Sofie Lorijn examines the (dis)continuation of peer relationships during the transition from elementary to secondary school, and how this affects students' adjustment. Specifically, her research focuses on how positive and negative peer relations affect school well-being, academic achievement, and problem behaviors in the transition from primary to secondary education. Some of her interesting work can be found here:

Lorijn, S. J., Laninga-Wijnen, L., Engels, M. C., Lodder, G. M., & Veenstra, R. (2023). The development of adolescents’ loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of peer status and contact with friends. Plos one, 18(5), e0286085.

Lorijn, S. J., Engels, M. C., Huisman, M., & Veenstra, R. (2022). Long-term effects of acceptance and rejection by parents and peers on educational attainment: A study from pre-adolescence to early adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1-16.

Alexandra Pior recently started as a PhD-student on the GUTS-project. She will examine the role of peers and neurobiological factors in the development of executive functioning of young adults.

Xingna Qin (University of Groningen) investigates the role of parental practices and peer relationships in adolescents' mental health. She already published some interesting work:

Qin, X., Kaufman, T. M. L., Laninga-Wijnen, L., & Yunyun, C., & Chen, X. (2021). The impact of academic achievement, parental control and support on depressive symptom trajectories among Chinese early adolescents. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49, 1359-1371. Doi: 10.1007/s10802-021-00826-9

Qin, X., Laninga‐Wijnen, L., Steglich, C., Zhang, Y., Ren, P., & Veenstra, R. (2023). Does having vulnerable friends help vulnerable youth? The co‐evolution of friendships, victimization, and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents' social networks. Child Development.

Zixuan Wang (University of Finland) investigates different types of defending in cases of bullying, such as bully-oriented defending and victim-oriented defending. She examines the predictors and outcomes of these varying types of defending. Zixuan defended her thesis in May, 2023. Read one of her outstanding papers here:

Wang, Z., Laninga-Wijnen, L., Garandeau, C. F., & Liu, J. (2023). Development and validation of the adolescent defending behaviors questionnaire among Chinese early adolescents. Assessment, 10731911221149082.