Aja Murray
Reader

- Psychology
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Contact details
- Tel: 0131 650 3455
- Email: Aja.Murray@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Room F16, Psychology Building
- City
- 7 George Square, Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9JZ
Background
I joined the Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh as a Lecturer in Psychology with Quantitative Focus in 2018. My research focuses on developmental aspects of mental health, especially ADHD, internalising problems, externalising problems, and their co-occurrence. A second area of focus is on quantitative methodology, especially longitudinal methodology and psychometrics. I currently lead projects on student mental health, domestic violence during pregnancy, and survey methodology and am the deputy director of the Evidence for Better Lives Study.
Prior to joining the department, I was a Research Fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge where I researched developmental trajectories of mental health issues and their co-occurrence. I also previously worked as a Research Associate in the Violence Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. There I worked on developmental trajectories of ADHD symptoms and conduct problems in the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) and later on the Evidence for Better Lives Study.
Qualifications
B.Sc. Psychology - University of Edinburgh (2011)
M.Sc. Psychology - University of Edinburgh (2012)
Ph.D. Psychology - University of Edinburgh (2016)
Postgraduate teaching
I am the course organiser and teach the latent variable modeling section of Multivariate Statistics and Methodology with R
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
No
Areas of interest for supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD projects in any of my above-mentioned primary research areas, as well as in developmental psychology, mental health, and violence topics more broadly. Please feel free to get in touch to discuss.
Current PhD students supervised
Sumeiyah Koya (primary)
Xinxin Zhu (primary)
Yi Yang (primary)
Tong Xie (visiting)
Yongtian Cheng (co-supervisor)
Christina Thurston (co-supervisor)
Menchie Leung (co-supervisor)
Xuefei Li (co-supervisor)
Abby Pooley (co-supervisor)
Zhuoni Xiao (primary)
Janell Kwok (co-supervisor)
Past PhD students supervised
Lydia Speyer (co-supervisor)
Anna Hall (co-supervisor)
Chad Lance Hemady (co-supervisor)
Aimee Neaverson (University of Cambridge; co-supervisor)
Yulia Shenderovich (University of Cambridge; PhD advisor)
Research summary
My primary research interests relate to developmental aspects of mental health phenotypes and their comorbidity. I have a particular interest in ADHD, autism, and conduct problems. I also research quantitative methodolody, especially psychometrics and longitudinal methods. Current projects include the Evidence for Better Lives Study: https://www.vrc.crim.cam.ac.uk/vrcresearch/EBLS and collaborations with the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood: https://www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/en/research/zproso/aboutus.html
Current project grants
- Identifying risk and protective factors to help support student mental health (PI; SMaRteN Research Grant)
- Addressing the adverse impacts of domestic violence during pregnancy (PI; Wolfson British Academy Fellowship)
- Dynamic predictors of and corrections for attrition in Understanding Society (PI; Understanding Society Survey Fellowship)
Past project grants
- A Delphi survey to define research priorities for a birth cohort study in eight low- and middle- income countries (PI; SFA ODA Global Challenges)
- Evidence for Better Lives- Impact (co-I; ESRC Impact Acceleration Grant)
- Violence against pregnant women: A dataset review (PI; Cambridge Humanities Research Grant)
- Identifying reliable change using cognitive tests in ageing and dementias research (co-I; Dementias Platform UK Discovery Award)
- Enhancing early child development in low- and middle- income countries (PI; British Academy Small Research Grant)
- Evidence for Better Lives- Data Innovation (co-I; Botnar Foundation Grant)
- Effects of prenatal maternal infections on developmental outcomes in children with typical development, autism spectrum disorders and
learning disability (co-I; Bailey Thomas Grant)
-
Screening for intellectual disability in autistic people: A brief report
In:
Research in autism spectrum disorders, vol. 100
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2022.102076
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Prompt-level predictors of compliance in an ecological momentary assessment study of young adults' mental health
(7 pages)
In:
Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD), vol. 322, pp. 125-131
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.11.014
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Maternal Cardiometabolic Markers in Pregnancy on Child Emotional and Behaviour Trajectories
In:
SSRN Electronic Journal
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: A Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low-Resource Settings
In:
Psychological assessment
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001154
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Disrupting the link between corporal punishment exposure and adolescent aggression: The role of teacher-child relationships
In:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01666-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The impact of childhood psychological maltreatment on mental health outcomes in adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis
(185 pages)
In:
Trauma, Violence and Abuse
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: A latent class analysis
(12 pages)
In:
BMC pregnancy and childbirth, vol. 22, pp. 1-12
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-04839-0
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The influence of childhood maltreatment and prenatal intimate partner violence on childbirth experiences and breastfeeding outcomes
In:
Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 131
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105743
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Within-person relations between domains of socio-emotional development during childhood and adolescence
In:
Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-00933-1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Student mental health: A university crisis?
In:
Education Today
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the children's empathy quotient and systemizing quotient: 4–12 years
In:
Autism Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2743
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The role of moment-to-moment dynamics of perceived stress and negative affect in co-occurring ADHD and internalising symptoms
In:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Developmental relations between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation in middle adolescence and emerging adulthood: Do internalizing problems and substance use mediate their links?
In:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
DOI: https://doi.org/https://psyarxiv.com/kx8sb/
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Perceived Stress During the Prenatal Period: Assessing Measurement Invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) Across Cultures and Birth Parity
In:
Archives of women's mental health
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Does emotion dysregulation mediate the association between ADHD symptoms and internalizing problems? A longitudinal within-person analysis in a large population-representative study
In:
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Correction to: Cohort Profile: The Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) (Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, (2022), 10.1007/s40865-022-00195-x)
In:
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-022-00200-3
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Analgesic drug use in pregnancy and neurodevelopment outcomes: an umbrella review
In:
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 136
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Cohort profile: The Zurich Project on social development from childhood to adulthood (z-proso)
In:
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-022-00195-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Mediating factors in within-person developmental cascades of externalising, internalising and ADHD symptoms in childhood
In:
Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Long-term labour market and economic consequences of school exclusions in England: Evidence from two counterfactual approaches
In:
British Journal of Educational Psychology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12487
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)