Youth, Emotion, Development, and Intervention Lab

Dr. Hankin may be able to and is open to accepting a PhD graduate student in clinical-community psychology to start fall 2027 at UIUC. Please consider applying, and your application will be carefully reviewed and considered by program faculty.

The Youth, Emotion, Development, and Intervention (YEDI) Lab at the University of Illinois, housed in the Department of Psychology, focuses on the development of depression and anxiety, as well as broader mental health outcomes (e.g., substance use, behavioral problems, ADHD, self-harm), particularly in children and adolescents as well as families, from multiple levels of analysis and measurement, including genetic, stressful environments, biological, cognitive, interpersonal, parenting, peer, and temperament influences.

We have conducted several large-scale multi-wave prospective studies that track children and adolescents, as well as a caretaker, over several years to predict naturalistic trajectories of depression and anxiety based on numerous genetic, biological, and psychosocial vulnerabilities. Additionally, we have applied the information gained from these in-depth risk factor research studies to advance evidence-based intervention knowledge and improve the lives of youth via personalized prevention of depression. Currently, Dr. Hankin is a co-Principal Investigator with colleagues at the University of Denver on The Care Project (see Current Research Projects for website and details), a longitudinal study following offspring and parents after reducing depression, stress and related distress during pregnancy as part of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

The overarching main goal of our lab is to enhance understanding of the vulnerabilities and mechanisms that contribute risk to developmental trajectories of depression and anxiety in youth, parents, and their families, so that developmentally sensitive, brief, evidence-based assessments can be constructed to individualize and personalize interventions to reduce symptoms and prevent these disorders before they crystallize into life-long, recurrent and chronic conditions.