Aja Murray
Lecturer

- 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?
Yes
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
Abby Pooley (co-supervisor)
Anna Hall (co-supervisor)
Lydia Speyer (co-supervisor)
Zhuoni Xiao (primary supervisor)
Janell Kwok (co-supervisor)
Past PhD students supervised
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)
-
Exploring the relative importance of factors that influence the job retention of social care staff working in intellectual disability services
Research output: › Paper (Accepted/In press) -
An evaluation of dual systems theories of adolescent delinquency in a normative longitudinal cohort study of youth
In:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
A longitudinal and gender invariance analysis of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire across ages 3,5,7,11, 14, and 17 in a large UK-representative sample
In:
Assessment
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Factor structure and internal consistency of the ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool Parent Version (ICAST-P) in a cross-country pooled data set in nine Balkan countries
(12 pages)
In:
Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 115
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105007
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Alexithymia and autistic traits as contributing factors to empathy difficulties in preadolescent children
In:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
The impact of Covid-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom on the positive behavioural support of people with an intellectual disability
In:
British Journal of Learning Disabilities
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12379
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Advancing our understanding of cognitive development and motor vehicle crash risk: A multiverse representation analysis
(11 pages)
In:
Cortex, vol. 138, pp. 90-100
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.01.017
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Prenatal attachment: Using measurement invariance to test the validity of comparisons across eight culturally diverse countries
(7 pages)
In:
Archives of women's mental health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-021-01105-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Developmental cascades from aggression to internalizing problems via peer and teacher relationships from early to middle adolescence
In:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01396-1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Developmental trajectories of ADHD symptoms in a large population-representative longitudinal study
In:
Psychological Medicine
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Bottom up construction of a personality taxonomy
(12 pages)
In:
European journal of psychological assessment, vol. 36, pp. 923-934
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000626
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Exploring the relative importance of factors that influence the job retention of social care staff working in intellectual disability services
In:
British Journal of Learning Disabilities
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12365
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Assessing individual-level change in dementia research: A review of methodologies
In:
Alzheimer's research & therapy, vol. 13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-021-00768-w
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Non-compliance with COVID-19-related public health measures among young adults in Switzerland: Insights from a longitudinal cohort study
In:
Social Science & Medicine, vol. 268
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113370
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Descriptive, predictive and explanatory personality research: Different goals, different approaches, but a shared need to move beyond the Big Few traits
(27 pages)
In:
European Journal of Personality, vol. 34, pp. 1175-1201
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2311
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Psychometric validation of a parent-reported measure of childhood alexithymia: The Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children – Parent (AQC-P)
In:
European journal of psychological assessment
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Validation of a brief measure of aggression for experience sampling research: The Aggression-ES-A
In:
Assessment
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120976851
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Links between perinatal risk factors and maternal psychological distress: A network analysis
In:
Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.14056
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Evaluating an evidence-based online screening tool to identify learning disability
In:
Learning Disability Practice
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7748/ldp.2020.e2106
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A multi-trajectory analysis of commonly co-occurring mental health issues across childhood and adolescence
(15 pages)
In:
European child & adolescent psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01679-1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)