Development of childhood perfectionism: Early indicators and parental factors
Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD studentship in the School of Psychology at the University of Kent, funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust (Principal Investigator: Professor Joachim Stoeber; Co-Investigators: Dr Michael Forrester, Professor David Williams). The studentship commences in mid-end September 2018 at the start of the academic year 2018/19.
Funding
This studentship is suitable for applicants who have or will have a Master’s degree or equivalent at merit or distinction level in Psychology or another relevant subject area by July 2018.
The studentship award covers your university fees (see University Fees section in full advertisement) and additionally provides you with a stipend of £14,777 per annum for maintenance.
Research Project
The studentship will be part of the Leverhulme-funded grant project titled “Development of childhood perfectionism: Early indicators and parental factors” which aims to answer the following questions:
(1) What are early indicators of perfectionism in young children?
(2) What role do parents play in the development of young children’s perfectionism?
(3) How can we predict which children will develop perfectionism over time?
The studentship will focus on the development of a comprehensive coding scheme for parent-child interactions that predict developmental trajectories of perfectionism in young children.
Integrated in the project’s research activities, the studentship will require (a) recruiting participants (parents and their five- to seven-year-old children), (b) collecting data (videos, interaction ratings, questionnaires) and (c) supporting the project investigators and the project’s post-doctoral research assistant in analysing and coding the video-based data. Furthermore, the successful applicant for the studentship—consecutively referred to as the student—will be involved in the dissemination of the project findings (conference presentations, publications).
The student will work closely with and be co-supervised by Professor Stoeber and Dr Forrester throughout the research process (developing methods, data collection, analysis) and with Professor Williams included particularly in the later stages (disseminating findings in various formats).
The student will work in association with the Kent Child Development Unit (KCDU) at the School of Psychology located on the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent. For more information about the School of Psychology and the KCDU, please go to www.kent.ac.uk/psychology and www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/childdevelopmentunit.
Application deadline: 5pm (UK time) 31st July 2018
For further information and guidance on how to apply, please see the full advertisement.