Marleen de Moor

Methodological consultant

Position

I am Assistant Professor at the sections of Clinical Child and Family Studies and Methods at the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Biography

I was born and raised in Uithoorn, a small town in the vicinity of Amsterdam. In 1998, I started my studies in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. I specialized in Psychological Methods, following courses in both methods and statistics as well as in philosophy of science. In my PhD research (2004-2009) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the field of behaviour genetics I studied the presumed causal relationship between exercise behaviour and mental health applying novel methods to study causality in twin family designs. Since 2013, I’ve been working at the sections of Clinical Child and Family Studies and Methods, combining my research interests in parenting, child development, behaviour genetics and methodology. I live in Amsterdam with my partner and two children. In my leisure time, I like to spend time with friends and family, read books, cook and enjoy nature.

Areas of expertise

Research methodology, statistics, child development, parenting, behaviour genetics

Research

My research focusses on the application of state-of-the art statistical methods to understand how children and their parents develop and mutually influence each other. My methodological expertise includes multilevel modelling, structural equation modelling, longitudinal data analysis, measurement invariance testing and (epi)genetic analyses. I currently apply these methods to the following research topics: 1) the development of parenting cognitions and behaviors, 2) the interaction between parenting and genetic susceptibility on the development of self-control skills in preschool children, 3) the influence of parenting on motor development in 6-7 year old children and 4) the effect of adverse childhood experiences on the epigenome and mental health in first-time mothers. Furthermore, I am involved as a methodological advisor in several projects on parents and children with at-risk backgrounds or special needs. For the project on wonderful education, I will deploy my knowledge on multilevel analysis, mediation models and psychometric evaluation of scales. I am further very keen on learning from and contributing to the exciting combination of philosophical and empirical research in this project.

Selected publications

Van Rest, M.M., Matthys, W., Van Nieuwenhuijzen, M., De Moor, M.H.M., Vriens, A. & Schuengel, C. (2017). Social information processing skills link executive functions to aggression
in adolescents with mild to borderline intellectual disability. In preparation.
Heppe, E.C.M., Kef, S., Moor, M.H.M. & Schuengel, C. (2017). Perceived peer and parent support during adolescence and loneliness in later life among people with visual impairments: A longitudinal study. Submitted.
De Moor, M.H.M., Distel, M.A., Trull, T.J. & Boomsma, D.I. (2009). Assessment of Borderline Personality features in population samples: is the PAI-BOR scale measurement invariant across gender and age? Psychological Assessment, 21 (1), 125-30.
De Moor, M.H.M., Boomsma, D.I., Stubbe, J.H., Willemsen, G., & De Geus, E.J.C. (2008). Testing causality in the association between regular exercise and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65 (8), 897-905.