Dr Frances Rice
Reader, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences
- Email:
- ricef2@cardiff.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- +44 (0)29 2068 8384
- Location:
- 2.18, Hadyn Ellis Building, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
My main research interest is in identifying what causes adolescent depression and why it recurs. I study development across the lifespan and am interested in identifying causal risk and protective factors that can be targeted as part of psychological and public health interventions. I use a range of approaches including longitudinal prospective studies and genetic epidemiology to test if environmental risk exposures have causal effects on mental health. I am also interested in the links between school and young people’s mental health.
Currently, I am involved in several grants funded by the Medical Research Council and the Health Foundation.
I studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. Prior to my current position, I was Reader in the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at University College London.
2019
- Rice, F.et al. 2019. Characterizing developmental trajectories and the role of neuropsychiatric genetic risk variants in early-onset depression. JAMA Psychiatry 76(3), pp. 306-313. (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.3338)
- Nazzari, S.et al. 2019. Beyond the HPA-axis: Exploring maternal prenatal influences on birth outcomes and stress reactivity. Psychoneuroendocrinology 101, pp. 253-262. (10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.018)
- Rice, F.et al. 2019. Adolescent and adult differences in major depression symptom profiles. Journal of Affective Disorders 243, pp. 175-181. (10.1016/j.jad.2018.09.015)
- Warne, N., Collishaw, S. and Rice, F. 2019. Examining the relationship between stressful life events and overgeneral autobiographical memory in adolescents at high familial risk of depression. Memory 27(3), pp. 314-327. (10.1080/09658211.2018.1508591)
2018
- Riglin, L.et al. 2018. The impact of schizophrenia and mood disorder risk alleles on emotional problems: investigating change from childhood to middle age. Psychological Medicine 48(13), pp. 2153-2158. (10.1017/S0033291717003634)
- Ng-Knight, T.et al. 2018. 'Best friends forever'? Friendship stability across school transition and associations with mental health and educational attainment. British Journal of Educational Psychology (10.1111/bjep.12246)
- Fraser, A.et al. 2018. The presentation of depression symptoms in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: comparing child and parent reports. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 23(3), pp. 243-250. (10.1111/camh.12253)
- Rice, F.et al. 2018. Identifying the contribution of prenatal risk factors to offspring development and psychopathology: What designs to use and a critique of literature on maternal smoking and stress in pregnancy. Development and Psychopathology 30(3), pp. 1107-1128. (10.1017/S0954579418000421)
- Rahman, M. A.et al. 2018. School achievement as a predictor of depression and self-harm in adolescence: linked education and health record study. British Journal of Psychiatry 212(4), pp. 215-221. (10.1192/bjp.2017.69)
- Bevan Jones, R.et al. 2018. A web-based psychoeducational intervention for adolescent depression: design and development of MoodHwb. JMIR Mental Health 5(1), article number: e13. (10.2196/mental.8894)
- Ng-Knight, T.et al. 2018. Maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent academic attainment: testing pathways via parenting and self-control. Journal of Adolescence 62, pp. 61-69. (10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.11.003)
2017
- Rice, F.et al. 2017. Antecedents of new-onset major depressive disorder in adolescence: a longitudinal familial high-risk study. JAMA Psychiatry 74(2), pp. 153-160. (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.3140)
- Rice, F.et al. 2017. Adolescent depression and the treatment gap. The Lancet Psychiatry 4(2), pp. 86-87. (10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30004-4)
2016
- Thapar, A.et al. 2016. Identifying key parent-reported symptoms for detecting depression in high risk adolescents. Psychiatry Research 242, pp. 210-217. (10.1016/j.psychres.2016.05.025)
- Davidovich, S.et al. 2016. Do better executive functions buffer the effect of current parental depression on adolescent depressive symptoms?. Journal of Affective Disorders 199, pp. 54-64. (10.1016/j.jad.2016.03.049)
- Ng-Knight, T.et al. 2016. A longitudinal study of self-control at the transition to secondary school: Considering the role of pubertal status and parenting. Journal of Adolescence 50, pp. 44-55. (10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.04.006)
- Neal, S.et al. 2016. Exploring the longitudinal association between interventions to support the transition to secondary school and child anxiety. Journal of Adolescence 50, pp. 31-43. (10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.04.003)
- Riglin, L.et al. 2016. Profiling depression in childhood and adolescence: the role of conduct problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 57(4), pp. 481-490. (10.1111/jcpp.12465)
- Sellers, R.et al. 2016. Examining whether offspring psychopathology influences illness course in mothers with recurrent depression using a high-risk longitudinal sample. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 125(2), pp. 256-266. (10.1037/abn0000080)
- Riglin, L.et al. 2016. Higher cognitive ability buffers stress-related depressive symptoms in adolescent girls. Development and Psychopathology 28(1), pp. 97-109. (10.1017/S0954579415000310)
- Collishaw, S.et al. 2016. Mental health resilience in the adolescent offspring of parents with depression: a prospective longitudinal study. The Lancet Psychiatry 3(1), pp. 49-57. (10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00358-2)
2015
- McManus, I. C.et al. 2015. Doctor, builder, soldier, lawyer, teacher, dancer, shopkeeper, vet: exploratory study of which eleven-year olds would like to become a doctor. BMC Psychology 3(1), article number: 38. (10.1186/s40359-015-0094-z)
- Rice, F.et al. 2015. Examining reward-seeking, negative self-beliefs and over-general autobiographical memory as mechanisms of change in classroom prevention programs for adolescent depression. Journal of Affective Disorders 186, pp. 320-327. (10.1016/j.jad.2015.07.019)
- Mars, B.et al. 2015. Longitudinal symptom course in adults with recurrent depression: Impact on impairment and risk of psychopathology in offspring. Journal of Affective Disorders 182, pp. 32-38. (10.1016/j.jad.2015.04.018)
- Kilford, E. J.et al. 2015. Affective bias and current, past and future adolescent depression: a familial high risk study. Journal of Affective Disorders 174, pp. 265-271. (10.1016/j.jad.2014.11.046)
2014
- Rawal, A.et al. 2014. A longitudinal high-risk study of adolescent anxiety, depression and parent-severity on the developmental course of risk-adjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 55(11), pp. 1270-1278. (10.1111/jcpp.12279)
- Riglin, L.et al. 2014. The relationship between emotional problems and subsequent school attainment: A meta-analysis. Journal of Adolescence 37(4), pp. 335-346. (10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.02.010)
- Eyre, O.et al. 2014. Reported child awareness of parental depression. Psychiatric Bulletin 38(3), pp. 122-127. (10.1192/pb.bp.113.044198)
- Rice, F. 2014. Prospective and mutual influences of reward processing and emotional disorders in a longitudinal study of the adolescent offspring of depressed parents: the EPAD Cohort. Biological Psychiatry 75(9), pp. 195S. (10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.03.015)
- Thapar, A. K.et al. 2014. Detecting recurrent major depressive disorder within primary care rapidly and reliably using short questionnaire measures. British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) 64(618), pp. e31-7. (10.3399/bjgp14X676438)
2013
- Lewis, K. J.et al. 2013. The Depression impairment scale for parents (DISP): A new scale for the measurement of impairment in depressed parents. Psychiatry Research 210(3), pp. 1184-1190. (10.1016/j.psychres.2013.08.001)
- Rawal, A.et al. 2013. A direct method of assessing underlying cognitive risk for adolescent depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 41(8), pp. 1279-1288. (10.1007/s10802-013-9760-x)
- Mars, B.et al. 2013. Specific parental depression symptoms as risk markers for new-onset depression in high-risk offspring. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 74(9), pp. 925-931. (10.4088/JCP.12m08152)
- Riglin, L.et al. 2013. A longitudinal study of psychological functioning and academic attainment at the transition to secondary school. Journal of Adolescence 36(3), pp. 507-517. (10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.03.002)
- Rice, F.et al. 2013. Examining the role of passive gene-environment correlation in childhood depression using a novel genetically sensitive design. Development and Psychopathology 25(1), pp. 37-50. (10.1017/S0954579412000880)
- Rawal, A.et al. 2013. 'The risks of playing it safe': a prospective longitudinal study of response to reward in the adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Psychological Medicine 43(1), pp. 27-38. (10.1017/S0033291712001158)
2012
- Swaden Lewis, K. J.et al. 2012. Do parents know best? Parent-reported vs. child-reported depression symptoms as predictors of future child mood disorder in a high-risk sample. Journal of Affective Disorders 141(2-3), pp. 233-236. (10.1016/j.jad.2012.03.008)
- Harold, G. T.et al. 2012. Interparental conflict, parent psychopathology, hostile parenting, and child antisocial behavior: Examining the role of maternal versus paternal influences using a novel genetically sensitive research design. Development and Psychopathology 24(4), pp. 1283-1295. (10.1017/S0954579412000703)
- Sellers, R.et al. 2012. Risk of psychopathology in adolescent offspring of mothers with psychopathology and recurrent depression. British Journal of Psychiatry 202(2), pp. 108-114. (10.1192/bjp.bp.111.104984)
- Potter, R.et al. 2012. Missed opportunities: mental disorder in children of parents with depression. British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) 62(600), pp. e487-e493. (10.3399/bjgp12X652355)
- Rawal, A. and Rice, F. 2012. Examining overgeneral autobiographical memory as a risk factor for adolescent depression. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 51(5), pp. 518-527. (10.1016/j.jaac.2012.02.025)
- Lewis, G.et al. 2012. Maternal depression and child and adolescent depression symptoms: an exploratory test for moderation by CRHR1, FKBP5 and NR3C1 gene variants. Behavior Genetics 42(1), pp. 121-132. (10.1007/s10519-011-9482-1)
- Rawal, A. and Rice, F. 2012. A longitudinal study of processes predicting the specificity of autobiographical memory in the adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Memory 20(5), pp. 518-526. (10.1080/09658211.2012.683011)
- Mars, B.et al. 2012. Offspring of parents with recurrent depression: which features of parent depression index risk for offspring psychopathology?. Journal of affective disorders 136(1-2), pp. 44-53. (10.1016/j.jad.2011.09.002)
2011
- Shelton, K. H.et al. 2011. Using a genetically informative design to examine the relationship between breastfeeding and childhood conduct problems. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 20(11-12), pp. 571-579. (10.1007/s00787-011-0224-y)
- Harold, G. T.et al. 2011. Familial transmission of depression and antisocial behavior symptoms: Disentangling the contribution of inherited and environmental factors and testing the mediating role of parenting. Psychological Medicine 41(6), pp. 1175-1185. (10.1017/S0033291710001753)
- Rice, F., Frederickson, N. and Seymour, J. 2011. Assessing pupil concerns about transition to secondary school. British Journal of Educational Psychology 81(2), pp. 244-263. (10.1348/000709910X519333)
- Lewis, G.et al. 2011. Investigating environmental links between parent depression and child depressive/anxiety symptoms using an assisted conception design. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 50(5), pp. 451-459. (10.1016/j.jaac.2011.01.015)
2010
- Rice, F. 2010. Genetics of childhood and adolescent depression: insights into etiological heterogeneity and challenges for future genomic research. Genome Medicine 2, article number: 68. (10.1186/gm189)
- Thapar, A.et al. 2010. Response to: testing the association between smoking in pregnancy and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a novel design [Letter]. Biological psychiatry 68(4), pp. e13-e14. (10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.01.032)
- Rice, F.et al. 2010. The links between prenatal stress and offspring development and psychopathology: Disentangling environmental and inherited influences. Psychological Medicine 40(2), pp. 335-345. (10.1017/S0033291709005911)
- Rice, F. and Thapar, A. 2010. Estimating the relative contributions of maternal genetic, paternal genetic and intrauterine factors to offspring birth weight and head circumference. Early Human Development 86(7), pp. 425-432. (10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2010.05.021)
2009
- Fowler, T. A.et al. 2009. Psychopathy trait scores in adolescents with childhood ADHD: the contribution of genotypes affecting MAOA, 5HTT and COMT activity. Psychiatric Genetics 19(6), pp. 312-319. (10.1097/YPG.0b013e3283328df4)
- Thapar, A.et al. 2009. Prenatal smoking might not cause Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence from a novel design. Biological Psychiatry 66(8), pp. 722-727. (10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.05.032)
- Shelton, K. H.et al. 2009. Examining differences in psychological adjustment problems among children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies. International Journal of Behavioral Development 33(5), pp. 385-392. (10.1177/0165025409338444)
- Boivin, J.et al. 2009. Associations between maternal older age, family environment and parent and child wellbeing in families using assisted reproductive techniques to conceive. Social Science & Medicine 68(11), pp. 1948-1955. (10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.02.036)
- Rice, F. 2009. The genetics of depression in childhood and adolescence. Current Psychiatry Reports 11(2), pp. 167-173. (10.1007/s11920-009-0026-9)
- Rice, F. and Thapar, A. 2009. Depression and anxiety in childhood and adolescence: developmental pathways, genes and environment. In: Kim, Y. ed. Handbook of Behavior Genetics.. New York: Springer, pp. 379-396., (10.1007/978-0-387-76727-7_26)
- Rice, F.et al. 2009. Disentangling prenatal and inherited influences in humans with an experimental design. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106(7), pp. 2464-2467. (10.1073/pnas.0808798106)
- Fowler, T. A.et al. 2009. Psychopathy traits in adolescents with childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry 194(1), pp. 62-67. (10.1192/bjp.bp.107.046870)
2008
- Shelton, K. H.et al. 2008. Parent-Child Relations, Conduct Problems and Cigarette Use in Adolescence: Examining the Role of Genetic and Environmental Factors on Patterns of Behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 37(10), pp. 1216-1228. (10.1007/s10964-007-9254-7)
- Langley, K.et al. 2008. Testing for gene × environment interaction effects in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated antisocial behavior. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 147B(1), pp. 49-53. (10.1002/ajmg.b.30571)
- Harold, G. T.et al. 2008. Disentangling genetic and environmental influences on children’s development: introducing a novel methodology. Acta Psychologica Sinica 40(10), pp. 1124-1134.
2007
- Rice, F.et al. 2007. Genetic and environmental transmission of anxiety and depression in families using a novel design [Abstract]. Behavior Genetics 37(6), pp. 788-788. (10.1007/s10519-007-9169-9)
- Thapar, A.et al. 2007. The contribution of gene-environment interaction to psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology 19(4), pp. 989-1004. (10.1017/S0954579407000491)
- Rice, F.et al. 2007. Mental health and functional outcomes of maternal and adolescent reports of adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 46(9), pp. 1162-1170. (10.1097/chi.0b013e3180cc255f)
- Rice, F., Jones, I. R. and Thapar, A. 2007. Impact of gestational distress and growth retardation on emotional problems in offspring - Reply [Letter]. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 116(2), pp. 154-155. (10.1111/j.1600-0447.2007.01042.x)
- Shelton, K. H.et al. 2007. The association between conduct problems and the initiation and progression of marijuana use during adolescence: A genetic analysis across time. Behavior Genetics 37(2), pp. 314-325. (10.1007/s10519-006-9124-1)
- Rice, F., Jones, I. R. and Thapar, A. 2007. The impact of gestational stress and prenatal growth on emotional problems in offspring: a review [Review]. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 115(3), pp. 171-183. (10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00895.x)
- Fowler, T. A.et al. 2007. Exploring the relationship between genetic and environmental influences on initiation and progression of substance use. Addiction 102(3), pp. 413-422. (10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01694.x)
- van den Bree, M. B.et al. 2007. The Cardiff Study of All Wales and North West of England Twins (CaStANET): A longitudinal research program of child and adolescent development. Twin Research and Human Genetics 10(1), pp. 13-23. (10.1375/twin.10.1.13)
- Thapar, A.et al. 2007. Do intrauterine or genetic influences explain the foetal origins of chronic disease? A novel experimental method for disentangling effects. BMC Medical Research Methodology 7(1), pp. 25-32. (10.1186/1471-2288-7-25)
- Fowler, T.et al. 2007. Genetic and environmental influences on the relationship between peer alcohol use and own alcohol use in adolescents. Addiction 102(6), pp. 894-903. (10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.01824.x)
- Rice, F.et al. 2007. Agreement between maternal report and antenatal records for a range of pre and peri-natal factors: The influence of maternal and child characteristics. Early Human Development 83(8), pp. 497-504. (10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2006.09.015)
- Thapar, A.et al. 2007. Promoting Measured Genes and Measured Environments: On the Importance of Careful Statistical Analyses and Biological Relevance—Reply [Letter]. Archives of General Psychiatry 64(3), pp. 378-379. (10.1001/archpsyc.64.3.378-b)
2006
- Thapar, A. and Rice, F. 2006. Twin studies in pediatric depression. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America 15(4), pp. 869-81. (10.1016/j.chc.2006.05.007)
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2006. The effect of birth-weight with genetic susceptibility on depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 15(7), pp. 383-391. (10.1007/s00787-006-0545-4)
- Fowler, T. A.et al. 2006. Relationship between disabling fatigue and depression in children: Genetic study. British Journal of Psychiatry 189(3), pp. 247-253. (10.1192/bjp.bp.105.011379)
- Rice, F.et al. 2006. Family conflict interacts with genetic liability in predicting childhood and adolescent depression. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 45(7), pp. 841-848. (10.1097/01.chi.0000219834.08602.44)
2005
- Langley, K.et al. 2005. Maternal smoking during pregnancy as an environmental risk factor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder behaviour. A review.. Minerva Pediatrica 57(6), pp. 359-371.
