Developmental Psychopathology Lab

Lab Director: Edward D. Barker

In the Developmental Psychopathology Lab, we engage in research with the ultimate goal of gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms through which specific environmental risk factors influence child and adolescent psychopathology. Outcomes of interest include psychiatric conditions in children and mothers/fathers (e.g., conduct disorder, anxiety, depression, callous-unemotional traits) as well as markers of typical development in children (e.g., self-control/impulsivity, cognitive inhibition, social cognition, social competencies, school readiness).

We focus on the following risk domains:

Prenatal risks (maternal anxiety, maternal depression, criminal behaviors, substance use)

Postnatal risks (parental maltreatment, low parent investment in child, parental monitoring of child, criminal behaviors of parents)

Neighborhood risk factors (poverty, informal social controls)

Peer relationships (bullying, victimisation by the peers, affiliation with deviant peers).

We use the following methodologies:

Longitudinal designs: Longitudinal analyses on existing epidemiological birth cohorts are used to examine the development of children’s behavior and how different types of environmental factors influence different types of children, for better and for worse.

Intervention studies: We examine intervention effects on competed interventions from Canada and the USA. We are also involved in an active intervention on preschoolers that is incorporating the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies intervention curriculum with COPING power for parents. One novel focus of this intervention is on potential biological moderation of treatment response for the children and parents.

Genetic designs: We've recently been awarded an NIH grant (R01), where we - in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Mill - will examine variability in repeated measures of DNA methylation (from birth to age 9) in relation to enviornmental stress (prenatal and postnatal) and early onset conduct problem trajectories, in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (see Barker & Maughn, 2009, AJP). We are also in the process of examining the relative influence of measured genes and environmental risks (e.g., peer victimisation, affiliation with deviant peers) on the development of antisocial behavior and emotional difficulties.

Recent publications:

Barker, E. D., Copeland, W., Maughan, B., Jaffee, S. R., & Uher, R. (in press). The Relative Impact of Maternal Depression and Associated Risk Factors on Offspring Maladjustment. British Journal of Psychiatry.

Vitaro, F., Barker, E. D., Bredgen, M., & Tremblay, R. E. (in press). Pathways Explaining the Reduction of Adult Criminal Behaviour by a Randomized Preventive Intervention for Disruptive Kindergarten Children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Bredgen, M., Boivin, M., Barker, E. D., Vitaro, F., Girard, A., Dionne, G., & Tremblay, R. E. (in press). Gene-Environment Processes Linking Aggression, Peer Victimization, and the Teacher-Child Relationship. Child Development.

Barker, E. D., Jaffee, S. R., Uher, R., & Maughan, B. (2011). The Contribution of Prenatal and Postnatal Maternal Anxiety and Depression to Child Maladjustment. Depression and Anxiety, 28, 696-702.

Barker, E. D., Oliver, B. R., Viding, E., Salekin, R. T. and Maughan, B. (2011). The Impact of Prenatal Maternal Risk, Fearless Temperament and Early Parenting on Adolescent Callous-Unemotional Traits: A 14-year Longitudinal Investigation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 878-88.

Barker, E. D., Trentacosta, C. J. and Salekin, R.T. (2011). Are Impulsive Adolescents Differentially Influenced by the Good and Bad of Neighborhood and Family? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 981-986.

Larsson, H., Dilshad, R., Lichtenstein, P. & Barker, E. D. (2011). Developmental trajectories of DSM-IV symptom dimensions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: genetic effects, family risk and associated psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 954-963.

Barker, E.D., Tremblay, R.E., van Lier, P.A.C., Vitaro, F., Nagin, D.S., Assaad, J.M., & Séguin, J.R. (2011). The Neurocognition of Conduct Disorder behaviours: Specificity to Physical Aggression and Theft after Controlling for ADHD Symptoms. Aggressive Behavior, 37, 63-72.

Bekkhus M, Rutter M, Barker ED, Borge AI. The Role of Pre- and Postnatal Timing of Family Risk Factors on Child Behavior at 36 months. (2011). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 611-621.

Grants

PIs: Barker, E. D., & Mill, J. National Institute of Child and Human Development (1R01 HD068437-01A1),"Epigenetic pathways to conduct problem trajectories: The roles of prenatal and postnatal environmental stress." £707,116.

Students in the Lab

Yvonne Whelan, MSc

I am an ESRC funded PhD student working on predictors (e.g., genetics, social cognition) and outcomes (e.g., callousness, delinquency, substance use) of different dimensions of Oppositional Defiance Disorder. I am co-supervised by Prof. Michael Thomas and Dr. Argyris Stringaris.

Steven Mayers

For my MSc thesis, I am examining the concurrent and convergent validity of a new measure - the "Childhood Memories of Family Maltreatment Questionnaire" on two high risk samples: adult males arrested for domestic violence and an adolescent sample placed in out-of-home care.

Amanda Bittencourt Hewitt

My MSc thesis will be an intergenerational study, investigating environmental risk factors to see if they change or are stable from early childhood to adulthood.

Emma Hennessy

I am a MA student and for my dissertation I will be writing a critical literature review on the effect of pre and post natal risk factors on school readiness.

Anastasia Szymanska

I am a BSc Psychology student. My final year project will look at the temperamental precursors to different dimensions of Oppositional Defiance Disorder.

Oluwarotimi Lawson

I am a 4th year of BSc student. The topic of my thesis is to use a 'follow-back' persective to identify family- and neighbourhood-level factors that underlie high levels of ‘school readiness’ in 5-year-old British children of African descent.

Sinem Kurt

I am a BSc Psychology 4th year student. I am exploring the predictors of peer victimization of preschool children with Callous-Unemotional traits.

Nathalie Schmitt

I am a BSc student in Psychology at the University of Hagen, Germany. I am doing an internship with Dr. Barker at Birkbeck University. In my thesis I will focus on the the quality of relationships with peers for adolescent Callous-Unemotional youth with and without conduct problems.

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