Research Team

Sarah T. Malamut (PI), University Research Fellow

I am a university research fellow at the University of Turku. I received my PhD from the University of Southern California, where my work examined the dynamics of victimization, aggression, and popularity in adolescence. My current research aims to understand mechanisms that underlie the heterogeneous consequences experienced by victimized youth, with a focus on the role of support from friends.

Mattias Kloo, Senior Researcher

I started my research journey in the field of forensic psychology where I, during my masters, studied police interviews with pre-school children at Gothenburg University. After finishing my masters, I was accepted into a PhD program at Linköping University where my thesis concerned the association between bullying victimization and social factors within the classroom (i.e., teacher disposition and peer relationships). During my current work as a Senior Researcher in the DWELL project my focus is on how adolescent victims of bullying talk about their problems friends, as well as when this is helpful and when the support they receive may lead to them experiencing increased internalizing of problems.

My research interest and the throughline in all my research, up to this point, have been the ability of children who have been subjected to anti-social acts to seek and receive support, either from adult authority figures and the justice system or from their own friends.

Esther Bernasco, Project Researcher

After receiving my bachelor and research master from Leiden University, I started my PhD at Utrecht University, where I studied the role of friends in the development of internalizing problems among adolescents. I was part of the team working on the InTransition project, which focused on adolescents’ development of identity and autonomy around school transitions. Using a combination of survey and observation methods, I studied both positive effects of friendship, such as the protective effects of friend support, and its negative effects, including learned negative behaviors and excessive problem-talk (also known as co-rumination). As a postdoctoral researcher on the DWELL project, I continue to study adolescent friendships, problem talk, and well-being.

Şeyma Celik, Project Researcher

Reetta Rissanen, Project Coordinator

Contact us

dwell(at)utu.fi