RESEARCH PILLAR I
Understanding Family and Peer Socialization Dynamics
A child's socialization begins at birth and continues throughout lifetime.
RESEARCH
Ongoing Studies
Here you find all of our ongoing studies. With each project, there is a short general description and an overview of (some of the) main publications.
Romantic relations and sexual development in adolescence
Principal Investigator: Geertjan Overbeek
Imagine ‘beeping’ adolescents multiple times per day to ask them one simple question: What’s on your mind right now? What do you think is the thing they’d most frequently say? You guessed it: intimate relationships and sex. Yet, many developmentalists have traditionally shied away from this topic. In this research line, Geertjan studies the romantic and sexual development of adolescents, examining how these developments are embedded in previous relationships with parents and peers, and what the mental health correlates and consequences are of various romantic and sexual development trajectories.
UvA collaborators: Susanne Schulz, Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen, Maud Hensums
Social goals and gains of bullying in adolescence
Principal Investigator: Maud Hensums
Seneca has argued that “all cruelty springs from weakness” (c. 4 BCE-CE 65; Seneca & Grimal, 1969). In this research line, Maud argues that some cruelty —bullying— springs from a desire to be popular and dominant and might be an effective tool to gain resources in peer groups. Through a collection of meta analytic and mixed methods experimental studies, Maud investigates whether adolescents conform their behavior to how they can reach status in their (online) peer groups —even when this harms others— and for which youths this behavior might be more pronounced. These insights can aid future interventions to more effectively decrease harmful behaviors, like bullying, in adolescent peer groups. For more information, visit the Project Influence website.
UvA collaborators: Geertjan Overbeek, Eddie Brummelman, Helle Larsen, Wouter van den Bos
Social goals and gains of adolescent bullying and aggression: A meta-analysis
Developmental Review
Journal of Adolescence
Developmental Review
Intergenerational transmission of psychopathology
Principal Investigator: Susanne Schulz
Children often show characteristics and behaviors that resemble those of their parents. Particularly problem behaviors often inadvertently carry over from one generation to the next. Still, intergenerational transmission processes are not the same for all families. In this research line, Susanne aims to better understand the mechanisms that explain why emotional or behavioral problems are transmitted between parents and children, and how we can break potential maladaptive transmission processes. Combining longitudinal and experimental studies, Susanne not only examines effects that parents have on their children, but also how children’s emotional or behavioral problems influence their parents. For more information, visit the Driftkikkertjes website.
UvA collaborators: Patty Leijten, Geertjan Overbeek, Bram Orobio de Castro, Jeanne Gubbels, Jana Runze
Parental reactivity to disruptive child behavior: An experimental study
Journal of Abnormal Child PsychologyFamily diversity and gender nonconformity
Principal Investigator: Henny Bos
Although The Netherlands is known for its liberal and tolerant climate LGBT people, a substantial proportion still believes that a child needs a mother and a father for healthy psychological development. Also, a large percentage disapproves of public expressions of intimacy for people of the same sex. Henny is interested in how offspring born and raised in same-sex families are influenced by the assumptions of heteronormative society and what growing up in such a society means for sexual minority and gender-nonconforming youth. Together with prof. Gartrell, Henny is involved in various long-term follow up analyses of participants in the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study.
UvA collaborators: Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen, Floor van Rooij, Mark Assink, Daury Jansen, Monique Mochtar
National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study — Mental health of adult offspring
New England Journal of Medicine Suicide and Life‐Threatening BehaviorDifferences in self-perception and social gender status in children with gender incongruence
Clinical Child Psychology and PsychiatryChildcare quality and social-emotional development
Principal Investigator: Ruben Fukkink
Ruben’s research line focuses on childcare quality and children’s socio emotional development in childcare (including home- and center-based care, afterschool care and elementary school) and early grades of elementary school. An important theme in this domain is the interprofessional collaboration between professionals from childcare, youth care and school to support children’s development and the dynamics of ‘educare’. In various experimental studies, Ruben evaluates the effects of interventions that aim to improve the sensitivity and mind mindedness of both pre- and in-service professionals. Ruben is a member of a European research group with a special interest in split systems in childcare and education.
UvA collaborators: Cristina Colonnesi, Marc Noom, Debora Roorda, Minne Fekkes
Early childhood education professionals’ mentalization: A pilot study
International Journal of Early Years Education Early Childhood Research Quarterly PLoS ONECaregiver-child relationships in after-school care: The role of gender and the gender match
Early Child Development and CareInfants in Dutch daycare: Exploring fine-grained dimensions of temperament
Infant and Child Development International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders PLoS ONE Educational Research Review Journal of Interprofessional CarePedagogical quality of after-school care: Relaxation and/or enrichment?
Children and Youth Services Review International Journal of Integrated Care International Journal of Environmental Research and Public HealthBio-ecological development and gene-environment interplay
Principal Investigator: Geertjan Overbeek
Many ‘socialization effects’ taken for granted may actually be disguised forms of gene-environment interplay. Understanding social influences from parents and peers thus requires us to work from a bio-ecological perspective. Based on personal grants from the Dutch Science Council, Geertjan studies how children’s genetic make-up interacts with children’s parenting environment, experimentally examining gene- environment interactions and correlations in the context of proven effective parenting interventions, like Incredible Years. For more information about this study, visit Opgroeien in Amsterdam.
UvA collaborators: Patty Leijten, Susanne Schulz, Jana Runze, Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen, Alithe van den Akker, Danielle van der Giessen
Genetic, biological, and psychological factors in parenting and child development
Principal Investigator: Jana Runze
Research is often focused on either a genetic viewpoint or a behavioral viewpoint. Jana combines both disciplines in order to disentangle the combined effects of genes and the environment on parent’s behaviors toward their children, such as maltreatment, and the resulting psychobiological development of the children. To do this, Jana makes use of several existing longitudinal studies, such as NEMESIS, ALSPAC or Opgroeien in Amsterdam.
UvA collaborators: Susanne Schulz, Geertjan Overbeek
Temperament and person-environment transactions
Principal Investigator: Alithe van den Akker
A lot of ideas exist around what is good and what is bad parenting. Indeed, research shows that some parenting strategies may be more effective at preventing problem behavior than others. However, children differ in their characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving —they have different temperaments— and these differences are important in determining how different parenting strategies impact their risk of developing problems such as anxiety and depression, or aggression and delinquency. In this line of research, Alithe investigates complex associations between child characteristics and parenting behaviors to understand why some children develop (certain types of problems) and others do not (or develop other types of problems).
UvA collaborators: Geertjan Overbeek, Patty Leijten, Peter Hoffenaar, Mirjana Majdandzic, Wieke de Vente
Parental discipline techniques and changes in observed temper tantrum severity in toddlers
Research on Child and Adolescent PsychopathologyTemper tantrums in toddlers and preschoolers: Longitudinal associations with adjustment problems
Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Frontiers in PsychologyParenting quality and attachment across diverse family forms
Principal Investigator: Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen
Most parenting and attachment research still leans on samples with mothers from families consisting of a traditional ‘nuclear’ family: father, mother, and their biologically related children. In her work, Loes includes more diverse families, such as families headed by male-male and female-female couples, and families created with the help of assistant reproductive techniques (IVF, surrogacy) to broaden our knowledge on parenting and attachment (parenting quality, co-parenting, child-parent attachment relationship) and the development of children’s social emotional wellbeing and mental health.