Profile
Biography
I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Education at the University of York. My work is focused on the psychology of adulthood, aiming to understand when and why people feel like adults in a climate where traditional milestones of adulthood such as marriage, parenthood, and home ownership, are delayed or foregone. My research investigates the psychological characteristics of adult identity. I am interested in individual differences in perceptions of adulthood, and associations between adult identity and wellbeing.
My research is primarily quantitative. I have expertise in R, and experience in meta-analysis, regression analysis, data simulation, and data visualisation. I also have experience in qualitative research methods and design. I practice Open Science, and pre-register and pre-print my research on the OSF.
I am passionate about communicating psychological science with the wider public beyond academia. I was part of the organisation committee for the Pint of Science Festival in York in 2024, and I often write blog posts about my research, including invited pieces for Psychology Today and Psyche magazine.
Career
- 2025: WRDTP ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of York
- 2024: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Nottingham
- 2023-2024: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Hogan Research Institute
- 2020-2023: PhD in Psychology in Education, University of York
Research
Overview
Overview
My research focuses on the psychology of adulthood. I am interested in psychological characteristics of adult development, individual differences in adult development, and lived experiences of adulthood.
My current project, supported by the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded by the White Rose Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership, focuses on the impact of perceptions of adulthood on wellbeing. My fellowship project involves semi-structured interviews to assess lived experiences of adulthood and how expectations and perceptions of adulthood impact wellbeing. Dr Beth Bell is my mentor on this project.
I completed my PhD at the University of York in December 2023 supervised by Professor Sophie von Stumm on the topic of ‘What makes an adult? An investigation into the psychology of modern adulthood’, funded by Hogan Assessment Systems.
Research group
Psychology in Education Research Centre
Grants
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2025)
Publications
Wright, M., Oxley, F., & von Stumm, S. (2024). The markers of adulthood: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 40(6). https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000873
Wright, M., & von Stumm, S. (2024). Perceptions of adulthood: What does it mean to be grown-up? Journal of Adult Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-024-09477-8
Wilding, K., Wright, M., & von Stumm, S. (2024). Using DNA to Predict Education: a Meta-analytic Review. Educational Psychology Review, 36(102). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09928-4
Cave, S., Wright, M., & von Stumm, S. (2022). Change and stability in the influence of parents’ education on children’s intelligence. Intelligence, 90, 101597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2021.101597
Wright, M. & von Stumm, S. (2022). Within-person variability in performance across school subjects. Learning and Individual Differences, 93, 102091.
