Ayten Bilgin Ph.D.

Ayten Bilgin, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex.

Dr. Ayten Bilgin completed her BSc in Psychology at Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) in 2010 followed by her MA in Developmental Psychology at Koç University (Istanbul, Turkey) and her MSc in Clinical Psychology and Mental Health at University of Sussex in 2013. Afterwards, she completed her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Warwick in 2017. She joined the School of Psychology at University of Kent as a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology in 2020.

Ayten’s main research is in the area of developmental psychopathology with a particular focus on infant regulatory problems (excessive crying, sleeping and feeding problems), preterm birth (i.e., birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy), mother-infant attachment, and parenting.

Ayten uses large-scale longitudinal data to investigate whether and how infant regulatory problems have an impact on the development of mental health problems. In addition, she is interested in understanding the long-term outcomes of being born preterm, specifically regarding social relationship skills, well-being, emotional problems and inattention/hyperactivity. Moreover, she investigates parenting and mother-infant attachment in the context of infant crying, sleeping and feeding problems and preterm birth.