Postdoctoral Researcher: Peer Relationships in Emerging Adulthood

We are looking for a full-time postdoctoral researcher to work on a unique longitudinal project. In the Nijmegen Longitudinal Study (NLS), participants have been followed since infancy and are now turning 27 years old. In this position, you will utilise the existing data to examine the antecedents and correlates of peer relationships in emerging adulthood. This is an exciting opportunity to work on state-of-the-art publications with an excellent research team.

This position is part of the NWO project ’Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Predicting Peer Relationships in Emerging Adulthood’. Primary responsibilities involve writing and collaborating with other team members on several high impact journal articles (in English), involving the most recently collected waves of NLS data. Specifically, you will be involved in all aspects of the writing process (i.e. formulating research questions, identifying relevant literature, analysing data, and interpreting results). The topics of these publications will be chosen in collaboration with the supervisors and other members of the research team. This position provides a unique opportunity for you to take part in an exciting project and efficiently boost your publication record.

Emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) is a developmental transition in which individuals are faced with many life changes and which has a major impact on later life. Emerging adulthood is marked by opportunities for growth in relationships, work and worldviews. It is also marked by increased reliance on peers. Interactions with peers continue after adolescents leave secondary education and are critical for physical and mental health and social functioning in adulthood. In this project, the peer relationships of emerging adults are studied in the context of a 25-year ongoing longitudinal study (NLS).

This project has three aims. First, to examine the nature and correlates of peer relationships in emerging adulthood, and the stability of peer relationships from childhood and adolescence to emerging adulthood. Second, to examine the reciprocal associations between peer relationships and social functioning, health and adjustment from childhood to emerging adulthood. Third, to observe actual peer interactions of emerging adults, focusing on collaborative problem solving, conflict resolution and the flexible adjustment of behaviour to different peers and contexts. This research is innovative because it combines long-term longitudinal design with observational experimental design to study all aspects of peer relationships in emerging adulthood.

Requirements:

• You have a PhD in developmental psychology or a related field.
• You have good writing skills in English.
• You are able to publish in international peer-reviewed journals as a first author.
• You have experience with multivariate and longitudinal statistical analyses.
• You are motivated to succeed in scientific research.
• You are a collaborative person and can work well in a team.

Salary Benefits:

• We will offer you a temporary employment contract for a maximum of 16.5 months.
• Your salary within salary scale 11 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Support Service. The Dual Career Programme assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. Our Family Support Service helps you and your partner feel welcome and at home by providing customised assistance in navigating local facilities, schools, and amenities. Also take a look at our support for international staff page to discover all our services for international employees.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

38 hours per week

Houtlaan 4