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

Dr Rory T. Devine

School of Psychology
Associate Professor

Contact details

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

Apperly, IA, Lee, R, van der Kleij, SW & Devine, RT 2024, 'A transdiagnostic approach to neurodiversity in a representative population sample: The N+ 4 model', JCPP Advances. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12219

Devine, R, Grumley Traynor, I, Ronchi, L & Lecce, S 2024, 'Children in ethnically diverse classrooms and those with cross-ethnic friendships excel at understanding others' minds', Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14085

Yeung, K, Apperly, I & Devine, RT 2024, 'Measures of individual differences in adult theory of mind: A systematic review', Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, vol. 157, 105481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105481

IMAGINE-ID Consortium 2024, 'Rare neurodevelopmental conditions and parents’ mental health – how and when does genetic diagnosis matter?', Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, vol. 19, no. 1, 70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-024-03076-2

Lecce, S, Ronchi, L & Devine, RT 2024, 'The Effect of Peers’ Theory of Mind on Children’s Own Theory of Mind development: A Longitudinal Study in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence', Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001758

Hughes, C, Devine, RT, White, N & Fink, E 2024, 'The Index of Parental Activities, Context and Experiences (I-PACE): Psychometric Properties of a New Brief Early Parenting Questionnaire', Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 1280-1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-024-02793-3

Hughes, C, Foley, S, Browne, W, McHarg, G & Devine, RT 2023, 'Developmental links between executive function and emotion regulation in early toddlerhood.', Infant Behavior and Development, vol. 71, 101782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101782

Devine, RT, Kovatchev, V, Grumley Traynor, I, Smith, P & Lee, M 2023, 'Machine learning and deep learning systems for automated measurement of ‘advanced’ theory of mind: reliability and validity in children and adolescents', Psychological Assessment, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 165-177. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001186

Foley, S, Devine, RT & Hughes, C 2023, 'Mind-mindedness in new mothers and fathers: stability and discontinuity from pregnancy to toddlerhood', Developmental Psychology, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001468

NewFAMS Investigators 2022, 'Mothers’ and fathers’ executive function both predict emergent executive function in toddlerhood', Developmental Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13263

Catling, J, Michail, M, Lakhani , N & Devine, RT 2022, 'Psychological and lifestyle predictors of mental health in higher education: how healthy are our students?', Journal of Mental Health, Training, Education and Practice, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 562-571. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-08-2021-0092

Other contribution

Heng, J, Hughes, C & Devine, RT 2023, Do executive function and theory of mind underpin child positivity and autonomy during parent-child interactions?. Center for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/bma3d

Preprint

IMAGINE-ID Consortium 2022 'Intellectual disability and parents’ mental health within the IMAGINE cohort study – how and when does genetic diagnosis matter?' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/h67uz

Review article

Marlow, K, Agar, G, Jones, C, Devine, RT & Richards, C 2024, 'The Prevalence and Correlates of Self-restraint in Individuals with Autism and/or Intellectual Disability: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis', Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-024-00450-5

Todorov, J, Devine, RT & De Brito, S 2023, 'Association between childhood maltreatment and callous-unemotional traits in youth: a meta-analysis', Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, vol. 146, 105049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105049

View all publications in research portal