Research
Research expertise
Tina’s research focuses on social-emotional development and mental health in children experiencing varying levels of adversity. [1] Based on this work and a humanistic approach to child development, she creates and tests interventions that help children cultivate kindness and overcome the negative effects of exposure to violence, war, and trauma. To achieve these goals, Tina conducts and directs multidisciplinary research, training, and policy efforts that capitalize on inclusive principles and technological innovations to reach every child.
Tina is a co-editor of the Handbook of Child and Adolescent Aggression [2] and the Cambridge Handbook of Prosociality. [3] Her research has been profiled in The New York Times, The Atlantic, as well as other media outlets.
She and her team work closely with local and international communities and agencies to provide research-informed knowledge that can help nurture the development, wellbeing, and potential for kindness in children from all walks of life. Her work has been funded by all three federal funding agencies in Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as international foundations and funding agencies. [4] Her multi-cultural team has published over 250 publications in the areas of child development, mental health, and intervention research.
Leadership
In 2019, Tina created and established the Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy at the University of Toronto Mississauga, and she became its founding director.
In 2024, Tina created the Humboldt Science Center for Child Development (HumanKind) at Leipzig University.
Publications
Malti, T., & Speidel, R. (2024). Development of prosociality and the impacts of adversity. Nature Reviews Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00328-7
Yavuz, M.H., Galarneau, E., Colasante, T., & Malti, T. (2024). Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation : A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 150 (1), 27-44. doi: 10.1037/bul0000426.
Malti, T., & Davidov, M. (Eds.) (2023). The Cambridge handbook of prosociality. Development, mechanisms, promotion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Peplak, J., Bobba, B., Hasegawa, M., Caravita, S.C.S., & Malti, T. (2023). The warm glow of kindness: Developmental insight into children’s moral pride across cultures and its associations with prosocial behavior. Developmental Psychology, 59(12), 2320-2332. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001613
Malti, T., & Speidel, R. (2022). Prosocial cascades: Understanding and nurturing the potential for positive developmental trajectories. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2022.10.002
Colasante, T., Jambon, M., Gao, X., & Malti, T. (2021). A process model linking physiological arousal and fear recognition to aggression via guilt in middle childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 33(1), 109-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419001627
Malti, T. (2020). Children and violence: Nurturing social-emotional development to promote mental health. Social Policy Report (SPR). Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), 33(2), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/sop2.8
Malti, T. (2020). Kindness: A perspective from developmental psychology. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(5), 629-657. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2020.1837617
Malti, T., & Cheah, C.S.L. (2021). Towards complementarity: Specificity and commonality in social-emotional development. Child Development, 92(6), e1085-e1094. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13690
Malti, T., & Rubin, K. H. (Eds.) (2018). Handbook of child and adolescent aggression. New York: Guilford Press.
