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Yield is a Research Priority Area (RPA) conducting multidisciplinary research on the bioecology of human development, from infancy to adulthood, which aims to extend scientific knowledge in this field and contribute to the successful development of children.

Yield conducts multidisciplinary research on the bioecology of human development, from infancy to young adulthood. Development is considered successful if a child grows into an adult who fully participates in society. Yield’s goal is to conduct fundamental research, thereby extendig scientific knowledge in this field and contributing to the successful development of children by using perspectives from:

  • Medicine 
  • Psychology 
  • Pedagogics
  • Education
  • Communication 
  • Economics
  • Psychometrics

Research Subjects 

Developmental and contextual factors are not studied in isolation as all processes and factors interact, have reciprocal effects on each other, and simultaneously affect child and adolescent development. Yield conducts research on:

  • The underlying processes of biological, cognitive, and social development
  • The reciprocal relationships between developmental and contextual factors
  • Risk factors, protective factors, and interventions in health, cognitive, and social development

Our research focusses on the following areas:

  • Parenting

    Parenting research in Yield comprises child-rearing, the effects and effectiveness of child and youth care, including prevention and intervention programmes. Specific research is done on different interventions to stimulate social-emotional development of children and adolescents, and to decrease their internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors.

    The first line of research focuses on child-rearing in different family constellations, long-term effects of child-rearing, and effects of risk and protective factors. The second line of research concerns the effects of child care and the effectiveness of child and youth care interventions. In the third line of research, differential susceptibility is studied. 

  • Health

    Health problems interfere with children’s normal development. Within Yield, our research programme conducts research on the development of children with chronic or life-threatening diseases. Our research themes:

    • The long term consequences (e.g. achievement of developmental milestones and transition, social status and job-participation)
    • Parental attitude and interaction
    • Screening for psychosocial problems
    • Neurocognitive impairment

    Tools to study or influence these outcomes are specific interventions, patient/parent reported outcome in clinical practice and the use of internet/websites. The primary focus is on further development, implementation and evaluation of intervention programmes.

  • Education

    Educational research in Yield aims to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education, by enhancing our understanding of teaching-learning processes. Moreover, this line of research aims to develop and evaluate interventions that can inform teacher education, educational innovation and education policy.

    Within Yield, we focus on four areas of educational research:

    • Acquisition of academic skills, including research on cognitive outcomes of education
    • Acquisition of social skills, including research on social-emotional outcomes of education
    • Evaluation of educational interventions and educational policy
    • Learning in informal contexts
  • Psychopathology

    We study the prevalence, aetiology and treatment of psychopathologies in children, adolescents and young adults. Combining fundamental and applied research, Yield psychopathology research focuses on risk and protective factors and interventions to improve quality of life in children and adolescents with psychopathology and their families.

    Research is conducted at, and in collaboration with:

    • UvA minds
    • Dr. Leo Kannerhuis
    • AMC psychiatry
    • Bascule
    • and other treatment centres and youth care institutions in the Netherlands and abroad
  • Psychometrics

    In psychometric research we develop and apply methods and statistical techniques that are especially suited for the analysis of the behavioural data that are collected in human development research.

     Psychometric research in Yield concerns:

    • Measurement and measurement issues
    • Advanced statistical models for longitudinal and multilevel data
    • New statistical techniques for the analysis of complex data sets
    • New models that capture the complexity of the interacting processes underlying human development

Research Projects and Funding

Yield has been awarded a Graduate Programme grant by NWO and three Research Talent grants. In addition, many Yield researchers have been awarded individual grants, such as NWO VENI, VIDI and VICI grants, and European Madam Curie and ERC grants.

Currently, Yield's most important activities are:

  1. The Yield Graduate Programme
  2. The Yield Signature Project