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INFORMATION FOR

Alan E Kazdin

Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology

About

Titles

Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology

Biography

Alan E. Kazdin. PhD, ABPP, is Sterling Professor of Psychology and Child Psychiatry (Emeritus). Before coming to Yale, he was on the faculty of The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. At Yale, he has been Director of the Yale Parenting Center, Chairman of the Psychology Department, Director and Chairman of the Yale Child Study Center at the School of Medicine, and Director of Child Psychiatric Services at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Kazdin’s research has focused primarily on the treatment of aggressive and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. His 800+ publications include 50 books that focus on methodology and research design, interventions for children and adolescents, behavioral and cognitive-behavioral treatment, parenting and child rearing, and interpersonal violence. His work on parenting and childrearing has been featured on NPR, PBS, BBC, and CNN and he has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC News, 20/20, and Dr. Phil. As part of his work on parenting, he has developed a free, Coursera-Yale, online course to help parents with the routine challenges of child rearing

https://www.coursera.org/learn/everyday-parenting)

Kazdin has been editor of six professional journals (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,Psychological Assessment,Behavior Therapy,Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice Current Directions in PsychologicalScience, and Clinical Psychological Science). He has received a number of awards including the Outstanding Research Contribution by an Individual Award and Lifetime Achievement Award (Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies), Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology Award and Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology (American Psychological Association), the James McKeen Cattell Award (Association for Psychological Science), and the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology (American Psychological Foundation). In 2008, he was president of the American Psychological Association.

He retired in 2018 to work in new areas of research. His focus is now on world mental health and ways of delivering interventions for mental disorders that can be scaled to reach the vast majority of people in need of mental heal services who receive no care at all.

Last Updated on May 21, 2025.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Research

Overview

Our clinical-research group studies developmental psychopathology and focuses on questions related to diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of childhood disorders, especially oppositional defiant and conduct disorder. We work with children referred for treatment oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior including aggression, theft, truancy, and firesetting. We are interested in developing effective child- and family-based interventions to improve current child functioning and to controvert the poor long-term prognosis. Identifying effective treatments requires research designed to understand the nature and scope of child dysfunction, parent and family factors (e.g., stress, clinical dysfunction) that contribute to adjustment and contextual factors (e.g., socioeconomic disadvantage, domestic violence, quality of family life) in which child dysfunction may be embedded. We study child-rearing practices, parenting, and ways in which parenting can be altered to improve child functioning at home, at school, and in the community.

Our work focuses on psychotherapy more broadly by examining current child and adolescent treatment practices in use in the mental health professions, the clinical and research base of these practices, and the implications for mental health services. As part of this work, we have studied factors related to engaging children and families in treatment, risk factors associated with premature termination from treatment, and factors during treatment (e.g., parent expectations, therapeutic alliance,) that can be mobilized to improve clinical outcomes. Also, we are interested in bridging the hiatus of research and practice by increasing the clinical relevance of psychotherapy research and by developing methods of evaluation for clinical use.
In addition to clinical work, we are interested in parenting and child-rearing challenges in everyday. We work with parents to ease the path of normal challenges based on novel advances in parent-child interaction that promote behaviors parents wish to develop in their children.

Medical Research Interests

Child Rearing; Mental Health Services

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Alan E Kazdin's published research.

Publications

2026

2025

See All Publications

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

Honors

  • honor

    Doctor Honoris Causa

    05/20/2019International AwardAutónoma Universidad del Perú
  • honor

    1990 Master of Arts, Yale University

    03/21/1989Yale University Award

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Contacts

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Mailing Address

Department of Psychology

2 Hillhouse Avenue

New Haven, CT 06520-8205

United States