Patty Leijten works as an Associate Professor at the Research Institute of Child Development and Education. She also serves as Director PhD Education in Child Development and Education. She studies how parents and children shape each other's behavior in ways that impact the development of children's mental health and well-being. In doing so, she bridges basic child development and intervention research, combining observational, experimental, and intervention evaluation studies (e.g., randomized trials and traditional, network, and individual participant data meta-analysis).
Current research projects include ZonMw supported projects on theoretically precise parenting support, and NWO Vidi supported project on understanding when risk factors for youth mental health are suitable intervention targets.
Patty received her MA (2009) from Radboud University Nijmegen and her PhD (2014) from Utrecht University. She worked as a visiting scholar at the University of Oregon and Arizona State University, and as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and the University of Amsterdam.
Key publications:
Leijten, P. (2023). Editorial: How online treatment research can enrich child and adolescent psychiatry. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, S0890-8567.
Leijten, P., Melendez-Torres, G. J., Eradus, M., & Overbeek, G. (2021; Stage 1 Registered Report). Specificity of parenting program component effects: Relational, behavioral, and cognitive approaches to children’s conduct problems. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Advance online publication 15 November.
Leijten, P., Weisz, J. R., & Gardner, F. (2021). Research strategies to discern active psychological therapy components: A scoping review. Clinical Psychological Science, 9, 307-322.
Leijten, P., Melendez-Torres, G. J., & Gardner, F. (2021). The most effective parenting program content for disruptive child behavior: A network meta-analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Advance online publication.
Leijten, P., Melendez-Torres, G. J., Gardner, F., Van Aar, J., Schulz, S., & Overbeek, G. (2018). Are relationship enhancement and behavior management the “Golden Couple” for reducing disruptive child behavior? Two meta-analyses. Child Development, 89, 1970-1982.
BA1: Familie en Gezin [Family Systems]
MA: Opvoeding en Ontwikkeling [Parenting and Child Development]
MA: Family Systems
PhD: The Writing Club
Karen Rienks: Effectively targeting parental risk factors for children's anxiety (2022-present)
Merlin Nieterau: Parent-child interactions at the early stages of disruptive child behavior (2022-present)
Constantina Psyllou: Individual participant data meta-analysis of parenting programs for disruptive child behavior (2022-present)
Nicole Creasey: How parenting programs affect children's DNA methylation and disruptive behavior (2019-2023)
Sophia Backhaus: Can parenting programs recude child maltreatment around the globe? (2018-2023)
Hend Eltanamly: Parenting in times of war (2016-2020)
Jolien van Aar: Parenting and disruptive child behavior after parenting interventions end (2015-2018)