Zahra Azadfar

Zahra Azadfar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Brussels University Consultation Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), affiliated with the Department of Psychology. Her research focuses on clinical psychology with emphasis on adolescent mental health, emotion regulation, and self-injurious behavior, incorporating cross-cultural comparisons between Iran and Belgium.

Her research interests span Clinical Psychology, Psychometrics, Cross-cultural Psychology, Emotion Regulation, Self-Injurious Behavior, and Mental Health in Adolescents. She investigates parenting practices, cultural orientation, and therapeutic interventions like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) using longitudinal designs and network analysis to dissect complex psychological phenomena. Her work frequently examines the interplay between psychological constructs and cultural contexts in mental health outcomes.

Analysis of her 2023-2025 publications reveals a strong trend toward benchmarking therapeutic approaches for mental well-being, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and addressing cultural factors in psychological assessment. She has made significant contributions to understanding non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), sleep problems, and emotional regulation in diverse adolescent populations including those in juvenile justice systems, often employing cross-national comparisons between Iran and Belgium.

Azadfar actively collaborates with researchers including Imke Baetens and Lisa Van Hove at VUB, presenting her work at international conferences on topics like suicidal behaviors and emotion regulation in adjudicated youth. She has contributed to multiple datasets in the VUB Institutional Data Repository, demonstrating commitment to open science and collaborative research in clinical psychology.