University of Gothenburg
The Department of Psychology
The Department of Psychology
Children competing in tug of war on a meadow.
Photo: Anna Samoylova, Unsplash
  2. The Department of Psychology
  3. Our research
  4. Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology

Who am I? What will become of me? What do my friends think of me? What do other people think of my body? Why am I being bullied? Individuals in the modern complex society of today face a number of important questions concerning for example identity, body and social relationships.

Research group: The Gothenburg group for Research In Developmental psychology (GRID)

Our research

In the research group The Gothenburg group for Research In Developmental psychology (GRID) our aim is to contribute with knowledge on how people address these and similar questions and solve central developmental tasks in their lives. We have an outspoken developmental psychology perspective, which means that we study how and why individuals develop as they do, and how they experience this development. Youth development has long been in focus for our research, but we see development as processes of change and stability that continue throughout life, and we therefore study development in different parts of the lifespan.

Identity development is central during adolescent years but also continues into adulthood and concerns for example parental identity and ethnic identity. A related concept of identity is personality where we conduct research on what characterizes an individual and how these traits develop. Other central aspects that we study are body image and puberty development, sexual risk behaviour and exposure. We are interested in development and living conditions in different contexts, such as for example school, family and social media.

The goal with our research is to contribute with knowledge about individuals’ experiences, both concerning challenges they face and what can lead to positive development. Within GRID we use both quantitative and qualitative research methods, often in combination, within several longitudinal projects where we follow individuals over extended times.

Ongoing research in developmental psychology

Research project/group
GoLD - The Gothenburg Longitudinal study of Development
Research project/group
Father Involvement from Early Childhood to Adulthood (FIECA)
Research project/group
Gothenburg Research Program on: Identity, Culture and Ethnicity
Research project/group
Body image and motivation towards physical activity among early adolescents –…
Research project/group
MOS (Bullying and school)
Research project/group
PRISE: Peer Relations In School from an Ecological perspective

Publications

Azad, A., & Carlsson, J. (2022). “When you told us what happened to you, I started to shiver” – what children and teenagers immediately express and comprehend after listening to testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Holocaust studies: A journal of culture and history. doi: 10.1080/17504902.2022.2119025 

Lidberg, J., Berne, S., & Frisén, A. (2022). Challenges in Emerging Adulthood Related to the Impact of Childhood Bullying Victimization. Emerging Adulthood. doi:10.1177/21676968211051475

Lunde, C., & Joleby, M. (2022). Being Under Pressure to Sext: Adolescents' Experiences, Reactions, and Counter‐Strategies. Journal of Research on Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12797

Valik, A., Holmqvist Gattario, K., Lunde, C., & Skoog, T. (2022) PSH-C: A measure of peer sexual harassment among children. Journal of Social Issues 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12517

Weick, L., Grimby-Ekman, A., Lunde, C., & Hansson, E. (2022). Validation and reliability testing of the BREAST-Q expectations questionnaire in Swedish. Journal of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, Ahead-of-print(Ahead-of-print), 1-9.

Weick, L., Lunde, C., & Hansson, E. (2022). The effect of implant loss after immediate breast reconstruction on patient satisfaction with outcome and quality of life after five years - a case-control study. Journal of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, Ahead-of-print(Ahead-of-print), 1-8.

Wängqvist, M., Carlsson, J., Syed, M., Frisén, A., Hwang, C. P., & Lamb, M. E. (2022). Within family development of father involvement across two generations of parents. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000960  

Berne, S & Frisén, A. (2021). Utsatt på internet: En internationell forskningsöversikt om nätmobbning bland barn och unga. Statens medieråd. 

 

Burén, J., Holmqvist Gattario, K., & Lunde., C. (2021). What do Peers Think about Sexting? Adolescents’ Views of the Norms Guiding Sexting Behavior. Journal of Adolescent Research, 1-29. 

 

Gyberg, F., Svensson, Y., Wängqvist, M., & Syed, M. (2021). Discrimination and its relation to psychosocial well-being among diverse youth in Sweden. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 1–19. 

 

Helsing, B., Hwang, P., & Frisén, A. (2021). How social networks influence young men to seek psychological help. Nordic Psychology, 73(2), 153-174. doi: 10.1080/19012276.2020.1839540

  

Helsing, B., Frisén, A & Hwang, C. P. (2021). Sexual risk-taking among young Swedish men testing for STI. European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care, 26(2), 155-159. doi: 10.1080/13625187.2020.1821355 

 

Jaf, D., Özdemir, M., & Skoog, T. (2021). Immigrant and Swedish Adolescents Involvement in Organized Sports Activities: An Expectancy-Value Approach. BMC Psychology, 9, 12.

Joleby, M., Landström, S., Lunde, C., & Jonsson, L.S. (2021). Experiences and psychological health among children exposed to online child sexual abuse–a mixed methods study of court verdicts. Psychology, Crime and Law, 27(2), 159-181.

Joleby, M., Lunde, C., Landström, S., & Jonsson, L. (2021). Offender strategies for engaging children in online sexual activity. Child Abuse & Neglect, 120, 105214.

Kapetanovic, S., & Skoog, T. (2021). The Role of the Family’s Emotional Climate in the Links between Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 49, 141–154.

Kling, J., Counsell, A., Frisén, A., Holmqvist Gattario, K., & Piran, N. (2021). Translation and psychometric evaluation of the Experience of Embodiment Scale in a Swedish community sample of young women and men. Body Image, 39, 259-265. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.09.004. 

Lunde, C., & Joleby, M. (2021). Young people’s Experiences of Sexting and Online Sexual Victimization. In Violence, Victimisation and Young People (Young People and Learning Processes in School and Everyday Life, pp. 95-112). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Mitchell, L. L., Adler, J. M., Carlsson, J., Eriksson, P. L., & Syed, M. (2021). A conceptual model of identity integration across adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 57(11), 1981-1990. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001246  

Skoog, T. & Kapetanovic, S. (2021). The Role of Pubertal Timing in the Development of Peer Victimization and Offending from Early- to Mid-Adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence. 

Svensson, Y., & Frisén, A. (2021). Dual-centric work/family identity in young adults. Self And Identity, 2021. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2021.1950828

Voica, S., Kling, J., Frisén, A., & Piran, N. (2021). Disordered eating through the lens of positive psychology: The role of embodiment, self-esteem and identity coherence. Body Image, 39, 103-113. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.06.006 

The Thesis Prize 2021:  Malin Joleby: Technology-assisted child sexual abuse
"Malin Joleby's thesis questions the legal and societal starting point that abuse of children / young people that takes place via the internet is less serious than those that occur when victims and perpetrators meet physically. Through three research studies, which together show significant methodological and theoretical knowledge, she has shown that internet-related abuse can cause great suffering to the children / young people who are affected. She has to a significant extent contributed to moving the research field forward and in her thesis, she has carefully explained the societal benefits of her research."

Technology-assisted child sexual abuse - Göteborgs universitets publikationer (gu.se)
 

Members

Professors and Senior Lecturers

PhD Students

Assistant Researchers

 

 

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