Paul J. Frick, Ph.D.
Department Chair
University Distinguished Professor
(University of Georgia)
Click here for Dr. Fricks' lab and clinic info
Biography
Paul J. Frick, Ph.D is University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Frick has published extensively in peer-reviewed publications, books, and test manuals. A continuing line of research focuses on understanding the different pathways through which youth develop severe antisocial behavior and aggression and the implications of this research for assessment and treatment. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation. In 2008, he received the MacArthur Foundation’s Champion for Change in Juvenile Justice Award for the state of Louisiana. Dr. Frick is a member of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V Workgroup for ADHD and the Disruptive Behavior Disorders. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Orebro University in Orebro, Sweden in recognition of his research contributions in psychology. Dr. Frick was President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy from 2009-2011. From 2007-2011, he was editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, the official journal of Division 53 of the American Psychological Association which is the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Research Interests
Dr. Frick's research broadly focuses on understanding the many interacting causal factors that can lead children and adolescents to have serious emotional and behavioral problems, and using this research to a) enhance the assessment and diagnosis of childhood psychopathology and b) design more effective interventions to prevent and treat such problems. A primary focus of Dr. Frick’s research is on understanding the dispositional and contextual factors that can place children and adolescents at risk for developing severe antisocial and violent behavior, leading them to be diagnosed with Conduct Disorder or to be arrested for illegal behavior. His work focuses on uncovering and understanding the many different causal processes that can lead children to display such serious conduct problems, with a special focus on children who show a callous and unemotional interpersonal style (e.g., lacking empathy and guilt). Dr. Frick’s line of research investigates the characteristics of these children at various developmental stages (e.g., preschool, elementary school-age, adolescence) and he attempts to integrate this research with forensic research on the psychopathic personality and developmental research on conscience development to provide a lifespan perspective on antisocial and aggressive behavior. Finally Dr. Frick focuses on using this research to improve assessments and interventions for antisocial and aggressive youth in mental health settings, in schools, and in the juvenile justice system.
For more information about my research, please see my research lab homepage.
Selected Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications (click here for curriculum vita)
Frick, P.J. (2012). Developmental pathways to conduct disorder: Implications for future directions in research, assessment, and treatment. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41, 378-389.
Frick, P.J. & Nigg, J.T. (2012). Current issues in the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 77-107.
Kahn, R.E., Frick, P.J., Youngstrom, E., Findling, R.L., & Youngstrom, J.K. (2012). The effects of including a callous-unemotional specifier for the diagnosis of conduct disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53, 271-282.
Kimonis, E.R., Frick, P.J., Cauffman, E., Goldweber, A., & Skeem, J. (2012). Primary and secondary variants of juvenile psychopathy differ in emotional processing. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 1091-1103.
Frick, P.J. (2009). Extending the construct of psychopathy to youths: Implications for understanding, diagnosing, and treating antisocial children and adolescents. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry ,12, 803-812.
Dandreaux, D.M. & Frick, P.J. (2009). Developmental pathways to conduct problems: A further test of the childhood and adolescent-onset distinction. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 375 - 385.
Frick, P.J. & White, S.F. (2008). The importance of callous-unemotional traits for the development of aggressive and antisocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 359-375.
Kimonis, E.R., Frick, P.J., Munoz, L.C. & Aucoin, K.J. (2008). Callous-unemotional traits and the emotional processing of distress cues in detained boys: Testing the moderating role of aggression, exposure to community violence, and histories of abuse. Development and Psychopathology, 20
Munoz, L.C., Frick, P.J., Kimonis, E.R., & Aucoin, K.J. (2008). Types of aggression, responsiveness to provocation, and callous-unemotional traits in detained adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 15-28.
Viding, E., Jones, A.P., Frick, P.J., Moffitt, T.E., & Plomin, R. (2008). Heritability of antisocial behaviour at age 9: Do callous-unemotional traits matter? Developmental Science, 11, 17-22
Revised 09/20/12