developmental and clinical science informs mental health assessment, intervention, and implementation in real-world settings. Through partnerships with youth, schools, clinicians, and community organizations, I develop and evaluate approaches that incorporate young people’s priorities, experiences, and goals into care. My work focuses on advancing flexible and personalized approaches to assessment and intervention, improving the implementation of evidence-informed practices, and building supports that reflect the concerns youth identify as most central to their well-being, including experiences within their close relationships and social worlds.
Selected Relevant Work: