E-Risk Study

Meet Anna, our new Research Assistant! 🎉

“I’m thrilled to be joining the E‑Risk Study team 😊 I’m grateful for the chance to contribute to such impactful research ✨ I can’t wait to meet the amazing twins who make this work possible 👯‍♀️”

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

E‑Risk twins grew up offline, entered adulthood online yet friendships stayed strong 🫂

56% had 1–4 close friends, 40% had 5 or more. 💛

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

Across three cohorts, including the E-Risk Study, a paper led by Dr Kyle Bourassa found that young people with lifetime PTSD show elevated suPAR at age 18, a marker of chronic inflammation.

A key insight into how trauma shapes long‑term health. 📚✨

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

🧬📚 How do genes, families, and schools shape learning?

This paper led by Dr Alexandra Starr looks at how researchers untangle genetics from environment across childhood and countries, using E-Risk Study data🌍👯‍♀️

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social @vuamsterdam.bsky.social

We’re delighted to announce that the E‑Risk Team has now interviewed over 900 twins! 👯✨

A huge thank‑you to all the twins who’ve taken part — we can’t wait to meet the rest of you! 💙

@kingscsmh.bsky.social @kingsioppn.bsky.social

🧠 Why do reports of childhood maltreatment change over time? Our research shows shifts between childhood records and self-reports at 18:

1️⃣ Some harms weren’t recognised earlier
2️⃣ Recalling/sharing later isn’t easy
3️⃣ People reinterpret experiences over time

Each report adds something important 💡

📱 New research with E‑Risk!

Dr Timothy Matthews (Psychology Lecturer at Greenwich University) explores how young people’s online habits relate to loneliness.

🎮More TV, gaming & web use → higher loneliness
🤳 Social media platforms? No clear link

@kingscsmh.bsky.social @kingsioppn.bsky.social

The E-Risk Study has the privilege of meeting incredible people from all walks of life 🌍

We’ve loved catching up with our twins as they hit the big 3-0 🎉

These experiences will help shape future work in child development and mental health 🧠💪

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

A special thank you to all E-Risk participants and the @eriskstudy.bsky.social team for making this research possible.
Co-authors: Flora Blangis, @niamhdooley.bsky.social =, Helen Fisher, Tim Matthews, and @candiceodgers.bsky.social

💬 How we talk to our children matters, long after childhood.

New findings from the E-Risk Study show that maternal warmth and negativity at age 10 are linked to mental health in adolescence.

📽 Watch Dr Alice Wickersham explain more in this video.

@kingscsmh.bsky.social @kingsioppn.bsky.social

YouTube video by MQ Mental Health Research We Need Research, Because Childhood Shouldn’t Hurt

🌱 Early intervention matters for young people’s mental health 🧠

E-Risk PI Helen Fisher joins @mqmentalhealth.bsky.social calling for more research into what puts young people at risk and what protects them.

eriskstudy.com/https://www....

E-Risk Study Research Assistant | King's College London

🚨 We’re hiring!

Join the team behind the E-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study 🧬

📌 4 Research Assistant posts
🎥 Conduct online interviews with twins turning 30
🔗 Apply now: www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/131185-...
⏳ Deadline: Dec 10

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

Childhood exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen oxides and associations with mental health disorders in early adulthood: testing mediation by cognition in a UK longitudinal cohort study Background Little is known about the mechanisms underlying associations between air pollution exposure in childhood and mental health disorders in adulthood.Objective To examine the prospective associ...

How is air pollution in childhood linked to mental ill-health later in life?

We’ve supported recent research suggesting that policies to reduce children’s exposure to air pollution may help reduce depression in early adulthood.

Read the full publication here: mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...

Children's Sensitivity to Facial Emotional Expressions: The Mediating Roles of Maternal Warmth and Home Environment - PubMed Children's ability to recognize emotions in the facial expressions of others is critical for their social functioning and self-regulation. Children exposed to adversity often show differences in their ability to recognize emotions. However, most prior research has relied on clinical or high-risk sam …

Curious about how home environments influence kids’ emotional skills? 🌱

Our recent paper led by Dr Helen Milojevich looks at family factors and children’s social–emotional growth.

Check it out 👉 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41058470/

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

Growing up in deprived neighborhoods can impact adolescent mental health, but protective factors like self-esteem and parenting matter.

🎬 Dr Rachel Latham shares a 2-min summary of the findings from the MCS & E-Risk.

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social @clscohorts.bsky.social

The E-Risk study shows how early life shapes adulthood, and young people are helping guide the research! 🙌

Their voices are making sure the right questions get asked. 🔍❤️

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

🎉 Huge congratulations to Stefan, our E-Risk Data Manager, for winning the King’s Technical Services Award! 🏆👏

Thanks for keeping the study running smoothly behind the scenes! 💻🔍

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

#ERiskStudy #KingsAward #DataManagement #ResearchSupport

Dr Flora Blangis shared E-Risk findings at the ISPCAN Congress in Vilnius 🌍 Some twins who faced tough childhoods are thriving at 30 🌱✨

Longitudinal research shows how resilience grows 💪📊

@kingscsmh.bsky.social @kingsioppn.bsky.social

🎓 Dr. Tom Canning pictured passing his PhD viva with no corrections!

His thesis included a key E-Risk Study paper linking childhood NOx exposure to increased risk of depression in early adulthood - a key contribution to environmental mental health research.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41033691/

👋 Excited to welcome Isabella to the E-Risk team!

She’s a PhD student at King’s College London, funded by ESRC LISS-DTP 🎓. Her research looks at how victimisation across childhood, adolescence & early adulthood affects mental health at age 30 🧠.

@kingsioppn.bsky.social

First up: our study of expressed emotion in over 1,000 families taking part in the @eriskstudy.bsky.social study. What does expressed emotion tell us the parent-child relationship? And how can we use it to help identify children and families that need early support?

In a study published in the #JournalofChildPsychologyAndPsychiatry @acamh.bsky.social of over 2000 twins in @eriskstudy.bsky.social, we found that expressed emotion expressed by mothers when the children were 10 years old predicted mental health outcomes at ages 12 and 18.

Young people are shaping the future of mental health research 🧠✨

The McPin Foundation’s Young People’s Advisory Group is working with us at E-Risk@30, bringing lived experience, insight, and creativity to every stage 💬🔍

@mcpinfoundation.bsky.social @mcpinypnetwork.bsky.social

A methylome-wide association study of major depression with out-of-sample case–control classification and trans-ancestry comparison - Nature Mental Health The authors report a meta-analysis of methylome-wide association studies, identifying 15 significant CpG sites linked to major depression, revealing associations with inflammatory markers and suggesti...

Thrilled the E-Risk Study twins contributed to a landmark meta-analysis! 🧬

DNA methylation shows strong ties to major depression & immune system involvement 🧠💥

#MentalHealthResearch #Epigenetics #Depression #ERiskStudy #Neuroscience

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Loneliness in young adulthood: a 12-year follow up in an epidemiological, genetically-sensitive cohort study at University of Greenwich on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Loneliness in young adulthood: a 12-year follow up in an epidemiological, genetically-sensitive cohort study at University of Greenwich, listed on FindAPhD.com

New funded PhD at the University of Greenwich 📚

Study loneliness from age 18–30 using twin data from the E-Risk Study.

Join a world-class team in London & explore how early adulthood shapes mental health.

Open to global applicants 🌍
🔗 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
#PsychScience #fundedPhD

We decided to focus on advisory groups with a focus on emerging practice - not 'best' practice as this is a developing area, but what teams are reporting on in terms of their learning and practices.

Have you seen our paper on emerging best practice in PPI yet? 👉 rdcu.be/ezDE1

Our Director of Research @vanessapinfold.bsky.social says: "We hope it's useful to others doing public involvement work in mental health research. We've found it useful for reviewing our own processes & approaches.”

👯‍♀️ Our twin study team visited the King's Brain Bank 🧠 at IoPPN! We study how genes and life experiences shape mental health. Seeing how donated brain tissue helps research gave us a new perspective on how it all connects. @kingsioppn.bsky.social

#TwinStudy #BrainBank #ERiskStudy

<em>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</em> | ACAMH Pediatric Journal | Wiley Online Library Background Emotions that mothers express about their offspring are associated with offspring mental health during childhood, but little research has explored whether this extends into adolescence. W...

Can maternal warmth or negativity at age 10 shape adolescent mental health 💚🧠? Using identical twin comparisons, this study uncovers how emotional parenting influences outcomes at ages 12 & 18 👩‍👧‍👦📊

📄 Read: doi.org/10.1111/jcpp...

@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

"I enjoy hearing about all the unique 🌈 and diverse things that make people feel happy 😊 and fulfilled at this life stage. It’s interesting seeing all the ways the twins are both similar and different to each other."
- Bethan, E-Risk Research Worker
@kingsioppn.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social

BBC Radio 4 - Inside Health, Can we reverse rising drug deaths? We try to figure out why drug deaths are at an all-time high - and what can be done.

James Gallagher visited Professor Sir John Strang at the NIHR King's Clinical Research Facility to see how he is experimenting with new ways of tackling rising drug deaths for an episode of @BBCRadio4 's 'Inside Health'.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

#IoPPNInTheNews