PhD candidate 'Longitudinal effects of parenting, parental self-regulation and contextual stress on the early development of self-regulation: A combined micro and macro approach.' (0.8 - 1.0 FTE)

We are looking for a PhD candidate 'Longitudinal effects of parenting, parental self-regulation and contextual stress on the early development of self-regulation: A combined micro and macro approach'. This PhD project will be conducted within the research programme 'Development and treatment of psychosocial problems' (program leaders: prof. dr. M. Dekovi? and prof. dr. A. van Baar) at the Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies.

Individual differences in self-regulation, i.e., the ability to either automatically or deliberately modulate affect, behavior and cognition, are predictive for development in many domains, including school performance, social functioning, and mental health. As yet, relatively little is known about the etiology of these individual differences, especially in very young children. Available data indicate that parenting practices are related to child self-regulation, and that parenting practices are in turn related to factors like parental self-regulation and cumulating stress-related risk factors. The exact prospective relationship between these factors, and how they influence the development of emerging self-regulation in both micro and macro developmental time remains unclear however.

Using the first five waves of the YOUth baby and child cohort, this project examines the mechanisms underlying the relationship between parenting and emerging self-regulation in early childhood, and to what extent this is influenced by parental self-regulation and stress related risk factors. We will use a multimethod approach that explores and links micro and macro level development in child self-regulation.

The PhD project is part of the larger YOUth cohort study that in turn is embedded within the research Consortium on Individual Development that is funded by an NWO Gravitation Grant. The current PhD project uses data from the YOUth baby and child cohort study. This cohort study is a large long term longitudinal study that focuses on the neurocognitive brain development involved in two core characteristics of behavioural development: social competence and behavioural control. One of the tasks of the PhD candidate will be to assist in collecting the data for the larger YOUth cohort study.