Teacher
Ana Rita Cruz

Resume

Ana Rita Pereira da Cruz obtained her Integrated Master’s degree in Psychology in 2009 from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, and her European Doctorate title in Psychology from the same institution in 2017. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon. Dr. Cruz has authored 38 peer-reviewed articles and contributed to 7 book chapters. She has supervised 20 master’s dissertations, co-supervised four, and is currently co-supervising one doctoral thesis. Her academic work has been recognized with three awards and/or honors. As principal investigator, she has led one funded research project and participated in seven others, two of which are ongoing and externally funded. Her research focuses on the field of Psychology, with particular emphasis on neuropsychological assessment, executive functions, positive parenting programs, adverse childhood experiences, and aggression-related variables such as prison, crime, violence and justice.

Graus

• Licenciatura
  Licenciatura em Ciências Psicológicas
• Mestrado integrado
  Integrated Masters in Psychology
• Doutoramento
  Psychology doctoral program - European Doctorate
• Título de especialista
  Clinical and Health Psychology
• Título de especialista
  Psychology of Justice
• Título de especialista
  Neuropsychology
• Outros
  Tuning in to Kids parenting program
• Outros
  LEVEL4 STANDARD TRIPLE P
• Pós-Graduação
  Especialização avançada em terapias de terceira geração

Publicações

Journal article

• 2026-04-24, The Gap Between Best Practices and Reality: A Systematic Review on the Interventions With Incarcerated Women, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
• 2026-01-15, Aggression in individuals who perpetrated crimes: The impact of adverse and positive childhood experiences., Psychology of Violence
• 2026-01-08, Cognitive Dysfunction and Criminal Behavior: Investigating Executive Functions in Convicted Individuals, International Journal of Cognitive Sciences
• 2026, Unveiling the Predictors of Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse: The Role of Empathy, Victim Empathy, and Cognitive Distortions , Crime and Delinquency
• 2026, Tuning in to Kids® for parents of preschool-aged children in Portugal, BMC psychology
• 2025-10-06, Attitudes of University Students Toward Individuals Who Have Committed Sexual Crimes: The Role of Sociodemographic and Personality Variables, Journal of Criminal Justice Education
• 2025-09-03, When Good Experiences Matter: Positive Childhood Experiences as a Moderator Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychopathic Traits in Community and justice-Involved Samples, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma
• 2025-06-17, Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences and Emotional Regulation Difficulties in a Sample of Incarcerated Men, Behavioral Sciences
• 2025-05-10, Psychopathy in Community: Social Status, Professional Occupation, and Antisocial Behavior, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research
• 2025-04, Judges looking into themselves: what makes a good judge?, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
• 2025-02-28, The Impact of Positive Childhood Experiences: A Systematic Review Focused on Children and Adolescents, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
• 2025-02-28, The Impact of Positive Childhood Experiences: A Systematic Review Focused on Children and Adolescents, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
• 2025-01, Perpetration of Adolescent Dating Violence: Child Abuse, Attitudes, Impulsivity, Reactive and Proactive Aggression; Automatic or Complex Processes?, Aggressive Behavior
• 2025, Perpetration in Adolescent Partner Violence: Childhood abuse, impulsivity, reactive and proactive aggression, attitudes. automatic or complex processes?, Aggressive behavior
• 2024-08-28, Does psychopathy mediate the relationship between exposure to intimate partner violence in childhood and the perpetration of intimate partner violence in adulthood?, Criminology & Criminal Justice
• 2024-02-27, Psychometric properties of the long and short forms of the AQ aggression questionnaire in a sample of Spanish inmates, Revista Española de Sanidad Penitenciaria
• 2023-10-15, Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence in Childhood and Partner Violence Perpetration in Adulthood: The Mediating Role of Aggression, Deviant Behavior
• 2023-07-25, The impact of imprisonment on individuals¿ mental health and society reintegration: study protocol, BMC Psychology
• 2023-05, The four facets of the Psychopathy Checklist, Youth Version and recidivism: A meta-analysis, Aggression and Violent Behavior
• 2023-01-24, Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence and COVID-19-Related Anxiety During the Second Lockdown in Portugal: The Mediating Role of Anxiety, Depression, and Stress, Journal of Family Violence
• 2022-10-14, Intimate Partner Violence: Perceptions and Attributions of Male Perpetrators, Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice
• 2022-10-03, In or Out: Justice-Involved Women Characterization and Their Perceptions about Penal Sanctions, Women & Criminal Justice
• 2022-03-24, Child Sexual Abuse: How Is the Victim Represented in Portuguese Sentences, Victims & Offenders
• 2022, Dropout among perpetrators of intimate partner violence attending an intervention program, Psychology, Crime and Law
• 2021-12, Dropout among Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence Attending an Intervention Program, Psychology, Crime and Law
• 2021-11-22, A Home-Based Individual Cognitive Stimulation Program for Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Frontiers in Psychology
• 2021-10-06, Attitudes of Police Recruits Towards Offenders: the Impact of the Police Training on Attitudinal Change, Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. 10.1007/s11896-021-09484-5
• 2021-08, Association of positive and negative life events with cognitive performance and psychological status in late life: A cross-sectional study in Northern Portugal, Aging Brain
• 2021, Community sanctions: Offenders’ perceptions about their appropriateness, European Journal of Probation
• 2021, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire: Factor structure and measurement invariance among Portuguese male perpetrators of intimate partner violence., Criminal Justice and Behavior
• 2020-06-19, Indicators of Criminal Justification or Repentance in a Qualitative Analysis of Inmates Autobiographical Criminal Self–Narratives, Journal of Interpersonal Violence
• 2020-03, Executive dysfunction, violence and aggression, Aggression and Violent Behavior
• 2020-02-11, Crimes Against Women: From Violence to Homicide, Journal of Interpersonal Violence
• 2020, Reprint of "Executive dysfunction, violence and aggression", Aggression and Violent Behavior
• 2019-09, Prison officers' attitudes towards self-harm in prisoners, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
• 2019-07, Versatility and exploratory psychometric properties of the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS): A review, Aggression and Violent Behavior
• 2019-06, Psychometric properties of the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale in Portuguese community and forensic samples, Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
• 2018-09-12, Dissociable Effects of Psychopathic Traits on Executive Functioning: Insights From the Triarchic Model, Frontiers in Psychology
• 2016-06, Dissociation of boldness and disinhibition psychopathic traits in ERN modulation, Personality and Individual Differences
• 2010, Contribution to the characterization of aggressive behavior: an exploratory study based on the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale, Psiquiatria, Psicologia e Justiça

