Patty Leijten works as an Associate Professor at the Research Institute of Child Development and Education, and as Director PhD Education Programme Child Development and Education. She studies how parents and children shape each other's behavior, and strengthening the effects of parenting support programs to enhance children's well-being. In doing so, she bridges basic child development and intervention research, combining focused experimental research with intervention evaluation studies (e.g., randomized trials and traditional, network, and individual participant data meta-analysis).
Patty Leijten 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., Melendez-Torres, G. J., Eradus, M., & Overbeek, G. (2021; in-principle acceptance, 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.
Leijten, P., Gardner, F., Melendez-Torres, G. J., Van Aar, J., Hutchings, J., Schulz, S., Knerr, W. & Overbeek, G. (2019). Meta-analyses: Key parenting program components for disruptive child behavior. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 58, 180-190.
Personal website: www.pattyleijten.com
BA1: Familie en Gezin [Family Systems]
MA: Opvoeding en Ontwikkeling [Parenting and Child Development]
MA: Family Systems
PhD: The Writing Club
Nicole Creasey: How parenting programs affect children's DNA methylation and disruptive behavior (2019-present)
Sophia Backhaus: Can parenting programs recude child maltreatment around the globe? (2018-present)
Hend Eltanamly: Parenting in Times of War (2016-2020)
Jolien van Aar: Parenting and disruptive child behavior after parenting interventions end (2015-2018)