Dr Ellen J Thompson
@ejthompson.bsky.social
Life course mental health researcher • Interested in longitudinal & genetically sensitive methods, inequalities and comorbidity • Lecturer at University of Sussex • She/Her
https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p300252-ellen-thompson/about
https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p300252-ellen-thompson/about
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Dream job for anyone who’s worked with cohort surveys
A fantastic opportunity in our amazing department! Come and join us as Director of our Centre for Longitudinal Studies www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
August 1, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Dream job for anyone who’s worked with cohort surveys
1️⃣: Our paper: TIDAL - Tool to Implement Developmental Analysis of Longitudinal data has just been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology: academic.oup.com/ije/article/... 🎉🎉🎉
Software Application Profile: TIDAL—Tool to Implement Developmental Analysis of Longitudinal data
Growth-curve modelling uses repeatedly measured data from the same individuals to estimate trajectories that describe how variables change over time and id
academic.oup.com
July 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
1️⃣: Our paper: TIDAL - Tool to Implement Developmental Analysis of Longitudinal data has just been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology: academic.oup.com/ije/article/... 🎉🎉🎉
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
📚 AI, peer review and the human activity of science www.nature.com/articles/d41...
AI, peer review and the human activity of science
When researchers cede their scientific judgement to machines, we lose something important.
www.nature.com
July 1, 2025 at 7:08 AM
📚 AI, peer review and the human activity of science www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Excited about our new preprint: 1st successful genome-wide study of >61,000 panic attack and 29,000 panic disorder cases. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... We find 17 associations & evidence that peripheral neurons in eye, lungs and heart are involved in panic & other psychiatric disorders 1/n
June 17, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Excited about our new preprint: 1st successful genome-wide study of >61,000 panic attack and 29,000 panic disorder cases. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... We find 17 associations & evidence that peripheral neurons in eye, lungs and heart are involved in panic & other psychiatric disorders 1/n
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Researchers have found #genetic factors that may make people more or less sensitive to the environments they experience.
It is the largest genetics study of identical #twins to date.
🔗 kcl.ac.uk/news/largest...
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @qmulfmd.bsky.social
It is the largest genetics study of identical #twins to date.
🔗 kcl.ac.uk/news/largest...
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @qmulfmd.bsky.social
June 10, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Researchers have found #genetic factors that may make people more or less sensitive to the environments they experience.
It is the largest genetics study of identical #twins to date.
🔗 kcl.ac.uk/news/largest...
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @qmulfmd.bsky.social
It is the largest genetics study of identical #twins to date.
🔗 kcl.ac.uk/news/largest...
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @qmulfmd.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
One year later ... a major update to our manuscript showing that most Alzheimer's disease is attributable to the gene APOE. We expanded it to analyses of four studies, now with data on about 460,000 people in total.....
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Alzheimers #Dementia #Epidemiology #EpiSky
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Alzheimers #Dementia #Epidemiology #EpiSky
The proportion of Alzheimer's disease attributable to apolipoprotein E
Objective To estimate the proportions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and all-cause dementia burden attributable to the common risk alleles ε3 and ε4 in the APOE gene Design Genetic association analyses i...
www.medrxiv.org
April 14, 2025 at 3:36 PM
One year later ... a major update to our manuscript showing that most Alzheimer's disease is attributable to the gene APOE. We expanded it to analyses of four studies, now with data on about 460,000 people in total.....
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Alzheimers #Dementia #Epidemiology #EpiSky
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Alzheimers #Dementia #Epidemiology #EpiSky
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Adolescence, “a time of ideas, reimagination, revolution, and a creation of new approaches—exactly what we all need for a better future and the survival of our planet.”
Lancet editors on the 2nd Commission on adolescent health & wellbeing. Read 👉 bit.ly/4jadJQj
Lancet editors on the 2nd Commission on adolescent health & wellbeing. Read 👉 bit.ly/4jadJQj
May 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Adolescence, “a time of ideas, reimagination, revolution, and a creation of new approaches—exactly what we all need for a better future and the survival of our planet.”
