The Emotional Lives of Young People in School
This is an information page for families and schools interested in our study on The Emotional Lives of Young People in School.
This study focuses on the role of the school environment in adolescent mental health. It forms part of our wider programme Regulating Emotions – Strengthening Adolescent Resilience (RE-STAR), which aims to reduce the risk of adolescent depression.
In this study we are particularly interested in the experiences of young people with autistic and/or ADHD traits attending mainstream secondary schools, and those of school staff. We want to know how school experiences can be changed to promote the emotional wellbeing of young people, particularly those with autistic and/or ADHD traits.
We hope the findings from our study will support RE-STAR in developing a whole-school strategy to reduce the number and impact of upsetting school experiences for young people in sustainable ways for schools.
Call for pastoral school staff interested in taking part in our survey!
We want to understand what priorities, enablers and barriers school staff identify as important when promoting the mental health of autistic/ADHD students and the staff working with them.
This study is open to pastoral staff working in mainstream secondary schools in England. We particularly want to hear from Heads of Years 7-11 and Designated Mental Health Leads (or equivalents).Working in mainstream secondary schools in England
School staff will receive:
- A £10 e-voucher.
- Access useful mental health resources.
- Automatically enter a prize draw to win a £100 e-voucher.
To take part, click the link below:
https://qualtrics.kcl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_a9tWBdrhQGpxxFI
For any questions, feel free to email us at re-starinfo@kcl.ac.uk
Our Research Questions
We would like to find out ...
- What is the impact of school on the emotional lives of young people with autistic/ADHD traits, from the point of view of the school staff and young people?
- How does hearing the point of view of young people impact the school staff's views and vice versa?
- How do young people with autistic/ADHD traits and school staff think school experiences can be changed to promote the emotional well-being of young people?
How we plan to answer these questions
The four phases of the study are illustrated below:
Information for participants
Meet the Team!
Lauren and Myrto will be working with you throughout the study, leading activities in the focus groups and interviews.
Our researchers:
- Dr Myrto (Myrofora) Kakoulidou, King's College London
- Lauren Low, King's College London
Our My Emotions and Me project leads:
- Dr Sylvan Baker, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou, Anna Freud Centre
- Professor Jane Hurry, UCL Institute of Education
- Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke, King's College London
Dr Susie Chandler is our Project Manager, and Doug Nightingale is our Administrator.
More about RE-STAR
Emotional Lives Young People in School is part of a wider project called RE-STAR (Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience). To find out more, watch this video from our principal investigator, Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke:
News & Events
Podcasts
- We are working with Lucinda Powell to document RE-STAR through a series of episodes on her podcast, Psychology in the Classroom. Click here to listen to listen to all of the RE-STAR episodes so far!
- Edmund was a guest on 'Extraordinary Brains Podcast', in which he spoke about his own experiences growing up with ADHD. Listen to the episode here
- Edmund was also a guest on BBC R3's Arts & Ideas Podcast. Listen to the episode here
This research is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC)
Principal Investigator
Professor of Developmental Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience