Paris Lee
PhD Student
Paris Lee is a PhD student at the University of Liverpool, primarily supervised by Professor David Taylor-Robinson and co-supervised by Dr. Divyangana Rakesh, with secondary supervision from Professor Helen Sharp. Her research examines how childhood adversity and family disadvantage shape transitions into adulthood, with a particular focus on identifying factors that promote resilience and positive outcomes.
Her work focuses on the long-term impacts of persistent childhood poverty, poor parental mental health, and domestic violence on outcomes across education, physical health, mental health, and social behaviour. Using large-scale longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, Paris developed a novel outcome measure, the Index of Positive Adulthood Transition (IPAT), which captures success across multiple domains at age 17.
Her first PhD study demonstrated that persistent exposure to childhood poverty and poor parental mental health substantially reduces the likelihood of achieving a positive transition to adulthood. Her ongoing research extends this work by examining moderators of resilience, factors in early adolescence that may buffer the negative effects of persistent poverty and poor parental mental health on later outcomes. By identifying modifiable protective factors, her research aims to inform policies and interventions designed to improve social mobility, reduce inequalities, and support long-term wellbeing for children growing up in disadvantaged circumstances.