Assessment and Diagnosis

Another focus of research in the Developmental Psychopathology Lab is using research to enhance the criteria used to diagnose child mental health problems. Work in the lab guided recent changes in the criteria for Conduct Disorder included in the 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that now includes a specifier “With Limited Prosocial Emotions” for children with the disorder who also show severe and impairing levels of callous-unemotional traits.

Frick, P.J. (2022).  Some critical considerations in applying the construct of psychopathy to research and classification of childhood disruptive behavior disorders.  Clinical Psychology Review, 96, 102188.

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.

Frick, P.J., Ray, J.V., Thornton, L.C., & Kahn, R.E. (2014). Can callous-unemotional traits enhance the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of serious conduct problems in children and adolescents? A comprehensive review. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1-57.

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., Fanti, K.A., Frick, P.J., Moffitt, T.E., Essau, C., Bijjtebier, P., & Marsee, M.A. (2015). Using self-reported callous-unemotional traits to cross-nationally assess the DSM-5 “With Limited Prosocial Emotions” specifier. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56, 1249-1261.

Kimonis, E.R., Fanti, K., Goldweber, A., Marsee, M.A., Frick, P.J., & Cauffman, E. (2014). Callous-unemotional traits in incarcerated adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 26, 227-237.

Research in the lab is also used to enhance the practice of psychological assessment. Clinical 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 in 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 enhance the science and technology of assessment of childhood psychopathology, including developing specific assessment methods that can be used in both research and practice.

Barry, C.T., Frick, P.J., & Grafeman, S.J. (2008). Child versus parent reports of parenting practices: Implications for the conceptualization of child behavioral and emotional problems Assessment, 15, 294-303.

Childs, K., Frick, P.J., Ryals, J.S., Lingonblad, A., & Villio, M.J. (2014). A comparison of empirically based and structured professional judgment estimation of risk using the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 12, 40-57.

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

Frick, P.J., Barry, C.T., & Kamphaus, R.W. (2020). Clinical assessment of children’s personality and behavior, (4th edition). New York: Springer.

Kieling, C., Kieling, R., Rohde, L.A., Frick, P.J., Moffitt, T., Nigg, J.T., Tannock, R., & Castellanos, F.X. (2010). The age of onset of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167. 14-16.

Kimonis, E.R., Frick, P.J., Munoz, L.C. & Aucoin, K.J. (2007). Can a laboratory measure of emotional processing enhance the statistical prediction of aggression and delinquency in detained adolescents with callous-unemotional traits? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 773-785.

Lawing, K., Childs, K.K., Frick, P.J., & Vincent, G. (2017). Use of structured professional judgement by probation officers to assess risk for recidivism in adolescent offenders. Psychological Assessment, 29, 652-663.

Marsee, M.A., Barry, C.T., Childs, K.K., Frick, Paul J., Kimonis, E.R., Munoz, L., Aucoin, K.J., Kunimatsu, M.M., Fassnacht, G.M., & Lau, K.S.L. (2011). Assessing the forms and functions of aggression using self-report: Factor structure and invariance of the Peer Conflict Scale in youth. Psychological Assessment, 23, 792-804.

Ray, J.V., Frick, P.J., Thornton, L.C., Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E. (2016). Positive and negative item wording and its influence on the assessment of callous-unemotional traits. Psychological Assessment, 28, 394-404.

Roose, A., Bijttbier, P., Decoene, S., Claes, L., & Frick, P.J. (2010). Assessing the affective features of psychopathy in adolescence: A further validation of the Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits. Assessment, 17, 44-57.

Walker, T.M., Frick, P.J., Matlasz, T.M., Robertson, E.L., Mikolajewski, A., J., Mitchell, C., Lopez-Duran, N., Monk, C., & Hyde, L.W. (2021).  Psychometric properties of a semi-structured interview to assess limited prosocial emotions.  Assessment, 28, 1755-1764. 

White, S.F., Cruise, K.R., & Frick, P.J. (2009). Differential correlates to self-report and parent-report of callous-unemotional traits in a sample of juvenile sex offenders. Behavioral Science and the Law, 27, 910-928.