Find out what we're all about

The goals of this web site are to provide:

• the most up-to-date information on the research being conducted by the lab and the people involved in this research,
• access to or instructions for obtaining the measures that have been used in research conducted by the lab, and
• information for prospective graduate students who may be interested in joining this exciting group of researchers.

If you have any questions or suggestions about anything contained in this web site, please don't hesitate to contact me at pfrick@uno.edu.

Overall Goals
The overall goals of the laboratory are:

• to conduct research on various forms of childhood psychopathology from a developmental psychopathology perspective and
• to use this research to guide advances in our assessment and intervention technology for emotional and behavioral disorders in youth.

This goal fits within the overarching framework of our doctoral program in Applied Developmental Psychology which has chosen the developmental psychopathology perspective to guide all aspects of its training of students. For more information on the basic assumptions of the developmental psychopathology model and how it influences our training model, please go to our graduate program website and download our program brochure.

Specific Research Emphases
The number and variety of specific research projects being conducted in the laboratory will vary depending on a number of factors, most importantly being the interest of the students working in the laboratory. At any one time, the laboratory has between 8 and 12 students at the graduate or undergraduate level working on research projects.

• Providing students with in depth experience in all phases of conducting research in developmental psychopathology is the lab's number 1 priority!

Developmental Pathways to Severe Antisocial and Aggressive Behavior. The vast majority of the research conducted by the lab in recent years has focused on understanding the different developmental pathways through which children develop severe conduct problems. Specifically, this research operates from the basic developmental psychopathology assumption that the same outcome (e.g., antisocial behavior) can result from a number of different developmental processes. The goal of this research is to understand these diverse pathways through which children may develop severe antisocial behavior and aggression and to use this understanding to enhance preventive and treatment interventions for antisocial youth.

• This research has documented a group of youth, those with callous-unemotional (CU) traits, who seem to show a number of distinct causal processes related to their antisocial behavior and who show a particularly severe and aggressive pattern of antisocial behavior.
  

  Sample Publications:
  

  • Barry, C.T., Frick, P.J., Grooms, T., McCoy, M.G., Ellis, M. L., & Loney, B.R. (2000). The importance of callous-unemotional traits for extending the concept of psychopathy to children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 335-340.

  • Frick, P.J., Cornell, A.H., Barry, C.T., Bodin, S.D., & Dane, H.A. (2003). Callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in the prediction of conduct problem severity, aggression, and self-report of delinquency. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 457-470.

  • Frick, P.J., & Morris, A.S. (2004). Temperament and developmental pathways to severe conduct problems. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 54-68.

  • Frick, P.J., & Marsee, M.A. (in press). Psychopathy and developmental pathways to antisocial behavior in youth. In C.J. Patrick (Eds.), Handbook of psychopathy. New York: Guilford.

Some applications of this research include:

• the development of a rating scale, the Antisocial Process Screening Device, to screen for CU traits and other constructs related to antisocial behavior,
  

  Sample Publications:

  • Frick, P.J., Bodin, S.D., & Barry, C.T. (2000). Psychopathic traits and conduct problems in community and clinic-referred samples of children: Further development of the Psychopathy Screening Device. Psychological Assessment, 12, 382-393.

  • Frick, P.J. & Hare, R.D. (2001). The Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD). Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.

• the development of laboratory measures to assess processes that may be involved in the development of severe conduct problems and aggression for some youth,
  

  Sample Publications:
  

  • Frick, P.J., Cornell, A.H., Bodin, S.D., Dane, H.A., Barry, C.T., & Loney, B.R. (2003). Callous-Unemotional traits and developmental pathways to severe aggressive and antisocial behavior. Developmental Psychology, 39, 246-260.

  • Loney, B.R., Frick, P.J., Clements, C.B., Ellis, M.L., & Kerlin, K. (2003). Callous-unemotional traits, impulsivity, and emotional processing in antisocial adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32, 66-80.

  • O'Brien, B. S. & Frick, P.J. (1996). Reward dominance: Associations with anxiety, conduct problems, and psychopathy in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 24, 223-240.

• making recommendations for enhancing the assessment of children with severe conduct problems, and
  

  Sample Publications:
  

  • Frick, P.J. (2002). Juvenile psychopathy from a developmental perspective: Implications for construct development and use in forensic assessments. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 247-253.

  • Frick, P.J., Barry, C.T., Bodin, S.D. (2002). Applying the concept of psychopathy to children: Implications for the assessment of antisocial youth. In C.B.Gacono (Ed.), The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy (pp.3-24). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

  • Frick, P.J., & Loney, B.R. (2000). The use of laboratory and performance-based measures in the assessment of children and adolescents with conduct disorders. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29, 540-554.

