Tracie O. Afifi

Associate Professor, Community Health Sciences University of Manitoba

  • Winnipeg MB

Dr. Afifi's research interests are in the areas of child maltreatment and problem gambling.

Contact

Social

Biography

Dr. Afifi has developed two primary research interests in the areas of child maltreatment (including child abuse, neglect, physical punishment, and exposure to intimate partner violence) and problem gambling. She has used population-based data from Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands to investigate mental and physical health correlates of both family violence and problem gambling. Dr. Afifi has published over 75 peer-reviewed journal publications and presented research findings in over 90 national and international conference proceedings. Dr. Afifi has participated in over 100 media interviews for print, radio, television, and social media resulting in over 1,500 known worldwide news stories. With regard to child maltreatment, Dr. Afifi is interested in studying mental and physical health correlates of physical punishment, protective factors related to resilience following child maltreatment, and effective child maltreatment interventions. In the area of problem gambling, Dr. Afifi is interested in studying gender differences related to problem gambling, the incidence of problem gambling and trends over time, the impact of parental gambling problems on children, and the relationship between family violence and problem gambling.

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning
Childcare
Health and Wellness
Health Care - Services
Philanthropy
Social Services
Public Policy
Public Safety

Areas of Expertise

Problem Gambling
Domestic Violence
Physical Punishment
Child Maltreatment
Sociology
Psychology
Community Affairs

Accomplishments

Merit Award in Research

2013-01-01

In 2013, Dr. Afifi was the recipient of a Merit Award in Research from the University of Manitoba.

CIHR New Investigator Award

2013-01-01

Dr. Afifi is currently holds a CIHR New Investigator Award (2013-2018).

Education

University of Manitoba

B.Sc.

Science

1999

University of Manitoba

M.Sc.

Science

2003

Thesis: focused on the relationship between child physical abuse and adolescent motherhood.

University of Manitoba

Ph.D.

Community Health Sciences

2009

Dissertation: problem gambling among women in Canada.

Affiliations

  • Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation
  • United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child

Media Appearances

Half of Canadian soldiers faced childhood abuse, study indicates

CBC News  online

2016-01-27

"We thought it was really an important finding," says Tracie Afifi, associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and lead author of the research released Wednesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry...

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Currier: Child Abuse And The Connection To The Canadian Armed Forces

CJob  online

2016-01-27

New research published in the Journal of American medical Association (JAMA) reveals a shockingly high number of Canada’s armed forces personnel were abused as children. Researcher Tracie Afifi of the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Community Health Sciences joined me in studio to talk about these stunning numbers. You can listen to that conversation right here...

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The Case Against Spanking

Maclean's  online

2015-12-30

Does conceiving, giving birth to or raising a child give you the right to hit another human being? Under Canada’s current laws it does. However, among the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which the Liberal government has committed to follow, is a repeal of the “spanking law.” Currently, this law allows parents and caregivers in Canada to use force to discipline a child...

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Articles

The Risk of Men's and Women's Intimate Partner Violence Victimization Across Activity Limitation Types in Canada

Partner Abuse

2016

Despite the growing body of research on violence against persons with activity limitations (ALs), only a handful of studies of intimate partner violence (IPV) and ALs have included men in their analyses. This study used a nationally representative sample of 15,010 Canadians to examine the risk of IPV against men and women with and without ALs. Results showed that, with controls for age and education, men and women with any type of AL faced an elevated risk of IPV victimization. Adjusting for perpetrator-related risk factors fully ...

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The Temporal Relationship Between Faulty Gambling Cognitions and Gambling Severity in Young Adults

Journal of Gambling Studies

2016

Disordered gambling in young adults is hypothesized as being related to mistaken gambling-related cognitions. Few studies have examined the temporal order of this relationship using longitudinal data. The purpose of this study is to understand the directionality of the relationship between gambling cognitions and gambling severity in a longitudinal sample of young adults. Young adults (N= 578), initially aged 18–21 years, completed the Manitoba Longitudinal Survey of Young Adults at two time points ...

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Linking Typologies of Childhood Adversity to Adult Incarceration: Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample

Educational Publishing Foundation

2016

Ecologically valid typologies of adverse child experiences (ACEs) were identified to investigate the link between ACEs and adultincarceration. In a nationally representative sample (N= 34,653, age 20+), latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted with childhood maltreatment (physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, interpersonal violence [IPV] exposure, physical neglect) and caregiver maladjustment (substance use, incarceration, mental illness, and suicidal behavior) indicators. LCA identified a 5-typology model (1. Low Adversity ...

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