Research

The main focus is on understanding the development of psychopathology in children and adolescents. The focus is on both social-environmental factors and individual characteristics.

One line of research is on testing the interplay between parental influences and personal characteristics on behavior. Our 6-wave 5-year full-family study on substance use development is a good example of projects in this theme.

Another line consists of testing social imitation effects using structured observations of social interactions. With experimental paradigms in semi-naturalistic settings, we aim to test the processes underlying and moderating social imitation in eating and substance use.

A third line is on adolescent relationships with their parents, friends and intimate partners.

A fourth line is the study of media effects on body image, food intake and substance use.

A fifth, and relatively new line of research is the systematic and controlled test of effectiveness of prevention and intervention programs among Dutch youth and their parents.

I am in favour of a multi-method approach in testing theoretical models, probably due to my background in social psychology, sociology and epidemiology, and pedagogics. An example is how we approach peer influence processes, in which we have used behavior-genetic analyses to examine peer selection (Harakeh, Poelen), longitudinal approaches to test the role of parents in peer influence processes (De Leeuw, Van der Vorst), observational approaches to examine how influence processes in groups evolve in real time (Bot), experimental observational designs on social imitation (Bevelander, Hermans, Larsen), and molecular-genetic data to test susceptibility for imitation (Larsen).

There is a strong interest in applying scientific knowledge in measures for prevention and policy. I organize meetings for prevention workers and clinicians and we write many papers and chapters in Dutch. I work with national organizations to develop and test prevention programs on juvenile smoking and drinking.