Risk & Resilience

Academic Development & Learning Difficulties Anxiety Childhood & Adolescence (3-18 years) Depression & Mood Disorders Early Life Stress & Trauma Resilience

Prof. Lucy Bowes

Oxford Risk ANd resilience Genes and Environment research.

We study the interplay between biology and social context in child and adolescent development. The overall aim of our research is to inform intervention strategies and policies designed to promote resilience among children at risk for emotional, behavioural or academic difficulties.

Adolescent health and mental wellbeing

Children and young people exposed to violence and bullying are at greater risk of psychiatric disorders and ill-health across the life-course, and addressing these risk factors is a major public health priority. Our team uses a closely inter-rrelated programme of studies that uses the strongest epidemiological designs, systematic reviews , experimental evidence and evidence-based interventions to tackle the global issues at the interface between education and health.

Risk and resilience in developmental psychopathology

Exposure to abuse or neglect can have devastating and long-lasting impacts on child development, yet importantly, not all children who experience maltreatment are scarred in the same way or to an equal extent. Sources of resilience exist on multiple levels: individual characteristics including genetic influences and psychological coping styles; physical, economic and social capital offered to children and caregivers; psychosocial interventions by mental health, social welfare, and education providers; and government policies that prioritise or neglect maltreated children. Our interdisciplinary research brings together psychological, epidemiological, behavioural genetic and historical approaches to consider pathways to resilience across the life course.