- Thapar, A.et al. 2005. Catechol O-methyltransferase gene variant and birth weight predict early-onset antisocial behavior in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry 62(11), pp. 1275-1278. (10.1001/archpsyc.62.11.1275)
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2005. The Link between depression in mothers and offspring: an extended twin analysis. Behavior Genetics 35(5), pp. 565-577. (10.1007/s10519-005-5432-0)
- Goody, A. J.et al. 2005. Twins born following fertility treatment: implications for quantitative genetic studies. Twin Research and Human Genetics 8(4), pp. 337-345. (10.1375/twin.8.4.337)
- Holmans, P. A.et al. 2005. Genome screen for loci influencing age at onset and rate of decline in late onset Alzheimer's disease. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 135B(1), pp. 24-32. (10.1002/ajmg.b.30114)
2004
- Rice, F., van den Bree, M. B. and Thapar, A. 2004. A population-based study of anxiety as a precursor for depression in childhood and adolescence. BMC Psychiatry 4, article number: 43. (10.1186/1471-244X-4-43)
- Rice, F.et al. 2004. A novel method for disentangling the effects of genes, intrauterine and environmental risk factors [Abstract]. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 130B(1), pp. 116-117. (10.1002/ajmg.b.30101)
2003
- Thapar, A.et al. 2003. A novel method for disentangling the effects of genes, intrauterine, and environmental risk factors [Abstract]. Behavior Genetics 33(6), pp. 721-721. (10.1023/A:1026187215665)
- Rice, F.et al. 2003. Anxiety and depression in childhood and adolescence: Developmental pathways, genes, and environment. Behavior Genetics 33(6), pp. 715-715.
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2003. The transmission of depressive symptoms from mother to child: Genetic and environmental pathways. Behavior Genetics 33(6), pp. 716-716.
- Scourfield, J.et al. 2003. Depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: Changing etiological influences with development. Behavior Genetics 33(6), pp. 718-719.
- Thapar, A.et al. 2003. Maternal smoking in pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in offspring. Behavior Genetics 33(6), pp. 720-721.
- Thapar, A.et al. 2003. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in offspring. American Journal of Psychiatry 160(11), pp. 1985-1989. (10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1985)
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2003. Negative life events as an account of age-related differences in the genetic aetiology of depression in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 44(7), pp. 977-987. (10.1111/1469-7610.00182)
- Scourfield, J.et al. 2003. Depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: changing aetiological influences with development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 44(7), pp. 968-976. (10.1111/1469-7610.00181)
- Rice, F.et al. 2003. Memory for new information as a cognitive marker of liability to Alzheimer's disease in a high risk group: a research note. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 18(2), pp. 155-160. (10.1002/gps.808)
2002
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2002. Assessing the effects of age, sex and shared environment on the genetic aetiology of depression in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 43(8), pp. 1039-1051. (10.1111/1469-7610.00231)
- Myers, A.et al. 2002. Full genome screen for Alzheimer disease: Stage II analysis. American Journal Of Medical Genetics Part A 114(2), pp. 235-244. (10.1002/ajmg.10183)
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2002. The genetic aetiology of childhood depression: a review. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 43(1), pp. 65-79. (10.1111/1469-7610.00004)
2001
- Rice, F., Harold, G. T. and Thapar, A. 2001. Extreme depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Behavior Genetics 31(5), pp. 467-467., article number: PMID: 15641870.
