P.S. (Patricia) Bravo Tapia, PhD Student

Hi! My name is Patricia Bravo, I am a PhD student working at department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology as a part of the Generation R group. I obtained my Master’s degree in Health Sciences, specialisation Epidemiology at the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam. I also have a master in Social Psychology, specialisation in social research methods. University of Talca - Talca, Chile. In my PhD I focus on how parental variables are associated with children’s emotional and behavioural problems and the mechanisms underlying this association such as family functioning, mental health and self-regulation. To unravel the mechanisms that explain how parental variables influence child outcomes I used prospective design, starting from prenatal stage until adolescence, using diverse methodological approaches in a large sample data set. 

Some of the findings of my doctoral work, suggests that maternal characteristics such as maternal sensitivity is related to children’s self-regulation, while higher levels of self-regulation and lower levels of food responsiveness predicted a lower child BMI at 13 years. Besides, in another project we found that family functioning is one of the strongest mechanisms in which maternal history of maltreatment is related with adolescent’s emotional and behavioural problems in adolescence.  

After I finish my PhD, I hope I can contribute to a better understanding of how parental variables are related to the development of children’s emotional and behavioural problems. In this way, the early identification of risk factors can decrease the onset of child psychopathology. Consequently supporting children and their families. 

My research focus is on parenting thus I have been working in research on that topic since I was doing my master in Chile in 2017. Some of the activities related to that topic besides academia are seminars and courses on parental sensitivity and attachment.

I am currently doing my PhD at Generation R group. I obtained my Master’s degree in Health Sciences, specialisation Epidemiology at the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam. I also have a master in Social Psychology, specialisation in social research methods. University of Talca - Talca, Chile. 

Bravo, P., Kim, Y., Xerxa, Y., Koopman-Verhoeff, M. E., Cárcamo, R., Oldehinkel, A., Hillegers, M. & Jansen, P., (2023), Maternal history of maltreatment and offspring's emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence: Do family factors contribute to the intergenerational risk transmission?, Child Abuse and Neglect. 141, 106228. 

Bravo, P., Cárcamo, R., Santos, S., Ringoot, A., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Hillegers, M. H. J. & Jansen, P. W. (2023), Maternal sensitivity in early childhood and body mass index in adolescence: A population-based study on the role of self-regulation as a mediator, Appetite. 182, 106418. 

Oliveros, J., Muñoz, R., Spencer, R., Fresno, A., Bravo, P., Vergara-Barra, P., & Wendland, J. (2023). Propiedades Psicométricas de la Escala de Evaluación Socioemocional Breve de Infantes y Niños (BITSEA) en una muestra de niños y niñas chilenos. Terapia psicológica, 41(1), 63-85. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/s0718-48082023000100063 

Campos, S., Nuñez, D., Bravo, P., Fresno, A., & Olff, M. (2022). Preliminary evidence for internal structure, sensitivity and specificity of a brief PTSD and Complex PTSD measure in adolescents. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. DOI: 10.1037/cbs0000322 

Spencer, R., Fresno, A. & Bravo, P. (2021). Experiencias traumáticas, sistema de apego y desarrollo humano en Cárcamo, R & Silva, J. (Ed.), Apego y Parentalidad (1 ed., pp. 1–156). Editorial Mediterraneo. 

Fresno, A., Arias, V., Núñez, D., Spencer, R., Ramos, N., Espinoza, C., Bravo, P., Arriagada, J., & Brunet, A. (2020). Using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) to Examine the Internal Structure of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 23. https://doi.org/10.1017/SJP.2020.46  

Daniel Nunez, Susana Campos, Rosario Spencer, María Faúndez, Andrés Fresno, Patricia Bravo (2020). Specific psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms in chilean adolescents: a multiple mediation model of their impact on suicidal ideation, Schizophrenia Bulletin, Volume 46, Issue Supplement_1, Pages S38–S39, https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa031.088 

Daniel Nunez, Susana Campos, Rosario Spencer, María Faúndez, Andrés Fresno, Patricia Bravo. (2020). Bidirectional influences between psychotic experiences and suicidal ideation in chilean adolescents: the role of depressive symptoms as mediators, Schizophrenia Bulletin, Volume 46, Issue Supplement_1, Pages S144–S145, https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa030.340 

View my ResearchGate profile here.

I have experience as an assistant professor of child psychology, & psychopathology at the University of Talca, Chile. Additionally at the KJPP department, I have been doing supervision of bachelor students and supervising medical students in their research internship. 

Chilean National Scholarship Program for Graduate Studies to pursue a PhD National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT).