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Louise Arseneault

Professor Louise Arseneault

Professor of Developmental Psychology

Research interests

  • Mental Health
  • Psychology

Biography

Professor Louise Arseneault is taking a developmental approach to investigate how the consequences of violence begin in childhood and persist to mid-life, by studying bullying victimisation and child maltreatment. She also studies the impact of social relationships including social support, loneliness and social isolation on mental health. Her research aims are to answer questions relevant to psychology and psychiatry by harnessing and combining three different research approaches: developmental research, epidemiological methods and genetically sensitive designs. Louise’s work incorporates social as well as biological measurements across the life span.

Professor Arseneault completed her PhD in biomedical sciences at the University of Montreal and moved to the UK for a post-doctoral training at King’s College London. She has been working with well-known longitudinal cohorts such as the Montreal Longitudinal Cohorts, the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study and the National Child Development Survey (NCDS).

For 5 years, she was the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Mental Health Leadership Fellow. Her fellow role with the ESRC included providing intellectual leadership and strategic advice in the priority area of mental health. It was a broad agenda including engaging research communities, promoting collaborations, advocating for mental health research, championing the co-design and co-production of research and providing advice to the ESRC and other research councils. She provided advice on how social science research can best address the challenges that mental health poses for our society, communities and individuals.

She created and developed the Catalogue of Mental Health Measures, a web platform aimed at optimising the uptake of existing mental health and wellbeing measures collected by UK-based longitudinal studies. It provides detailed information about these measures, and it features biological, psychosocial and environmental data. Louise also led the Landscaping International Longitudinal Datasets project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, to scope the world for longitudinal datasets with potential for transformative mental health research.

Professor Arseneault was elected as Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in May 2018, She joined 47 new Fellows, who have been elected for their outstanding contributions to biomedical and health science, leading research discoveries, and translating developments into benefits for patients and the wider society. She was also conferred Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2019.

Research interests

  • Developmental/longitudinal research
  • Environmental risk and protective factors
  • Social relationship and impact on the course of mental (ill) health
  • Development and course of mental health problems
  • Data discoverability

 

Research groups

DATAMIND - The Hub for Mental Health Informatics Research Development, is funded by The Medical Research Council and is delivered in partnership with Health Data Research UK. 

Health Research Data (HDR) UK – The National Institute for health data science 

    Research

    E-Risk-Study-logo
    Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study

    E-Risk study, now in its third decade, follows the lives of 2232 twins born in 1994-95 in England and Wales. The study builds knowledge about how environmental and genetic factors shape behaviors, attitudes and health.

    PALM logo (780 x 440 px)
    Platforms for Longitudinal Mental Health Data (PALM)

    The Platforms for Longitudinal Mental Health Data (PALM) team, led by Professor Louise Arseneault, focuses on increasing the discoverability and accessibility of longitudinal mental health data.

    LILD Header (780 x 440 px)
    Landscaping International Longitudinal Datasets

    A global mapping of large-scale longitudinal datasets with the potential for transformative research on depression, anxiety and psychosis.

    Project status: Ongoing

    CMHM Header (780 x 440 px)
    Catalogue of Mental Health Measures

    The Catalogue of Mental Health Measures provides easy access to information about mental health measures to maximise the uptake of existing longitudinal data.

    Project status: Ongoing

    News

    Lonely secondary school students less likely to gain employment in adulthood

    New research has found that there is a direct socioeconomic impact of loneliness in early adolescence.

    School children working

    New report analyses worldwide longitudinal datasets to improve mental health research

    A new report led by researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London and commissioned by Wellcome...

    landscaping longitudinal research

    Global collaboration to build researcher capacity and boost mental health research across Africa

    Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London were involved in a global collaboration, hosted by the...

    africa research promo

    Hyperactivity and impulsivity in childhood associated with increased risk of social isolation

    Research led by the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College...

    Girl playing hyperactive

    Social isolation in childhood is associated with ADHD symptoms and loneliness in young adulthood

    Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience have identified key predictors and outcomes of social isolation patterns in childhood.

