Norwegian version
Stella Tsotsi

Stella Tsotsi

About

I am primarily interested in risk factors that may make children and adolescents more susceptible to developing psychopathology. These risk factors involve: 1) child self-regulation (e.g., executive functions, emotion regulation, temperament); 2) parental factors, such as mental health issues and aspects of parenting (transgenerational transmission of mental health issues); 3) biological markers, such as genotype and epigenetic processes. I am also interested in devising and implementing early interventions to assist the more cognitively disadvantaged children in buffering the risk. I am a trained clinical neuropsychologist and have research experience working in large multidisciplinary cohort studies focusing on the above-mentioned research interests.

My current research involves examining the co-coccurrence of aggression and internalizing difficulties in children and adolescents and the role of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in the association between early life stress, aspects of parenting and child socio-emotional difficulties.

I collaborate with researchers in Montreal and Ottawa (Canada), Amsterdam and Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Saarbrücken (Germany), Manchester (UK) and Singapore in understanding how parental mental health and parenting shapes children’s emotional competence and susceptibility to psychopathology.

I am a peer reviewer for various journals such as the Journal of Affective Disorders, the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and Infant and Child Development.

Scientific publications

Oftedal, Aurora; Tsotsi, Stella ; Kaasen, Anne ; Kozlowski Mayerhofer, Lilian Juliane; Røysamb, Espen; Smajlagic, Dinka; Tanbo, Tom Gunnar; Bekkhus, Mona (2023). Anxiety and depression in expectant parents: ART versus spontaneous conception. Human Reproduction. Vol. 38.
https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dead133

Svendsrud, Hedvig; Fredriksen, Eivor; Moe, Vibeke; Smith, Lars; Tsotsi, Stella ; Ullebø, Anne Karin; Brean, Gro Vatne; Kaasen, Anne ; Bekkhus, Mona (2023). Becoming Dad: Expectant Fathers’ Attachment Style and Prenatal Representations of the Unborn Child. Children. Vol. 10.
https://doi.org/10.3390/children10071187

Low, Ann; Yu, Yue; Sim, Lit Wee; Bureau, Jean Francois; Tan, Ngiap Chuan; Chen, Helen; Yang, Yang; Cheon, Bobby; Lee, Kerry; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian; Tsotsi, Stella ; Rifkin-Graboi, Anne (2023). Maternal distress and parenting during COVID-19: differential effects related to pre-pandemic distress?. BMC Psychiatry. Vol. 23.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04867-w

Rifkin-Graboi, Anne; Tsotsi, Stella ; Syazwana, Nadhrah; Stephenson, Mary C.; Sim, Lit Wee; Lee, Kerry (2023). Variation in maternal sensitivity and the development of memory biases in preschoolers. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. Vol. 17.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1093619

Tsotsi, Stella ; Goh, Shaun; Coplan, Robert J.; Bølstad, Evalill; Czajkowski, Nikolai Olavi; Smajlagic, Dinka; Bekkhus, Mona (2023). Co-occurrence of internalizing difficulties and aggression in early childhood and risk of mental health problems in middle childhood. 12 p. International Journal of Behavioral Development. Vol. 47.
https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254231187902

Bekkhus, Mona ; Lee, Yunsung; Samuelsen, Sven Ove; Tsotsi, Stella ; Magnus, Per Minor (2022). Maternal and paternal anxiety during pregnancy: Comparing the effects on behavioral problems in offspring. 14 p. PLOS ONE. Vol. 17.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275085

Rifkin-Graboi, Anne; Goh, Shaun Kok-Yew; Chong, Hui Jun; Tsotsi, Stella ; Sim, Lit Wee; Tan, Kok Hian; Chong, Yap Seng; Meaney, Michael J. (2021). Caregiving adversity during infancy and preschool cognitive function: adaptations to context?. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S2040174420001348

Tsotsi, Stella ; Borelli, Jessica L.; Backer, Mumtaz; Veragoo, Noraini; Abdulla, Nurshuhadah; Tan, Kok Hian; Chong, Yap Seng; Chen, Helen; Meaney, Michael J.; Broekman, Birit; Rifkin-Graboi, Anne (2021). Preschoolers’ emotion reactivity and regulation: Links with maternal psychological distress and child behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000936

Tsotsi, Stella ; Rifkin-Graboi, Anne; Borelli, Jessica L.; Chong, Yap Seng; Rajadurai, Victor Samuel; Chua, Mei Chien; Broekman, Birit; Meaney, Michael; Qiu, Anqi (2021). Neonatal brain and physiological reactivity in preschoolers: An initial investigation in an Asian sample. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.11.010

Delgadillo, Desiree; Borapai, Sameen; Pressman, Sarah D.; Goldstein, Alison; Bureau, Jean-François; Schmiedel, Sabrina; Backer, Mumtaz; Broekman, Birit; Tan, Kok Hian; Chong, Yap Seng; Chen, Helen; Zalta, Alyson K.; Meaney, Michael J.; Rifkin-Graboi, Anne; Tsotsi, Stella ; Borelli, Jessica L. (2021). Maternal expressions of positive emotion for children predicts children’s respiratory sinus arrhythmia surrounding stress. Developmental Psychobiology.
https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22082





These publications are obtained from Cristin. The list may be incomplete