With scholarly interests in adolescence and adolescent issues and specialized knowledge in quantitative and mixed methods strategies, Dr. Ellenbogen has recently published papers on (1) impacts of maltreatment, (2) benefits of early childhood education programs to child protective services recipients, (3) mental health service evaluations, and (4) community service learning. General areas of research interest include child welfare, social work education, public engagement, human development, behavioural & emotional problems, gambling and life course transitions.

A current scholarly interest is in embedding community service learning and public engagement into curricular and extra-curricular activities. Mentored by a team of faculty, graduate students, and local community organizers, bachelor of social work students were tasked with developing research summaries for the benefit of community partners and presenting them at Exchange 2018, a local conference organized by Dr. Ellenbogen and colleagues. At Exchange 2020, students reported on the the status of research and community capacity-building projects that were developed using knowledge gained from the research summaries. Our team is presently engaged in three such projects: assessing the perceived benefits of a leisure camp for families affected by childhood cancer; exploring cannabis harm reduction strategies for mothers and people identifying as females; and reviewing research on peer support workers.

For over a decade, Dr. Ellenbogen has been actively pursuing child maltreatment research using data gathered as part of the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways project. In recent studies, he examined the consequences of abuse-related shame, guilt, and blame in adolescence. Prior research includes examining the role of social perceptions in the emergence of behaviour problems and the theorized link between abuse victimization and aggressiveness. In other recent research, Dr. Ellenbogen collaborated with colleagues at the School of Social Work and Janeway Family Services on an evaluation of Change Clinic, a client-centred brief therapy model for families who are seeking help for child mental health issues. Dr. Ellenbogen was also lead investigator in an evaluation of Family TIES, a family-focused training for youth with anger, aggression, and interconnected problems. Earlier in his career, Dr. Ellenbogen published original research on school dropout, bereavement, program evaluation, and gambling. He has participated in community-based research projects to inform intervention planning in social service agencies.