Childhood and Youth Psychology Research Group
Understanding children’s and adolescents’ social, emotional and cognitive development to improve their wellbeing and attainment.
About us
This Psychology research subgroup aims to understand children’s and adolescents’ social, emotional and cognitive development, with the aim of improving psychological wellbeing, relationships at home and school, and academic achievement.
We conduct research in collaboration with an extensive network of nurseries, primary and secondary schools in the South West of the UK, and with other universities and charities in the UK and overseas, from the Universities of Surrey and Edinburgh to the Universidad de Oviedo (Spain) and Maryland University (U.S.).
We regularly involve undergraduate and postgraduate students in our research as paid or voluntary research assistants.
Selected current research themes
- How did parents/carers manage the demands of homeschooling and parenting during the coronavirus lockdown? (see below)
- Maths anxiety in primary and secondary school aged children
- Factors influencing student and parental anxiety and their relation with non-clinical inflated responsibility beliefs
- Is moral disgust socially learnt?
- The relation between mothers’ and children’s beliefs about the controllability of their emotions
- Fear of Missing Out (FoMO): Why wasn’t I invited to the party?
- Reading fictional stories: the benefits for cognitive and emotional development
- Creative and critical thinking in Higher Education
- The development of creativity
Recent research projects
Homeschooling during Lockdown: investigating the psychological, emotional and learning effects of homeschooling on parents/carers and children during the 2020-21 lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and providing practical, evidence-based support.
Emoread Study: Investigating the effect of touch-screen technology on children’s reading comprehension and shared reading experiences
Group members
- Dr Lynn McKeague
- Dr Merce Prat-Sala
- Dr Kirsty Ross
- Dr Liam Satchell
- Prof. Paul Sowden
- Dr Amy Warhurst
- Dr Frances Warren
For more information, contact Dr Amy Warhurst.
Find out more
Social media
Research blogs
Smacking children: what the research says
Over-parenting teaches children to be entitled - let them fail and learn to be resilient instead