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ABOUT US:

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The RISK laboratory studies risk-taking behavior in young adults using a multiple-level-of-analysis perspective, spanning from genes to behavior and the social environment. We are particularly interested in examining integrative pathways to the outcomes of ADHD, conduct problems, and drug abuse. We also have a particular focus on better understanding sex differences in these pathways. For example, recent, emerging pilot data coming out of our laboratory suggests that young adult women are at increased risk for binge drinking at ovulation due to rapidly rising levels of estradiol, while women are at increased risk for inattentive ADHD symptoms just past ovulation due to rapidly declining levels of estradiol.

Aside from this recent young adult project, we have a number of other areas of active research inquiry that span from the prenatal period through young adulthood using the same multi-faced approach. Some recent areas of work that are currently ongoing in our laboratory, using archived and international data sets and advanced up-and-coming statistical and mathematical approaches, include:

-- development of more sophisticated approaches to cross-informant integration in assessment of ADHD across the lifespan

-- evaluation of the utility of personalizing treatment of ADHD based on child trait and cognitive profiles

-- identification of biological, temperament, and cognitive early developmental precursors to disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) from the prenatal period through preschool

-- determination of trait and symptom markers of common patterns of comorbidity from preschool into young adulthood

-- characterization of developmental change in pathways to DBD symptoms across development

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DOCTORAL STUDENTS:

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Pevitr Bansal, M.S. -- pevitr.bansal@uky.edu

Pev joined the RISK lab in Fall 2017. He completed his undergraduate degree at Penn State University-Abington College and his M.S. at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Prior to enrolling as a graduate student at UK, he worked with Dr. Daniel Waschbusch in the Department of Psychiatry at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Pev is interested in the role of affect (e.g., irritability, callous-unemotional traits) in the development and treatment of conduct problems (CP; e.g., defiance, aggression, property destruction). His current programmatic line of research has explored how these affective traits, particularly callousness, relates to CP through various analytic approaches (e.g., multilevel modeling, network analysis). In the long term, he aims to apply etiological findings to (a) develop more accurate assessments for CP and (b) design more effective and personalized treatments to target the mechanisms underlying CP (e.g., emotion dysregulation, reduced empathy/guilt). 

**Pev is currently completing his clinical internship at the University of California, San Francisco**

Representative Publications/Presentations:

Bansal, P. S., Goh, P. K., Eng, A. G., Elkins, A. R., Thaxton, M. H., & Martel, M. M. (2021). Utility of the limited prosocial emotions specifier in preschoolers with conduct problems. Assessment. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911211051070

Bansal, P. S., Goh, P. K., Eng, A. G., Elkins, A. R., Thaxton, M., Smith, T. E., & Martel, M. M. (2021). Identifying the inter-domain relations among ODD, CD, and CU traits in preschool children using network analysis. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 1-13.

Waxmonsky, J. G., Baweja, R., Bansal, P. S., & Waschbusch, D. A. (2021). A review of the evidence-base for the psychosocial treatment of emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents. Child and Adolescent Clinics in North America, 30(3), 573-594.

Bansal, P. S., Goh, P. K., Lee, C. A., & Martel, M. M. (2020). Conceptualizations of callous – unemotional traits in preschool through confirmatory factor and network analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 48(4), 1 – 12.

Bansal, P. S., Haas, S. M., Willoughby, M. T., Coles, E. K., Pelham Jr., W. E., & Waschbusch, D. A. (2019). A pilot study of emotional response to time-out in children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. Psychological Reports. 10.1177/0033294119884014

Bansal, P. S., Waschbusch, D. A., Haas, S. M., Babinski, D. E., King, S., Andrade, B. F., & Willoughby, M. T. (2019). Effects of intensive behavioral treatment on children with varying levels of conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. Behavior Therapy. 50(1), 1 – 14.

Ashley Eng, M.A. – ashley.eng@uky.edu

View Ashley's CV

Ashley joined the RISK lab in Fall 2019. She completed her undergraduate work at Stonehill College and received her M.A. in Psychological Science from the Catholic University of America working with Dr. Brendan Rich. Ashley is broadly interested in the relationship between ADHD and hormones. Her current line of research seeks to explore post-ovulatory estrogen effects on ADHD symptoms and impairment across adolescence. In the long term, she aims to apply her findings to inform the assessment of ADHD and personalize the treatment of ADHD based on pubertal stage and/or cycle phase. In her free time, Ashley likes to take her dogs on hikes. 

Representative Publications/Presentations:

Eng, A. G., Phan, J. M., Shirtcliff, E. A., Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A., Goh, P. K., & Martel, M. M. (Under Review). Aging and pubertal development differentially predict symptoms of ADHD, depression, and impairment in children and adolescents: An eight-year longitudinal study. 

Goh, P. K., Eng, A. G., Elkins, A. R., & Martel, M. M. (2021). Gender differences in ADHD comorbidity during adolescence: An understudied area in need of attention. The ADHD Report, 29(3), 1-10.

Martel, M. M., Eng, A. G., Bansal, P. S., Smith, T. E., Elkins, A. R., & Goh, P. K. (2021). Multiple informant average integration of ADHD symptom ratings predictive of concurrent and longitudinal impairment. Psychological Assessment.

Eng, A. G., Martel, M. M., & Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A. (2021, November). Longitudinal pubertal associations with ADHD and comorbid depression. Poster presented at the Harvard Women in Psychology Trends in Psychology Summit, Boston, MA. 

Anjeli Elkins, M.S. -- anjeli.elkins@uky.edu

View Anjeli's CV