Biography
Crystal Smit is assistant professor in Clinical Child and Family Studies at the Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies. She is also lab manager of the Erasmus Movez Lab—a research team with a shared interest in youth, digital media, and well-being. Her research focuses on motivating healthy behaviors among youth, while taking into account the influences in their social networks. In co-creation with the targeted youth, she investigates how effective (online) health campaigns implementing social influencers can be developed. As lab manager at the Movez Lab, she focuses on the connection between research and society.
Crystal holds a Bachelor's degree in Pedagogical Sciences and a Research Master's degree in Behavioral Sciences from Radboud University in Nijmegen. Subsequently she started working on her PhD project embedded in the MyMovez project, led by Prof. Moniek Buijzen. In 2021, she successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled Motivating Healthy Drinking Behaviors among Children: The Effects of the Share H2O Social Network Intervention, at the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud University. For a full scientific curriculum vitae and e-book of her dissertation, please visit crystalsmit.com.
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- c.r.smit@essb.eur.nl
More information
Work
- Saskia C.M. Franken, Crystal R. Smit, Marleen H.M. de Moor, Rebecca N.H. de Leeuw & Moniek Buijzen (2026) - Promoting water consumption among children through a social network intervention: a cluster randomized controlled trial on a Caribbean island - Journal of Public Health (Germany), 34 (6), 1371-1387 - doi: 10.1007/s10389-024-02386-w - [link]
- Kathleen W. Guan, Mohammed Amara, Viviana Cortiana, Imran Khan, Sıla Gürbüz, Carmine Iorio, Rayyan Ali, Christopher Adlung, Crystal R. Smit, Annabel Vreeker, Eva Thalassinou, Eeske van Roekel, Loes Keijsers, Mark de Reuver & Caroline A. Figueroa (2026) - Toward Participatory Precision Health With Co-Designed Recommendations: Systematic Review of Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions in Adolescents and Young Adults - Journal of Medical Internet Research, 28 - doi: 10.2196/84422 - [link]
- Kathleen W. Guan, Christopher Adlung, Loes Keijsers, Crystal R. Smit, Annabel Vreeker, Eva Thalassinou, Eeske Van Roekel, Mark De Reuver & Caroline A. Figueroa (2024) - Just-in-time adaptive interventions for adolescent and young adult health and well-being: Protocol for a systematic review - BMJ open, 14 (7) - doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-083870 - [link]
- MAA Polman, D G J Beckers, WJ Burk, CR Smit, M Buijzen, JM Vink, N van den Broek & JK Larsen (2024) - The effect of a multi-component school-based social network intervention on children's body mass index: a four-arm intervention study - Psychology and Health, 39 (11), 1503-1520 - doi: 10.1080/08870446.2023.2179084 - [link]
- Saskia C.M. Franken, Crystal R. Smit, Rebecca N.H. de Leeuw, Thabo J. van Woudenberg, William J. Burk, Kirsten E. Bevelander & Moniek Buijzen (2023) - Understanding the behavioral determinants of adolescents’ water consumption: A cross-country comparative study - Dialogues in Health, 2 - doi: 10.1016/j.dialog.2023.100101 - [link]
- Crystal Smit, Kirsten E. Bevelander, Rebecca N.H. de Leeuw & Moniek Buijzen (2022) - Motivating Social Influencers to Engage in Health Behavior Interventions - Frontiers in Psychology, 13 - doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.885688 - [link]
- Crystal R. Smit, Rebecca N.H. de Leeuw, Kirsten E. Bevelander, William J. Burk, Thabo J. van Woudenberg, Laura Buijs & Moniek Buijzen (2021) - Promoting water consumption among Dutch children: an evaluation of the social network intervention Share H<sub>2</sub> O - BMC Public Health, 21 (1) - doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10161-9 - [link]
- Crystal Smit (2021) - Hoe motiveer je peer influencers om positief gezondheidsgedrag te promoten? - Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap (print), 49 (2), 198-201 - doi: 10.5117/TVC2021.2.006.SMIT
- Crystal R. Smit, Rebecca N.H. De Leeuw, Kirsten E. Bevelander, William J. Burk, Laura Buijs, Thabo J. Van Woudenberg & Moniek Buijzen (2020) - Promoting water consumption among children: A three-arm cluster randomised controlled trial testing a social network intervention - Public Health Nutrition, 24 (8), 2324-2336 - doi: 10.1017/S1368980020004802 - [link]
- KE Bevelander, W J Burk, Crystal Smit, Thabo van Woudenberg, LB Buijs & Moniek Buijzen (2020) - Exploring the directionality in the relationship between descriptive and injunctive parental and peer norms and snacking behavior in a three-year-cross-lagged study - International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 17 - doi: 10.1186/s12966-020-00977-w - [link]
- Thabo van Woudenberg, KE Bevelander, WJ Burk, Crystal Smit, LB Buijs & Moniek Buijzen (2020) - Comparing the measurement of different social networks: Peer nominations, online communication, and proximity data - Network Science, 8 (1), 62-78 - doi: 10.1017/nws.2019.65 - [link]
- Thabo van Woudenberg, KE Bevelander, W J Burk, Crystal Smit, LB Buijs & Moniek Buijzen (2020) - Testing a social network intervention using vlogs to promote physical activity among adolescents: a randomized controlled trial - Frontiers in Psychology, 10 - doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02913 - [link]
- Thabo van Woudenberg, B Simoski, E Fernandes de Mello Araujo, KE Bevelander, W J Burk, Crystal Smit, LB Buijs, MCA Klein & Moniek Buijzen (2019) - Identifying influence agents that promote physical activity through the simulation of social network Interventions: Agent-based modeling study - Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21 (8) - doi: 10.2196/12914 - [link]
- Crystal Smit, LB Buijs, Thabo van Woudenberg, KE Bevelander & Moniek Buijzen (2019) - The impact of social media influencers on children's dietary behaviors - Frontiers in Psychology, 10 - doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02975 - [link]
- KE Bevelander, WJ Burk, LB Buijs, Crystal Smit, Thabo van Woudenberg & Moniek Buijzen (2018) - A longitudinal study of friends' and parents' norms on core and non-core snack food intake - Appetite, 130, 298 - doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.05.159
- KE Bevelander, Thabo van Woudenberg, WJ Burk, LB Buijs, Crystal Smit & Moniek Buijzen (2018) - A longitudinal study of friends' and parents' social norms on physical activity - Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 15 (10 - Suppl. 1), 52
- Crystal Smit, RNH de Leeuw, KE Bevelander, WJ Burk, LB Buijs, Thabo van Woudenberg & Moniek Buijzen (2018) - An integrated model of fruit, vegetable, and water intake in young adolescents - Health Psychology, 37 (12), 1159-1167 - doi: 10.1037/hea0000691
- Thabo van Woudenberg, KE Bevelander, WJ Burk, Crystal Smit, LB Buijs & Moniek Buijzen (2018) - A randomized controlled trial testing a social network intervention to promote physical activity among adolescents - BMC Public Health, 18 - doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5451-4 - [link]
- SCM Franken, Crystal Smit & Moniek Buijzen (2018) - Promoting water consumption on a Caribbean island: An intervention using children's social networks at schools - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15 (4) - doi: 10.3390/ijerph15040713 - [link]
BalanceBuddy
- Start date approval
- January 2024
- End date approval
- January 2027
- Place
- UTRECHT
- Description
- Raad van Advies
3.2 Behaviour Change and Sustainability
- Year
- 2025
- Course Code
- ESSB-P3K-50
3.6 Bachelor Internship Pedagogical Sc.
- Year
- 2025
- Course Code
- FSWE3-070-A