Lancet editors on the 2nd Commission on adolescent health & wellbeing. Read 👉 bit.ly/4jadJQj
Lancet editors on the 2nd Commission on adolescent health & wellbeing. Read 👉 bit.ly/4jadJQj
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Politicians During Mental Health Awareness Month
May 18, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Politicians During Mental Health Awareness Month
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
I am hiring for a new researchers on my @nuffieldfoundation.org young carers project.
Closes 4thJune. After someone with strong quant longitudinal skills, passion for communicating research beyond academia & wants to work with people w lived experience/other sectors
jobs.sgul.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Closes 4thJune. After someone with strong quant longitudinal skills, passion for communicating research beyond academia & wants to work with people w lived experience/other sectors
jobs.sgul.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Job Opportunity at St George's University of London: Research Fellow in Social Epidemiology
The Research Fellow will investigate young carers and health inequalities using advanced longitudinal quantitative methods. Responsibilities include data analysis, literature reviews, publishing findi...
jobs.sgul.ac.uk
May 16, 2025 at 1:10 PM
I am hiring for a new researchers on my @nuffieldfoundation.org young carers project.
Closes 4thJune. After someone with strong quant longitudinal skills, passion for communicating research beyond academia & wants to work with people w lived experience/other sectors
jobs.sgul.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Closes 4thJune. After someone with strong quant longitudinal skills, passion for communicating research beyond academia & wants to work with people w lived experience/other sectors
jobs.sgul.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
The application of polygenic risk scores (PRS) in clinical practice has advanced but also received criticism. In this Perspective by Saskia Sanderson & @mikeinouye.bsky.social, major psychological and behavioural arguments against PRS applications have been assessed.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Psychological and behavioural considerations for integrating polygenic risk scores for disease into clinical practice - Nature Human Behaviour
The application of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) in clinical practice has advanced but also received criticism. In this Perspective, major psychological and behavioural arguments against PRS applicatio...
www.nature.com
May 12, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The application of polygenic risk scores (PRS) in clinical practice has advanced but also received criticism. In this Perspective by Saskia Sanderson & @mikeinouye.bsky.social, major psychological and behavioural arguments against PRS applications have been assessed.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Thanks to everybody who chimed in!
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
May 11, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Thanks to everybody who chimed in!
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
After 3 years in the making, our Registered Report is out in @nathumbehav.nature.com!
We analyse nationally representative UK data from 3,340 adolescents (aged 11–19) to examine how social media use differs between those with and without mental health conditions. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We analyse nationally representative UK data from 3,340 adolescents (aged 11–19) to examine how social media use differs between those with and without mental health conditions. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions - Nature Human Behaviour
Using a nationally representative UK sample of adolescents with clinical-level mental health symptoms, this Registered Report examined differences in social media use. The results suggest that adolesc...
www.nature.com
May 6, 2025 at 7:35 AM
After 3 years in the making, our Registered Report is out in @nathumbehav.nature.com!
We analyse nationally representative UK data from 3,340 adolescents (aged 11–19) to examine how social media use differs between those with and without mental health conditions. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We analyse nationally representative UK data from 3,340 adolescents (aged 11–19) to examine how social media use differs between those with and without mental health conditions. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Remember the good times when the main threat to the scientific endeavor was conditioning on a collider
April 30, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Remember the good times when the main threat to the scientific endeavor was conditioning on a collider
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
📢 New publication out today in BMJ Mental Health.
We looked at whether climate change worry is associated with an increased risk of future depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance across European countries, using data from the European Social Survey.
mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...
We looked at whether climate change worry is associated with an increased risk of future depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance across European countries, using data from the European Social Survey.
mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...
Climate change worry and the association with future depression and anxiety: cross-national analysis of 11 European countries
Background Climate change affects people’s mental health directly and indirectly. Climate anxiety, characterised by persistent worry and distress about environmental changes, is increasingly recognise...
mentalhealth.bmj.com
April 8, 2025 at 7:15 AM
📢 New publication out today in BMJ Mental Health.
