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39
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Introduction
My research focuses on socio-emotional and cognitive development of children from families in challenging circumstances. Specifically, I aim at understanding the antecedents and protective factors of contextual adaptation and academic learning amid adversity.
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Publications
Publications (39)
Introduction
LGBTQ+ refugees are likely to experience heightened mental health burdens and lower levels of well-being when compared to LGBTQ+ individuals without refugee experience. Still, the distinctive psychological mechanisms explaining their heightened levels of distress remain understudied. We examined the mental health and well-being of LGBT...
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of a training program on language support strategies and dialogic reading for caregivers working in specialized preschool programs. These programs serve children without a regular childcare place who grow up with one or more languages other than German as the environmental language....
Children’s socio‐emotional adjustment during the COVID‐19 pandemic could depend on their pre‐pandemic risk of heightened socio‐emotional distress and available resources. In a sample of elementary school‐aged children from low‐income neighborhoods in Germany, we examined children’s socio‐emotional adjustment throughout two pandemic‐related school c...
Early childhood education [ECE] can foster the social-emotional adjustment and development of young refugee children. Still, the large numbers of newly arriving refugee families challenge the ECE capacities of host countries. In Germany, state authorities have subsidized flexible ECE programs for refugee children in response to this situation. The...
Children’s ego-resilience (within-person capacities that facilitate psychological resistance) and irritability (increased proneness to experience negative affective states following environmental stressors) are critical determinants of their mental health. Here, we investigated how ego-resilience engages with irritability when linked to symptoms of...
In 2019, migration due to humanitarian crises has reached an unprecedented high with more than 272 million people not residing in their homes. As around 50 percent of recent refugees and immigrants worldwide were underaged, adverse experiences linked to migration hit them during critical periods of youth development. Strong families can provide res...
In a sample of 369 children from low-income neighborhoods in Germany (Mage = 8.49 years; 50.41% female), we (1) investigated changes in children’s executive functions (EFs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) explored whether families’ nurturing care could protect children’s EFs. We repeatedly examined children before and after a six-month lockdo...
Children’s socio-emotional adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic could depend on their pre-pandemic risk to heightened socio-emotional distress and available resources. In a sample of elementary school-aged children from low-income neighborhoods in Germany, we investigated children’s socio-emotional adjustment throughout two pandemic-related scho...
Children's ego-resilience (within-person capacities that facilitate psychological resistance) and irritability (increased proneness to experience negative affective states following environmental stressors) are critical determinants of children's mental health. Here, we investigated how ego-resilience engages with irritability when linked to sympto...
Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) constitute vulnerable groups in many countries. Thus, they might be affected to a different extent than heterosexual and cisgender individuals by the Coronavirus pandemic. This systematic review aimed to summarize the state of international research on the mental and physical health-related as well as socioeconomi...
Early childhood education [ECE] can foster the social-emotional adjustment and development of young refugee children. Still, the large numbers of newly arriving refugee families challenge the ECE capacities of host countries. In Germany, state authorities have subsidized flexible ECE programs for refugee children in response to this situation. The...
Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) constitute vulnerable groups in many countries. Thus, they might be affected to a different extent than heterosexual and cisgender individuals by the Coronavirus pandemic. This systematic review aimed to summarize the state of international research on the mental and physical health-related as well as socioeconomi...
Background: In Germany, many recently arrived and minority families live in multi-ethnic, high-poverty districts. Multiple risk factors threaten their children’s development. Aims: We examined the socio-emotional problems of these children in relation to their academic learning skills and executive functioning. Method: We compared teacher-rated soc...
Introduction: While many refugees have settled in Germany within recent years, little is known about LGBTQ* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer*) refugees, a potentially vulnerable group. This qualitative study investigated LGBTQ* refugees’ experiences of distal and proximal minority stressors as well as their mental health burdens during the po...
Background: In Germany, many recently arrived and minority families live in multi-ethnic, high-poverty districts. Multiple risk factors threaten their children’s development.Aims: We examined the socio-emotional problems of these children in relation to their academic learning skills and executive functioning. Method: We compared teacher-rated soci...
With the Flanker/Reverse Flanker Task (FRFT) researchers can assess basic executive functioning of children, specifically their selective attention, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. The FRFT has a game-based and engaging setup, asking children to “feed” hungry fish via selecting the side the fish are facing (left or right). The fish ar...
Research Findings: We assessed socio-emotional behavior, nonverbal reasoning, German receptive language, and motor skills of refugee children attend- ing early childhood development [ECD] programs and of those who did not (N = 207, mean age = 69.4 months). Young refugee children overall demonstrated lower levels of development and more socio-emotio...