2000
- Myers, A.et al. 2000. Susceptibility locus for Alzheimer's disease on chromosome 10. Science 290(5500), pp. 2304-2305. (10.1126/science.290.5500.2304)
- Tunstall, N.et al. 2000. Familial influence on variation in age of onset and behavioural phenotype in Alzheimer's disease. British Journal of Psychiatry 176, pp. 156-159. (10.1192/bjp.176.2.156)
1999
- Rudrasingham, V.et al. 1999. Alpha-2 macroglobulin gene and Alzheimer disease. Nature Genetics 22(1), pp. 17-19. (10.1038/8726)
- Wavrant-DeVrieze, F.et al. 1999. No association between the alpha-2 macroglobulin I1000V polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease. Neuroscience Letters 262(2), pp. 137-139. (10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00035-X)
I supervise research projects for the intercalated Psychology and Medicine degree. I supervise medical Student Selected Component projects. I mentor undergraduate medical students.
My main research interest is in identifying what causes adolescent depression and why it recurs. I study development across the lifespan and am interested in identifying causal risk and protective factors that can be targeted as part of psychological and public health interventions. I use a range of approaches including longitudinal prospective studies and genetic epidemiology to test if environmental risk exposures have causal effects on mental health. I am also interested in the links between school and young people’s mental health.
I am lead supervisor to two PhD students: Naomi Warne and Victoria Powell. I co-supervise Dr Sarah Argent and Sarah Nazzari (University College London). I supervise research projects for intercalated degrees as well as offer psychology placements and medical student selected component projects.
My current active grants are all on the topic of depression or mental health in young people.
Current funded projects:
Early-onset depression: characterising development and identifying risks. MRC 2017-2020.
Social and economic consequences of health: causal inference methods and longitudinal, intergenerational data. The Health Foundation 2018-2021.
Integrating genetic, clinical and phenotypic data to advance stratification, prediction and treatment in mental health. MRC 2018-2020.
Key selected papers:
Rice, F., Sellers, R., Hammerton, G., Eyre, O., Bevan-Jones, R., Thapar, A.K., Collishaw, S., Harold, G.T., Thapar, A. (2017). Antecedents of new-onset major depressive disorder in adolescence: a longitudinal familial high-risk study. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(2), 153-160.
Rahman, M.A., Todd, C., John, A., Tan, J., Kerr, M., Potter, R., Kennedy, J., Rice, F., Brophy, S (2018). School achievement as a predictor of depression or self-harm in adolescence- a linked education and health record study. British Journal of Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.2017.69
Rice, F., Langley, K., Woodford, C., Davey Smith, G., Thapar, A (forthcoming). Identifying the contribution of prenatal risk factors to offspring development and psychopathology: what designs to use and a critique of literature on maternal smoking and stress in pregnancy. Development and Psychopathology.
Rice, F., Rawal, A., Riglin, L., Lewis, G., Lewis, G., Dunsmuir, S (2015). Examining reward-seeking, negative self-beliefs and over-general autobiographical memory as mechanisms of change in classroom prevention programs for adolescent depression. Journal of Affective Disorders. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.07.019.
Rawal, A., Collishaw, S., Thapar, A., Rice F (2013). “The risks of playing it safe”: A prospective longitudinal study of response to reward in the adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Psychological Medicine, 43(1), 27-38.
Rice, F., Harold, G.T., Boivin, J., Hay, D., van den Bree, M.M.B., Thapar, A. (2010). The effects of gestational stress on offspring birth weight and psychopathology: disentangling prenatal environmental and inherited influences. Psychological Medicine 40(2):335-45.
Rice, F., Harold, G.T., Boivin, J., Hay, D., van den Bree, M.M.B., Thapar, A (2009). Disentangling prenatal and inherited influences in humans with an experimental design. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106 (7), 2464-2467.
Selected previous projects:
Examining pathways linking psychological adjustment and academic attainment across the transition to secondary school. The Nuffield Foundation.
Neurocognitive predictors of adolescent depression: a high risk longitudinal study. Medical Research Council.
Predicting and preventing adolescent depression. Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust.
Investigating links between adolescent depression, stress and physical health. British Medical Association.