We looked at whether climate change worry is associated with an increased risk of future depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance across European countries, using data from the European Social Survey.
mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...
We looked at whether climate change worry is associated with an increased risk of future depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance across European countries, using data from the European Social Survey.
mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Our work on intergenerational transmission of psychiatric risk is now out!! www.nature.com/articles/s41... @naturecomms.bsky.social with thanks to my super coauthors @leofrach.bsky.social @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social and several others who made this possible
Intergenerational transmission of polygenic predisposition for neuropsychiatric traits on emotional and behavioural difficulties in childhood - Nature Communications
Parental neuropsychiatric traits relate to children’s emotions and behaviours beyond genetic transmission alone. Here the author's findings suggest potential environmental risk factors that can act on...
www.nature.com
March 20, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Our work on intergenerational transmission of psychiatric risk is now out!! www.nature.com/articles/s41... @naturecomms.bsky.social with thanks to my super coauthors @leofrach.bsky.social @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social and several others who made this possible
Trying really really hard this year to not ramp up my work load before the spring break in order to “get things off my desk”.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but you’re allowed a break without your work load doubling before or after your leave!
I don’t know who needs to hear this but you’re allowed a break without your work load doubling before or after your leave!
April 4, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Trying really really hard this year to not ramp up my work load before the spring break in order to “get things off my desk”.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but you’re allowed a break without your work load doubling before or after your leave!
I don’t know who needs to hear this but you’re allowed a break without your work load doubling before or after your leave!
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
First post will be a plug for our national fellowship network ➡️ We have an exciting new session focused on NIHR fellowships! 💡
Come along to this brilliant event and do spread the word for the network led by @flosheen.bsky.social @alice-kininmonth.bsky.social and myself 👇
Come along to this brilliant event and do spread the word for the network led by @flosheen.bsky.social @alice-kininmonth.bsky.social and myself 👇
📣Interested in learning more about NIHR fellowships?
Join our session featuring NIHR advanced fellows + an expert from the Research Support Service to:
🪜learn about the application & interview
🌟boost your confidence
🙋ask questions
Scan QR ⬇️ to join the group + get a link to this & future events!
Join our session featuring NIHR advanced fellows + an expert from the Research Support Service to:
🪜learn about the application & interview
🌟boost your confidence
🙋ask questions
Scan QR ⬇️ to join the group + get a link to this & future events!
April 1, 2025 at 4:33 PM
First post will be a plug for our national fellowship network ➡️ We have an exciting new session focused on NIHR fellowships! 💡
Come along to this brilliant event and do spread the word for the network led by @flosheen.bsky.social @alice-kininmonth.bsky.social and myself 👇
Come along to this brilliant event and do spread the word for the network led by @flosheen.bsky.social @alice-kininmonth.bsky.social and myself 👇
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
New blog post! In which I explain the issue with mediation analysis and sketch out one way to deal with the underlying causal inference problem -- in just a bit over 1,000 words!
If you have never found the time to read up on this, now is your chance.
www.the100.ci/2025/03/20/r...
If you have never found the time to read up on this, now is your chance.
www.the100.ci/2025/03/20/r...
Reviewer notes: That’s a very nice mediation analysis you have there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.
Mediation analysis has gotten a lot of flak, including classic titles such as “Yes, but what’s the mechanism? (Don’t expect an easy answer)” (Bullock et al., 2010), “What mediation analysis can (not) ...
www.the100.ci
March 20, 2025 at 1:40 PM
New blog post! In which I explain the issue with mediation analysis and sketch out one way to deal with the underlying causal inference problem -- in just a bit over 1,000 words!
If you have never found the time to read up on this, now is your chance.
www.the100.ci/2025/03/20/r...
If you have never found the time to read up on this, now is your chance.
www.the100.ci/2025/03/20/r...