Early childhood education [ECE] can support the development and adjustment of refugee children - though the large numbers of newly arriving refugee families challenge ECE capacities of hosting countries. In Germany, a specialized ECE policy funds programs for refugee families at scale. As that policy provides only few regulations, implementation an...
Background
Three out of ten children in Germany have immigrant backgrounds and this proportion is expected to further increase in subsequent years. While immigrant youth have been found more vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression and anxiety, the underlying mechanisms of how such disparities unfold during youth development are still unders...
Introduction: Since 2015, increased numbers of refugee families with pre-school-aged children have arrived in Germany. In pre-schools, teachers' professional competence for teaching those children and adapting to their socio-emotional needs has become increasingly important. Previous research linked teachers' stereotypes and cultural beliefs to the...
Background: Three out of ten children in Germany have an immigrant background and this proportion will increase further. While immigrant youth has been found more vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression and anxiety, the underlying mechanisms of how such disparities develop across youth development are still understudied. Some previous resea...
Zwischen 2015 und 2017 ist in Deutschland die Anzahl zugewanderter Menschen, und insbesondere jener mit jungen Kindern, stark angestiegen. Dies wirkt sich auf die demografische, sozioökonomische und ethnokulturelle Struktur der Gesellschaft aus. Insbesondere Bildungseinrichtungen stellt dies vor Herausforderungen. Mit einem Fokus auf neuzugewandert...
The study of physiology in response to war and forced displacement can yield insight into the origin of stress-related mental health disorders. Previous studies found alterations in hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) in refugees. However, the direction of this alteration in HCC, as well as the association between HCC and psychological stress, remai...
Refugee children are at risk to develop mental health problems, which have rarely been investigated in educational contexts. We conducted three studies in childcare programs for refugees in Germany. Children’s behavior was assessed by educators on site (n = 84) and online (n = 50) using a two-stage-cluster sampling and on site (n = 107) using compl...
Europe has recently been experiencing one of the largest immigration movements of the past 70 years. In 2016, over 700,000 people were registered in Germany, mostly from war-affected Middle Eastern countries. Nearly 15% of these people are below the age of six. Contexts of flight pose challenges to child development and to the capacities of psychol...
Obgleich die sexuelle Orientierung oder geschlechtliche Identität Motive zur Flucht darstellen, ist derzeit unklar, auf wie viele Geflüchtete in Deutschland dies zutrifft. Es ist jedoch anzunehmen, dass zwischen 2015 und 2017 auch viele LSBTI-Geflüchtete (Lesben, Schwule, Bisexuelle, Transsexuelle und intergeschlechtliche Menschen) nach Deutschland...
The Beck Youth Inventories (TM) - Second Edition were originally published by Judith S. Beck, Aaron T. Beck and John B. Jolly in 2005 (English Version). Five inventories screen for a range of psychopathological symptoms in children and adolescents. Together with the inventories, this book provides a German manual, recent non-clinical and clinical n...
Immigration to Germany peaked in 2016. More than 105,000 refugees below the age of 7 years arrived within 12 months. Since then, Germany and other host nations have been in need of strategies to cover the emerging demand for childcare services. The German federal state North-Rhine Westphalia has funded a specialized early childhood education and ca...
Zwischen 2015 und 2017 ist in Deutschland die Anzahl zugewanderter Menschen, und insbesondere jener Zugewanderter mit jungen Kindern, stark angestiegen. Dadurch wurde die demografische, sozioökonomische und ethnokulturelle Struktur der Bevölkerung mit einer Zuwanderungsgeschichte in Deutschland erweitert. Diese Entwicklung stellt insbesondere die B...
Kinder und Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund stellen eine besonders heterogene Patientengruppe in der psychiatrisch-psychologischen Versorgung dar. Diese umfasst minderjährige Personen, die neben der Bewältigung universeller Entwicklungsaufgaben häufig Anpassungsleistungen aufgrund ihrer Herkunft vollbringen müssen. Im diagnostischen Prozess kö...
Refugee children share a large number of pre-, peri-, and post-migration risk factors, which make them vulnerable for developing mental health concerns. Within the last few years, a large number of families with young children have sought refuge in Germany. However, children's mental health status in Germany is mostly unclear. A central aim of deve...
Kinder und Jugendliche mit Fluchthintergrund stellen eine besonders vulnerable Gruppe dar. Hohe Belastungs- und Risikofaktoren sowie Barrieren in Zugang und Versorgung zu gesundheitlichen Maßnahmen können zu einer hohen Prävalenz psychischer Auffälligkeiten kumulieren. Die für alle zugezogenen Kinder und Jugendlichen rechtlich verpflichtende Schule...
