Goldsmiths - University of London

Dr Alice Gregory BA PhD

I am interested in the development and co-occurrence of sleep problems, anxiety and depression throughout the life course.

In order to examine temporal relationships, I have explored the associations between these phenotypes in epidemiological samples assessed longitudinally (e.g. the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study of Health and Development).

The utilization of large twin datasets, such as the Twins Early Development Study, has allowed me to examine the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on these difficulties and their associations. Further questions – such as those concerning sex differences and the influence of rater on genetic and environmental estimates - have also been addressed using twin samples.

Recently, I have developed an interest in cognitive psychology and have borrowed ideas from research focusing upon cognitive styles linked to sleep problems, anxiety and depression in adults, and have examined their relevance to children. Much of this research has been conducted using genetically sensitive datasets, allowing integration of different approaches.

My research is conducted in collaboration with researchers from a number of different institutions, including the Institute of Psychiatry (UK); the University of Pittsburgh (USA); the University of Otago (NZ); and the University of California, Berkeley (USA).

Selected publications

Peer Reviewed Articles

In Press

Gregory, A.M., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Poulton, R. (in press). Sleep problems in childhood predict neuropsychological functioning in adolescence. Pediatrics.

Gregory, A.M., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E., Milne, B.J., Poulton, R., Sears, M.R. (in press). Links between anxiety and allergies. Psychobiological reality or methodological bias? Journal of Personality.

Gregory, A.M.*, Light-Haeusermann, J.*, Rijsdijk, F. V., Eley, T.C. (in press). Behavioural genetic analyses of prosocial behaviour in adolescents. Developmental Science. * Joint first authors.

Gregory, A.M., Willis, T.A., Wiggs, L. Harvey, A. G. and the STEPS team. (in press). Pre-sleep arousal and sleep disturbances in children. Sleep.

2008

Eley. T.C., Gregory, A.M., Lau, J.Y.F., McGuffin. P., Napolitano, M., Rijsdijk, F.V., Clark, D. (2008). In the face of uncertainty: a twin study of ambiguous information, anxiety and depression in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 55-65.

Forbes. E.E., Bertocci, M.A., Gregory, A.M., Ryan, N.D., Axelson, D.A., Birmaher, B., Dahl, R.E. (2008). Objective sleep in pediatric anxiety disorders and major depressive disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 148-155.

Gregory, A.M. (2008). A genetic decomposition of the association between parasomnias and dyssomnias in 8 year old twins. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 162, 299-304.

Gregory, A.M., Lau, J. Y. F., Eley, T.C. (2008). Finding gene-environment interactions for generalized anxiety disorder. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 258, 69-75. [Invited Review]

Gregory, A.M., Lau, J. Y. F., Eley, T.C. (2008). Finding gene-environment interactions for phobias. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 258, 76-81. [Invited Review]

Gregory, A.M., Van der Ende, J., Willis, T. A., Verhulst, F. C. (2008). Parent-reported sleep problems during development predict self-reported anxiety/ depression, attention problems and aggressive behavior later in life. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 162, 330-335.

Koenen, K. C., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Gregory, A.M., Harrington, HL., & Poulton, R. (2008). The developmental mental-disorder histories of adults with PTSD: A prospective longitudinal birth cohort study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 460-466.

2007

Eley. T.C., Gregory, A.M., Clark, D.M., Ehlers, A. (2007). Feeling anxious: a twin study of panic/somatic symptoms, anxiety sensitivity and heart-beat perception in children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 1184-1191.

Gregory, A. M., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Koenen, K., Eley, T.C., Poulton, P. (2007). Juvenile mental health histories of adults with anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 301-308.

Gregory, A.M., Eley, T.C. (2007). Genetic influences on anxiety in children: what we’ve learned and where we’re heading. Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review.10, 199-212. [Invited Review]

Gregory, A.M., Rijsdijk, F.V., Lau, J.Y.F., McGuffin, P., Napolitano, M., Eley, T.C. (2007). Interpersonal cognitions and associations with depressive symptoms in school-aged twins. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 762-775.

Lau, J. Y. F., Gregory, A.M., Goldwin, M.A., Pine, D. S., Eley, T. C. (2007). Assessing gene-environment interactions on anxiety symptom subtypes across childhood and adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 1129-1146.

Lau, J. Y. F., Rijsdijk, F., Gregory, A.M., McGuffin, P., Eley, T.C. (2007). Pathways to childhood depressive symptoms: the role of social, cognitive and genetic risk factors. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1402-1414.

Moffitt, T. E., Harrington, H.L., Caspi, A., Kim-Cohen, J., Goldberg, D., Gregory, A. M., Poulton, R. (2007). Depression and generalized anxiety disorder: cumulative and sequential comorbidity in a birth cohort followed prospectively to age 32. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 651-660.

O’Connor, T. G., Caprariello, P., Robertson-Blackmore, E., Gregory, A. M., Glover, V., Fleming, P., Golding, J. (2007). Prenatal mood disturbance predicts sleep problems in infancy and toddlerhood. Early Human Development, 83, 451-458.