    780x450 depression-lonely-web

    Lonely teenagers at greater risk of poor educational outcomes

    Research from King’s College London finds that loneliness experienced at age 12 increases the risk of finishing school with poor grades, as well as poor...

    ECSTeenboyReadingimg

    Childhood Air Pollution Exposure Linked to Poor Mental Health at Age 18

    A 25-year study of young adults living in the United Kingdom has found higher rates of mental illness symptoms among those exposed to greater levels of...

    Young boy wearing a face covering next to a busy road

    The Centre for Society & Mental Health announces exciting new PhD studentships

    King's Centre for Society & Mental Health announces new PhD studentships in three areas.

    man studying

    Victims of childhood bullying at higher risk of cardiovascular disease in later life

    People who experienced bullying in childhood are more likely to be overweight and show higher levels of blood inflammation in later life, finds new research...

    A child carrying a stuffed toy

    Features

    Loneliness in adolescence: how can we support young people?

    Adolescence can be a vulnerable time for loneliness; navigating the academic and social pressures, as well as the transition between childhood and adulthood,...

    Teenage boy

    Brainwaves podcast series

    Brainwaves is a podcast series exploring and explaining the latest in mental health and neurosciences research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &...

    hero image - brainwaves

      Research

      E-Risk-Study-logo
      Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study

      E-Risk study, now in its third decade, follows the lives of 2232 twins born in 1994-95 in England and Wales. The study builds knowledge about how environmental and genetic factors shape behaviors, attitudes and health.

      PALM logo (780 x 440 px)
      Platforms for Longitudinal Mental Health Data (PALM)

      The Platforms for Longitudinal Mental Health Data (PALM) team, led by Professor Louise Arseneault, focuses on increasing the discoverability and accessibility of longitudinal mental health data.

      LILD Header (780 x 440 px)
      Landscaping International Longitudinal Datasets

      A global mapping of large-scale longitudinal datasets with the potential for transformative research on depression, anxiety and psychosis.

      Project status: Ongoing

      CMHM Header (780 x 440 px)
      Catalogue of Mental Health Measures

      The Catalogue of Mental Health Measures provides easy access to information about mental health measures to maximise the uptake of existing longitudinal data.

      Project status: Ongoing

      News

      Lonely secondary school students less likely to gain employment in adulthood

      New research has found that there is a direct socioeconomic impact of loneliness in early adolescence.

      School children working

      New report analyses worldwide longitudinal datasets to improve mental health research

      A new report led by researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London and commissioned by Wellcome...

      landscaping longitudinal research

      Global collaboration to build researcher capacity and boost mental health research across Africa

      Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London were involved in a global collaboration, hosted by the...

      africa research promo

      Hyperactivity and impulsivity in childhood associated with increased risk of social isolation

      Research led by the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College...

      Girl playing hyperactive

      Social isolation in childhood is associated with ADHD symptoms and loneliness in young adulthood

      Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience have identified key predictors and outcomes of social isolation patterns in childhood.

      780x450 depression-lonely-web

      Lonely teenagers at greater risk of poor educational outcomes

      Research from King’s College London finds that loneliness experienced at age 12 increases the risk of finishing school with poor grades, as well as poor...

      ECSTeenboyReadingimg

      Childhood Air Pollution Exposure Linked to Poor Mental Health at Age 18

      A 25-year study of young adults living in the United Kingdom has found higher rates of mental illness symptoms among those exposed to greater levels of...

      Young boy wearing a face covering next to a busy road

      The Centre for Society & Mental Health announces exciting new PhD studentships

      King's Centre for Society & Mental Health announces new PhD studentships in three areas.

      man studying

      Victims of childhood bullying at higher risk of cardiovascular disease in later life

      People who experienced bullying in childhood are more likely to be overweight and show higher levels of blood inflammation in later life, finds new research...

      A child carrying a stuffed toy

      Features

      Loneliness in adolescence: how can we support young people?

      Adolescence can be a vulnerable time for loneliness; navigating the academic and social pressures, as well as the transition between childhood and adulthood,...

      Teenage boy

      Brainwaves podcast series

      Brainwaves is a podcast series exploring and explaining the latest in mental health and neurosciences research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &...

      hero image - brainwaves