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Tracy E. Waasdorp, PhD, MEd
Senior Research Scientist
Dr. Waasdorp translates child development theory and literature into prevention and intervention programming, trials, research methodology, and related statistics. Her goals are to reduce bullying and aggression, improve children’s social and emotional skills, and help adults promote children’s positive peer relationships.
Bio
Dr. Waasdorp is a senior research scientist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research focuses on aggression and bullying, as well as the design and assessment of school-based interventions related to reducing bullying and aggression and improving children’s social and emotional skills. At CHOP, she contributes to the design and evaluation of two interventions (PRAISE and Friend to Friend) aimed at reducing aggression and bullying for urban elementary school youth, and a universal anti-bullying assembly, Free2B, for middle school youth. These programs are part of CHOP’s Violence Prevention Initiative.
In her previous work as a research scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Waasdorp was co-principal investigator on a National Institute of Justice grant to design and evaluate the Bullying Class Room Check-Up, a program that addresses bullying using an innovative, transportable training simulator combined with an evidence-based teacher-coaching model, in order to increase teachers’ prevention, detection, and responses to bullying. This work has continued now that she is at CHOP. She also focuses on cyberbullying, building children’s social and emotional skills, and reducing aggression among young school-aged children.
Dr. Waasdorp publishes on school-based bullying prevention/intervention, forms of bullying and victimization, children’s coping with bullying, teachers’ and parents’ responses to bullying, positive social and emotional development, and the impact of a school’s climate on a child’s development. She also has authored numerous book chapters on bullying and cyberbullying.
Education and Training
BA, Muhlenberg College (Psychology), 2002
MSEd, University of Pennsylvania (Counseling and Psychological Services), 2003
PhD, University of Delaware (Human Development), 2008
Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University (Prevention/Intervention), 2010
Titles and Academic Titles
Senior Research Scientist
Violence Prevention Initiative Fellow
Professional Memberships
Society for Prevention Research, 2008-
Society for Research in Child Development, 2008-
Society for Research in Adolescence, 2009-
Professional Awards
Child, Intervention, Prevention and Services (CHIPS) Fellow NIMH, 2010
Society for Prevention Research Early Career Travel Award, 2014
Publication Highlights
Pubmed:
Bradshaw CP and Waasdorp TE. Preventing Bullying in School: A Social and Emotional Learning Approach to Early Intervention. New York: W.W. Norton. 2019 Jan; (In press)
Waasdorp TE, Mehari KR, Milam AJ, Bradshaw CP. Health-related Risks for Involvement in Bullying among Middle and High Schoolers. J Child and Family Studies. 2018 Sep; doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1260-8
Waasdorp TE and Bradshaw CP. Examining Variation in Adolescent Bystanders’ Responses to Bullying. School Psychology Review. 2018 Jan; 47 (1) 18-33. DOI: 10.17105/SPR-2017-0081.V47-1.
Waasdorp TE, Pas ET, Zablotsky B, Bradshaw CP. Ten-Year Trends in Bullying and Related Attitudes Among 4th- to 12th Graders. Pediatrics. 2017 Jun; 139(6). PMID: 28562260
Waasdorp TE and Bradshaw CP. The overlap between cyberbullying and traditional bullying. J Adolesc Health. 2015 May; 56(5):483-8. PMID: 25631040
Links of Interest
Center for Injury Research and Prevention Profile
How Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Can Help Prevent Bullying (2018 webinar given for the Children's Safety Network)
Children Bullied Over Their Weight Are at Greater Risk of Internalizing the Abuse (2018 blog post for Center for Injury Research Prevention)
Flipping the switch: How techonology can help to prevent and address bullying (2018 blog post for Cambridge University Press)