A researcher has received a major psychology award for a study examining how children manage emotions during middle childhood.
Dr Evelyn Antony, a research associate at Manchester Metropolitan University and an editorial board member at Psychreg Journal of Psychology, has been awarded the British Psychological Society Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions to Psychology award for 2025.
Her PhD at Durham University investigated emotion dysregulation in children aged six to twelve and its links to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and parenting behaviour.
Emotion dysregulation refers to difficulties controlling emotional reactions such as becoming overexcited or easily frustrated. These patterns are associated with anxiety, depression and behavioural problems, particularly among children with ADHD symptoms.
Dr Antony analysed two major longitudinal datasets: the UK Millennium Cohort Study and the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood. The UK cohort tracks nearly 19,000 children born around 2000 to 2001, while the Swiss study follows more than 1,600 children from age seven.
Across both cohorts, harsh or withdrawn parenting was linked to stronger ADHD symptoms through increased emotion dysregulation. In the UK sample of almost 4,700 children, parent reports at ages five and seven showed inconsistent or punitive approaches were associated with poorer emotional control. The same pattern appeared in the Zurich cohort.
The findings indicate emotion dysregulation is shaped by environmental influences rather than being solely an internal trait.
Her work, published in JCPP Advances, also included a scoping review clarifying how emotion dysregulation develops during middle childhood and its implications for child mental health interventions.
She has discussed the research with BBC Future. The findings are relevant in the UK where ADHD affects about 5% of children according to NHS data.
Dr Antony now works with the Wirral Child Health and Development Study, which tracks over 1,200 families to examine early influences on mental health.
On receiving the award, she said: “I am honoured and thrilled to receive this award from the British Psychological Society! It feels incredibly rewarding to see research on emotion dysregulation in middle childhood gaining recognition. It is a privilege to receive this award alongside previous recipients whose work I greatly admire, including Professor Praveetha Patalay and Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore.
“I sincerely thank the researchers and families at the Institute of Education, UCL (UK Millennium Cohort Study) and the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich (z-proso), whose time and effort made this research possible.
“I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Professor Nadin Beckmann, Professor Steve Higgins, and Dr Sarah Walker, for their guidance, support, and mentorship throughout my PhD.”
The annual BPS award includes a £500 prize and certificate. Previous recipients include Professor Sarah Jayne Blakemore in 2001 and Professor Praveetha Patalay in 2015.
Nominations for the 2026 award open from 17th August to 20th November.
