Clinical Developmental Psychology

Research within the Clinical Developmental Psychology Research Group (KLOP) aims to contribute, through globally recognized expertise, to high-quality research on the emergence, maintenance, and influence of mental health problems in children, adolescents, and young adults. There is a focus on eating, weight, and nutrition problems, as well as behavioral and emotional problems, and particular attention is paid to clinical implications of the research.

Within the research lines of KLOP a transactional model is put forward, taking into account the role of risk and resilience factors at different levels, being both within the adolescent (e.g., deficits in emotion regulation, attachment, learning processes, developmental tasks, cognitive scripts,...) and within the context (e.g., social pressure, role of parents and peers), always attuned to normal development. The expertise of the research group focuses on transdiagnostic mechanisms within psychopathology, investigating factors underlying a wide range of symptoms in children and adolescents.

Three different research labs within KLOP (CCAP lab, focus on behavioral and emotional problems; Embrace lab, focus on eating problems; Phase lab, focus on role of peers and context in psychopathology) are currently leading numerous projects on emotion regulation, temperament, cognitive control and peer influences, using different types of designs and methodologies, such as questionnaires, (clinical) interviews, behavioral tasks, observational methods, biological processes, lab-based studies, longitudinal studies, Ecological Momentary Assessment studies, case studies and Randomized Controlled Trials. All this is also done in collaboration with other national and international expert groups, as well as with different disciplines (e.g., nutrition and exercise experts, physicians, communication scientists).

The expertise of the four professors, guest professors and (post-)doctoral staff of KLOP manifests itself not only in the ongoing research, project applications, publications and books, but there is also a special focus on translating and implementing fundamental research into clinical practice, where intervention protocols for different problems and targeting different underlying mechanisms are set up, validated and disseminated (e.g. Eureka & BoostCamp).

Publications and research projects can also be found via the list of staff members below.

Collaborators