Thesis / Dissertation

• 2017-11, PhD, Executive dysfunction, impulsivity and violent criminal behavior
• 2009, Master, Executive dysfunction in impulsive and premeditated murderers

Book

• 2025, Manual do dinamizador do Triplo P Básico (2ª ed). Triple P International. (Original work published 2013). , Cruz, Ana Rita; Abreu-Lima, Isabel; j. campos; m. silva-martins ; pinto, r.; ana catarina canário

Book chapter

• 2022, A Home-Based Individual Cognitive Stimulation Program for Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment, Psychological Frailty in Ageing: Lifespan Trajectories and Emerging Risks., Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience and Frontiers in Public Health
• 2020, Neuropsicologia Forense, A prática profissional da psicologia na justiça, 1
• 2018, Predictors of intimate partner homicide and attempted intimate partner homicide, Proceedings XI Congreso (Inter)nacional de Psicología Jurídica y Forense, Sociedad Española de Psicología Jurídica y Forense
• 2018, Exploring the link between recidivism, aggression and psychopathy, Libro de Actas XI Congreso (Inter)Nacional de Psicología Jurídica y Forense, Sociedad Española de Psicología Jurídica y Forense
• 2018, Criminal lifestyle, crimes and desistence: Perceptions of offenders serving a penal sanction, Proceedings XI Congreso (Inter)nacional de Psicología Jurídica y Forense, Sociedad Española de Psicología Jurídica y Forense
• 2014, Analyzing homicide by two independent raters: Instrumentality vs Reactivity, Proceedings VI International Congress of the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Psychology of Justice
• 2013, Life History of Aggression: Validation study in a sample of the Portuguese population, Proceedings VIII National Symposium of Investigation in Psychology, Portuguese Association of Psychology

Newspaper article

• 2025-04, Psychopathy in Community: Social Status, Professional Occupation, and Antisocial Behavior, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research.

Report

• 2018, STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE SPECIFIC NEEDS FOR EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT IN PRISON STUDENTS, http://www.calypsos.eu/home_outputs/docs/banner1_uk.pdf

Online resource

• 2026-02, Educação e (re)integração social de ex-reclusos/as, https://oobservatoriosocial.fundacaolacaixa.pt/pt/-/educacao-e-reintegracao-social-de-ex-reclusos
• 2026-01-16, Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences and Antisocial/Criminal Behavior in Adulthood: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis, https://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-73d5r-v1

Conference paper

• 2024-11, Perpetration in Adolescent Partner Violence: Childhood abuse, impulsivity, reactive and proactive aggression, attitudes. automatic or complex processes?, X Annual Congress of the Scientific Society of Psychology of Chile

Conference abstract

• 2017, Executive functions in violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, Cognitive Neuroscience of Executive Functions

Conference poster

• 2025-09, Incarcerated aging: Needs and systemic risks of older prisoners
• 2025-04-29, O papel preditor da Psicopatia na Violência no Namoro entre estudantes: protocolo de investigação, II Jornadas de Psicologia: Práticas e Aplicações
• 2025-04-29, A relação entre experiências positivas, psicopatia e comportamentos antissociais numa amostra de Homens a cumprir pena de prisão: Um protocolo de investigação, II Jornadas de Psicologia: Práticas e Aplicações
• 2025-04-08, O efeito das experiências positivas na infância na relação entre as experiências adversas na infância e a regulação emocional numa amostra de homens em reclusão, 1ª Conferência sobre o Trauma e a Resiliência
• 2020-11, A quasi-experimental trial on Standard Triple P effectiveness: Research protocol. , 13th International Congress of Clinical Psychology
• 2017-09, Executive functions in violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, International Conference - Cognitive Neuroscience of Executive Functions
• 2015-11, Executive functions predictors in violent and non-violent offenders, VII International Congress of the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Psychology of Justice
• 2014, Prefrontal dysfunction in impulsive murderers, II European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Conference.
• 2014, Executive functions in non-violent offenders: An exploratory study, 9th Forum: Federation of European Neurosciences Societies.
• 2013, Life History of Aggression: Validation study in a sample of the Portuguese population, VIII National Symposium of Investigation in Psychology
• 2013, Analyzing homicide by two independent raters: Instrumentality vs Reactivity, VI International Congress of the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Psychology of Justice

Other output

• 2023, Mind the Gap, education and social (re)integration after imprisonment