Nice snippet from @popres-uk.bsky.social on the value of longitudinal population studies for understanding life course society and health, and the support PRUK can offer
[1/2] 💡What can Population Research UK offer to the longitudinal population studies community? Hear directly from attendees of our consultation workshops across the UK.
▶️ Watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NIH...
▶️ Watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NIH...
Why does Population Research UK's work matter?
YouTube video by Population Research UK
www.youtube.com
March 19, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Nice snippet from @popres-uk.bsky.social on the value of longitudinal population studies for understanding life course society and health, and the support PRUK can offer
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
New comment by @faridanvari.bsky.social and friends arguing that psychology is fragmented into the study of too many constructs and measures with too few links.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Defragmenting psychology
Nature Human Behaviour - Psychology is fragmented into the study of a myriad of constructs and measures, most of which are used very rarely. This hinders cumulative knowledge generation. We call on...
www.nature.com
March 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM
New comment by @faridanvari.bsky.social and friends arguing that psychology is fragmented into the study of too many constructs and measures with too few links.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
Are you doing EMA research and wonder how to go about it? In recent work we've adressed some open questions and challenges, here is a brief summary of papers and materials.
🧵 #PsychSciSky 🧪 #StatsSky
🧵 #PsychSciSky 🧪 #StatsSky
March 12, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Are you doing EMA research and wonder how to go about it? In recent work we've adressed some open questions and challenges, here is a brief summary of papers and materials.
🧵 #PsychSciSky 🧪 #StatsSky
🧵 #PsychSciSky 🧪 #StatsSky
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
The London Genetics Network has arrived on Bluesky! Follow us here if you'd like @ldngenenet.bsky.social
March 11, 2025 at 12:07 PM
The London Genetics Network has arrived on Bluesky! Follow us here if you'd like @ldngenenet.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
International Women’s Day seems as good a time as any to remind folks that adolescent girls continue to face a range of gendered challenges in their day-to-day lives and they point to these as critical issues in understanding the gender mental health gap 👇
We talk a lot about why adolescent girls report more low mood and anxiety, and why this might be getting worse.
But what do girls themselves think might explain this? As you might have guessed, we don’t really know.
So, we asked them: doi.org/10.1186/s129...
1/8
But what do girls themselves think might explain this? As you might have guessed, we don’t really know.
So, we asked them: doi.org/10.1186/s129...
1/8
Adolescent girls’ explanations of high rates of low mood and anxiety in their population: a co-produced qualitative study - BMC Women's Health
Background From early adolescence, girls face greater risk of experiencing low mood and anxiety relative to boys, with recent evidence that this may be worsening. There is a paucity of mental health r...
doi.org
March 8, 2025 at 12:22 PM
International Women’s Day seems as good a time as any to remind folks that adolescent girls continue to face a range of gendered challenges in their day-to-day lives and they point to these as critical issues in understanding the gender mental health gap 👇
Reposted by Dr Ellen J Thompson
1 / 2
Data from the 1970 British Cohort Study Age 51 Sweep are now available to download from @ukdataservice.bsky.social
These new data offer opportunities for research on midlife and ageing, and for cross-cohort comparisons with earlier-born generations.
Read more: buff.ly/Lcl8IqK
Data from the 1970 British Cohort Study Age 51 Sweep are now available to download from @ukdataservice.bsky.social
These new data offer opportunities for research on midlife and ageing, and for cross-cohort comparisons with earlier-born generations.
Read more: buff.ly/Lcl8IqK
March 6, 2025 at 3:06 PM
1 / 2
Data from the 1970 British Cohort Study Age 51 Sweep are now available to download from @ukdataservice.bsky.social
These new data offer opportunities for research on midlife and ageing, and for cross-cohort comparisons with earlier-born generations.
Read more: buff.ly/Lcl8IqK
Data from the 1970 British Cohort Study Age 51 Sweep are now available to download from @ukdataservice.bsky.social
These new data offer opportunities for research on midlife and ageing, and for cross-cohort comparisons with earlier-born generations.
Read more: buff.ly/Lcl8IqK