What role do parent-child interactions play in the development, maintenance and treatment of depression in young people?

Developmental considerations in the design and delivery of cognitive-behavioural therapy for adolescent school refusal

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The brains of adolescents react more responsively to receiving rewards. This can lead to risky behaviour, but, according to Leiden University research, it also has a positive function: it makes learning easier. Publication in Nature Communications.

What happens in young people's brains when they win money for someone else? Psychologist Elisabeth Schreuders has shown that the brain responds differently according to the type of friendship and that the response is strongest with stable relationships later in adolescence. PhD defence on 6 March.

Do general practitioners recognize children with or at risk of problematic anxiety and is there a pattern that might help differentiate those with and without anxiety disorders in general practice?

The main focus of our research programme is on adolescence, a key transitional period in human development. The programme puts emphasis on combined experimental behavioural and neural analysis of normative transitions and deviations in adolescent development.

Medical psychologist Willeke Kitselaar developed a model that helps identify patients with persistent somatic symptoms earlier, based on an extensive large medical database. ‘I advise GPs to ask patients to fill in a questionnaire about both physical and mental symptoms at an earlier stage.’ PhD defence…

PhD defence

How is the development of physiological responses to social evaluation in adolescence affected by other normative developments, such as pubertal, socio-cognitive and psychosocial development? Are social anxiety and public speaking anxiety associated with characteristic patterns of stress responses…

Imagine getting a notification on your mobile phone with your personal code for impending mental health problems or even depression: yellow, orange, or red. Science fiction? Not for scientist Eiko Fried. 'There is a real chance we can prevent some mental health problems before they occur.' Want to participate…

People already diagnosed with a mental disorder before the COVID-19 pandemic did not show a disproportionate increase in symptoms afterwards. This is one result from the first systematic review of longitudinal studies following their study population from before to during the first eighteen months of…

Under 18, no alcohol. In spite of this slogan, adolescents still have access to alcohol. But how harmful is that one beer for the adolescent brain? Research, including in Leiden, may provide the answer.

The section Developmental and Educational Psychology consists of more than 45 people, who are mainly involved in education and research.

PhD defence

The key question addressed in this family study is whether the psychophysiological and neurocognitive abnormalities often reported in SAD patients are heritable and can thus be found in family members of SAD patients as well. Determination of heritability of these deficiencies is essential for endophenotyping.…

How are interests embedded and experienced in daily life and to what extent can their origin and development be understood in terms of this contextualization?

The brains of adolescents react more strongly to receiving rewards. This can lead to risky behaviour, but research in Leiden has shown that it also has a positive purpose: it makes learning easier. The publication of an article on the research findings led to a lot of media attention.

In the MS Cognitietour, psychologists and neuroscientists from Leiden University discuss the latest scientific knowledge with MS patients and their loved ones. This leads to insights: 'One lady told how much stress she felt from all those caregivers around her bed.'

Electronic versions of our publications can be obtained by sending an e-mail to Esther van den Bos: bosejvanden@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Bernet Elzinga (Clinical Psychology) is one of the seven scientists from the Leiden University who has received a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros from NWO. Vici is one of the largest grants for individual scientists in the Netherlands. The funding will enable her to do research for the next five years…

Eveline Crone wrote a new edition of

Cultural and individual differences

Anke Ramakers, Assistant Professor in criminology at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology at Leiden Law School, together with Finnish researchers Mikko Aaltonen and Pekka Martikainen, has published an article in the Elsevier journal 'Advances in Life Course Research', on the role of labour…

Positive friendships are characterised by understanding mutual wishes and intentions, respect for each other’s boundaries and pro-social behaviour. Qualities that might be more challenging for autistic adolescents.

Our vision of stress is starting to change fundamentally. We can suffer stress without even being aware of it, while sleeping as wall as during the day. Professor of Psychology Jos Brosschot will discuss this phenomenon in his inaugural lecture on 2 December.

Scientists in Leiden are looking for signals in blood samples to predict whether patients will develop serious COVID-19 symptoms or not. Based on that knowledge, they will be able to propose targeted therapies to prevent serious symptoms. They hope to come up with the first results within the week.

When and how does social anxiety develop? How can it go astray in some adolescents? How can we help troubled young people to attend school regularly and return to a normal developmental pathway?

What impact does growing up in a musical environment or during the COVID-19 pandemic have on the brain development of teenagers? This was the focus of psychologist Lina van Drunen’s PhD research, which studied hundreds of twins. Her findings reveal that practising music slows brain development, presenting…

How adolescents perceive parenting is related to their mood. Differences between the perspectives of parents and adolescents are also of importance for adolescents’ mood. That is what research by Loes Janssen and her Leiden University colleagues in Clinical Psychology shows. Open Access publication…

PhD defence

Peer-mentored cognitive behavioral therapy for adolescents with mild intellectual disability and anxiety disorder

Mapping the neural mechanisms underlying social motivations of adolescents and adults

Does the public speaking anxiety that many youngsters experience originates from specific characteristics in their earlier development?

In the online panel discussion of ESOF 2022 ‘The effect of the online world on adolescents’, together with Amy Orben, Professor Eveline Crone, Sterre van Riel, Professor Anne-Laura van Harmelen and Professor Jan Sleutels, Professor Ton Liefaard shared his research on adolescents and the online world…

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures during the first lockdown in the Netherlands in March 2020 caused major changes in daily life. Parents worked from home and children followed school online. Therefore, the families were forced to spend more time together. This is particularly difficult for…

Adolescents with good friendships experience fewer anxiety and depression symptoms, PhD student Iris Koele discovered in her research on high school students' social relationships. 'As a psychologist, I include friends in the treatment plan: who do you call when things are not going well?'

How do young people react when an unknown person gets under their skin in an online game? A sense of control over their social environment can prevent young people from quickly resorting to anger in such a situation, development psychologists Sheida Novin, Carolien Rieffe and colleagues discovered.…

Issue 1

Welcome to the Social Anxiety and Specific Phobia (SASP) Research Group!

The research master's specialisation Developmental Psychology consists of five main parts: the general courses, the specialisation-specific courses, the elective courses, a research internship and a thesis.

Our team is involved in the translation and adaptation of several questionnaires, for research purposes. Information about each questionnaire is listed below.

What is the relation between brain development and social and cognitive development across childhood, adolescence and adulthood?

As young people’s friendships improve, their mental resilience also increases. This is according to research conducted by Anne-Laura van Harmelen, Professor of Brain, Safety and Resilience at Leiden University.

This longitudinal study is focused on neurodevelopmental problems in young children with XXY, XXX and XYY, aged 1 to 6 years.