Dr Rory T. Devine Ph.D., C.Psychol., AFBPsS.

School of Psychology
Lecturer in Developmental Psychology

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 3340
Email: r.t.devine@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @devine_mr_rory

Address: School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Rory T. Devine is a developmental psychologist with expertise in children’s social and cognitive development, longitudinal research methods and psychometrics. His research focuses on individual differences in ‘higher-order’ cognitive skills from infancy to adulthood. His work seeks to understand: (1) why children differ from one another in their ability to reason about others’ minds (or ‘theory of mind’) and to control their own thoughts and actions (or ‘executive function’); and (2) what consequences variation in these domains has for social, behavioural and academic adjustment.

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) (University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland)
MPhil (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
PhD (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)

Teaching

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Devine is interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas:
Cognitive Development, Social Development, Theory of Mind, Executive Function, Psychopathology, School Readiness, Parenting and Families, Peer Relationships, Longitudinal Methods, Individual Differences. Dr Devine's research uses advanced quantitative methods including confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, multi-level modelling and path analysis. He does not supervise projects using qualitative methods. Please email Dr Devine before making an application to discuss potential projects.

Research

Dr Rory T. Devine is a developmental psychologist with expertise in children’s social and cognitive development, longitudinal research methods and psychometrics. His research focuses on individual differences in social and cognitive skills from infancy to adulthood. His work seeks to understand: (1) why children differ from one another in their ability to reason about others’ minds (or ‘theory of mind’) and to control their own thoughts and actions (or ‘executive function’); and (2) what consequences variation in these domains has for social, behavioural and academic adjustment and well-being. Dr Devine is also interested in how children's social experiences at home (e.g., with parents, carers and siblings) and at school (e.g., with teachers and peers) impact on children's social and cognitive development.

Other activities

Dr Devine is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is also a member of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Baker, K, Devine, RT, Elise, N-C, Raymond, F & Hughes, C 2020, 'Childhood intellectual disability and parents' mental health: integrating social, psychological and genetic influences', British Journal of Psychiatry , pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2020.38

Hughes, C, Devine, RT, Foley, S, Ribner, A, Mesman, J & Blair, C 2020, 'Couples becoming parents: trajectories for psychological distress and buffering effects of social support', Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 265, pp. 372-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.133

The NewFAMS Study Team 2020, 'Infant screen exposure links to toddlers’ inhibition, but not other EF constructs: a propensity score study', Infancy, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 205-222. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12325

Hughes, C, Devine, RT, Mesman, J & Blair, C 2020, 'Understanding the terrible twos: a longitudinal investigation of the impact of early executive function and parent-child interactions', Developmental Science, pp. e12979. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12979

Hughes, C & Devine, RT 2019, 'For better or for worse? Positive and negative parental influences on young children's executive function', Child Development, vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 593-609. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12915

Devine, RT & Hughes, C 2019, 'Let’s talk: parents’ mental talk (not mind-mindedness or mindreading capacity) predicts children’s false belief understanding', Child Development, vol. 90, no. 4, pp. 1236-1253. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12990

Devine, RT, Ribner, A & Hughes, C 2019, 'Measuring and predicting individual differences in executive function at 14 months: a longitudinal study', Child Development, vol. 90, no. 5, pp. e618-e636. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13217

Hughes, C, Devine, RT, Mesman, J & Blair, C 2019, 'Parental well-being, couple relationship quality, and children's behavioral problems in the first 2 years of life', Development and Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419000804

Hughes, C, Foley, S, Devine, RT, Ribner, A, Kyriakou, L, holmes, E & Boddington, L 2019, 'Worrying in the wings? Negative emotional birth memories in mothers and fathers show similar associations with perinatal mood disturbance and delivery mode.', Archives of Women's Mental Health, pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-019-00973-5

Hughes, C, Lindberg, A & Devine, RT 2018, 'Autonomy support in toddlerhood: similarities and contrasts between mothers and fathers', Journal of Family Psychology, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 915-925. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000450

Hughes, C, Devine, R & Wang, Z 2018, 'Does Parental Mind-Mindedness Account for Cross-Cultural Differences in Preschoolers' Theory of Mind?', Child Development, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 1296-1310. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12746

Devine, R & Hughes, C 2018, 'Family correlates of false belief understanding in early childhood: A meta-analysis', Child Development, vol. 89, no. 3, pp. 971-987. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12682

Hughes, C, White, N, Foley, S & Devine, RT 2018, 'Family support and gains in school readiness: a longitudinal study', British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 284-299. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12188

Chapter

Hughes, C & Devine, RT 2019, Learning to read minds: a synthesis of social and cognitive perspectives. in D Whitebread, V Grau, K Kumpulainen, M McClelland, N Perry & D Pino-Pasternak (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education. 1 edn, SAGE Publications, London, pp. 169-183.

Hughes, C & Devine, RT 2018, Parental influences on children's executive function: A differentiated approach. in S Wiebe & J Karbach (eds), Executive Function: Development Across the Life Span. Routledge, London, pp. 160-171.

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