• making recommendations for enhancing interventions for children with severe conduct problems.
  

  Sample Publications:
  

  • Frick, P.J. (in press). Developmental pathways to conduct disorder: Implications for serving youth who show severe aggressive and antisocial behavior. Psychology in the Schools.

  • Frick, P.J. (2001). Effective interventions for children and adolescents with conduct disorder. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 46, 26-37.

  • Frick, P.J. (1998). Conduct disorders and severe antisocial behavior. New York: Plenum.

Interactions between the child's temperament and his or her family context in the development of psychopathology. A critical component to a developmental psychopathology perspective is the recognition that any developmental outcome, be it adaptive or maladaptive, is rarely the result of a single factor. It is usually the result of multiple interacting factors, with some of the most interesting interactions being between individual differences within the child and influences within the child's psychosocial context. A continuing line of research in the lab is on understanding these interactions and how they contribute to a child's risk for certain types of emotional and behavioral difficulties.

Sample Publications:

• Frick, P.J. (2004). Integrating research on temperament and childhood psychopathology. Its pitfalls and promise. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 2-7.

• Frick, P.J. & Loney, B.R. (2002). Understanding the association between parent and child antisocial behavior. In R.J. McMahon & R. Dev. Peters (Eds.), The effects of parental dysfunction on children (pp. 105-126). New York: Plenum.

• Jackson, Y.K., & Frick, P.J. (1998). Stress and resilience in children: Testing protective models. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 370-380.

• Kimonis, E.R., Frick, P.J., & Barry, C.T. (in press). Callous-unemotional traits and delinquent peer affiliation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

• McCoy, M.G., Frick, P.J., Loney, B.R., & Ellis, M.L. (2000). The potential mediating role of parenting practices in the development of conduct problems in a clinic-referred sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 8, 477-494.

• Wootton, J.M., Frick, P.J., Shelton, K.K., & Silverthorn, P. (1997). Ineffective parenting and childhood conduct problems: The moderating role of callous-unemotional traits. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 301-308.

Some applications of this research include:

• the development of a method for assessing the parenting constructs most consistently related to conduct problems in youth, the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire.
  

  Sample Publications:
  

  • Frick, P.J., Christian, R.C. & Wootton, J.M. (1999). Age trends in the association between parenting practices and conduct problems. Behavior Modification, 23, 106-128.
  • Shelton, K.K., Frick, P.J., & Wootton, J. (1996). The assessment of parenting practices in families of elementary school-aged children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25, 317-327.

Enhancing the assessment and diagnosis of childhood disorders. Another focus of research in the developmental psychopathology lab is in trying to use research to enhance the practice of assessment and diagnosis of childhood psychopathology. The methods used in the practice of psychological assessment has often been driven more by an allegiance to a theoretical orientation that underlies a particular method of assessment, or even more problematic, by an allegiance to a particular assessment technique, rather than being based on the most current understanding of the psychological construct that is being assessed. This has led to a dichotomy between measures of psychopathology being used research and assessment techniques being used in clinical practice. If the field is to improve its treatment technology by being guided by advances in basic research it is critical to translate measures that are being developed and used in research into forms that can also be used in practice. Therefore, a continuing focus of the lab is to apply its research findings to enhancing the science and technology of assessment of childhood psychopathology.

Sample Publications:

• Frick, P.J. (2000). The problems of internal validation without a theoretical context: The different conceptual underpinnings of psychopathy and the disruptive behavior disorders criteria. Psychological Assessment, 12, 451-456.

• Frick, P.J. (2000). Laboratory and performance-based measures of childhood disorders. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29, 475-478.

• Frick, P.J., & Cornell, A.H. (2003). Child and adolescent assessment and diagnosis research. In M. C. Roberts & S.S. Ilardi (Eds.), Methods of research in clinical psychology (pp. 262-281). United Kingdom: Blackwell.

• Frick, P.J. & Kamphaus, R.W. (2001). Behavior rating scales in the assessment of children’s behavioral and emotional problems. In C.E. Walker & M.C. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of clinical child Psychology (3rd ed.. pp. 190-204). New York: Wiley.

• Kamphaus, R.W., & Frick, P. (2002). Clinical assessment of children's personality and behavior. (2nd edition). New York: Allyn & Bacon.

• Loney, B.R.. & Frick, P.J. (2003). Structured diagnostic interviewing. In C.R. Reynolds & R.W. Kamphaus (Eds.), Handbook of educational assessment of children, 2nd ed (pp. 235-247). New York: Guilford.

• McMahon, R.J. & Frick, P.J. ( in press). Evidence-based assessment of conduct problems in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.