2006

Gregory, A.M., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E., Poulton, R. (2006). Family conflict in childhood: a predictor of later insomnia. Sleep, 29, 1063-1067.

Gregory, A.M., Rijsdijk, F., Dahl. R. E., McGuffin, P., Eley, T.C. (2006). Associations between sleep problems, anxiety and depression in a selected sample of twins aged 8 years. Pediatrics, 118, 1124-1132.

Gregory, A.M., Rijsdijk, F.V., Eley, T.C. (2006). A twin-study of sleep difficulties in school-aged children. Child Development, 77, 1668-1679.

2005

Gregory, A.M., Caspi, A., Eley, T., Moffitt, T., O’Connor, T., Poulton, R. (2005). Prospective longitudinal associations between persistent sleep problems in childhood and anxiety and depression disorders in adulthood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 157-163. [Finalist for the Hospes Suenos 2006 International Award].

Gregory, A.M., Eley, T.C. (2005). Sleep problems, anxiety and cognitive style in school-aged children. Infant and Child Development. 14, 435-444.

Gregory, A.M., Eley, T.C., O’Connor, T.G., Rijsdijk, F.V., Plomin R. (2005). Measured family influences on the association between sleep problems and anxiety in a large sample of pre-school aged twins. Personality and Individual Differences, 39, 1337-1348.

2004

Eley, T. C., Stirling, L., Ehlers, A., Gregory, A.M., & Clark, D. M. (2004). Heart-beat perception, panic/somatic symptoms and anxiety sensitivity in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 439-448.

Eley, T.C., Sugden, K., Gregory, A.M., Stern, A., Plomin, R., Craig, I.W. (2004). Gene-environment interaction analysis of serotonin system markers with adolescent depression. Molecular Psychiatry, 9, 908-915. [Winner of the Lilly-Molecular Psychiatry Award].

Gregory, A.M., Eley, T. C., O’Connor, T.G., Plomin, R. (2004). Etiologies of associations between childhood sleep and behavioral problems in a large twin sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 744-751.

Gregory, A.M., Eley, T.C., Plomin, R. (2004). Exploring the association between anxiety and conduct problems in a large sample of twins aged 2-4. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 111-122.

2003

Gregory, A.M., Claridge, G., Clark, K., Taylor, P.D. (2003). Handedness and schizotypy in a Japanese sample: a culturally influenced masked association. Schizophrenia Research, 65, 139-145.

2002

Gregory, A.M., O’Connor, T.G. (2002). Sleep problems in childhood: a longitudinal study of developmental change and association with behavioral problems. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 964-971.

Harvey, A.G., Gregory, A.M., Bird, C. (2002). The role of cognitive factors in insomnia: a comparison of Japanese & English university students. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 30, 271-282.

Book Chapters

Eley, T., Gregory, A.M. (2004) Behavioral genetics. In: Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Morris, T., March, J. eds. Guilford Press, New York. [Invited Chapter]

Gregory, A.M., Ball, H.A. & Button, T.M.M. (submitted). Chapter 2: Behavioural Genetics. In Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development, 2nd Edition. Smith, P.K. & Hart, C. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. [Invited Chapter]

Gregory, A.M., Eley, T.C. (submitted). Chapter 8: The genetic basis of child and adolescent anxiety. In: Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents, 2nd Edition. Silverman, W. and Field, A. (eds.). Cambridge University Press , Cambridge. [Invited Chapter]

Gregory, A.M., Franken, P. (submitted). Chapter: Genetic approaches to the problem of sleep. In: Current advances in sleep biology: Mechanisms and Function. Francos, M. (ed.). Nova Science Publishers, New York [Invited Chapter]

Other Publications

Gregory, A.M. (2004). Common childhood sleep problems. NAPCR, 4, 206-207. [Invited Review]

Gregory, A.M. (submitted). Finding gene-environment interactions for anxiety. Chapter on Basic Sciences, Psychiatry [Invited Review].

Gregory, A.M., Barclay, N.L. (submitted). Too stressed to sleep. Psychologist. [Invited Article]

Gregory, A.M., Crawford, M. R., Holland, J. E., Willis, T. A. (2008). Associations between sleep problems and anxiety in youth. Child and Adolescent Special Interest Group Newsletter, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, 7(2), 5-6. [Invited Review]

Submitted

Eley, T. C., Lau, J. Y. F., Gregory, A.M.. (submitted). Unravelling gene-environment interplay for child and adolescent depression. [Invited review]

Gregory, A.M., Rijsdijk, F.V., Lau, J. F., Dahl, R.E., Eley, T.C. (submitted). The direction of longitudinal associations between sleep problems and depression symptoms: a study of twins aged 8 and 10 years.

Lau, J. Y. F., Gregory, A.M., Viding, E. M., Pine, D. S., Eley, T. C. (submitted). Developmental origins of anxiety-related biases in threat recognition, interpretation and avoidance.

Willis, T. A., Yearall, S., Gregory, A.M. (submitted). Sleep quality and cognitive style in older adults.