John R Weisz
Biographic Data
| ID | 217700 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John R Weisz |
| GIVEN NAMES | John R |
| FAMILY NAME | Weisz |
| SIGNATURE | WEISZ J R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5560-6814 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 70 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 557 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 70 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1972 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Have parenting programs for disruptive child behavior become less effective
BACKGROUND: Behavioral parenting programs have been exhaustively studied over the past five decades. We used this wealth of research to examine how estimates of parenting program effects have evolved over time, and if any time trends in effect estimates can be explained by trial, sample, or intervention characteristics. METHODS: We based our meta-analysis on a systematic search of 22 international and regional databases, gray literature, and 4 tr…
The design of a scalable intervention for adolescents with internalizing problems
EMPOWER is a program aimed at building the capacity of frontline workers to deliver brief, evidence-based psychosocial interventions for mental health conditions. We describe the design of such an intervention for adolescents with internalizing problems, a leading cause of morbidity for this age group in the United States. The intervention design was founded on the findings of a meta-analysis by Fitzpatrick et al. (2023) of 263 randomized control…
Initial Score Reliability and Validity of an Observer-Rated Caregiver-Clinician Alliance Scale in Treatment for Youth Anxiety
The modular approach to therapy for youths with anxiety, depression, trauma, and conduct problems (MATCH)
ISRCTN24029895. Registration date: 8/8/2016
Meta-analysis of Psychotherapy for Autistic Youth
In order to provide more individualized support, it is imperative to further understand the effectiveness of different types of psychotherapy on the clinical areas of need common in autistic youth (Wood et al. in Behav Ther 46:83-95, 2015). Randomized controlled trials of psychotherapy for autistic youth were included if published in English, included random assignment to treatment or control group, required a previous diagnosis of autism, had a …
Thomas Max Achenbach (1940–2023)
Memorializes Thomas Max Achenbach (1940-2023). He is known for groundbreaking contributions to developmental psychopathology, a field that was shaped in part by his 1974 book with that title, and for creating the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA), arguably the world's most widely used suite of procedures for assessing child, youth, adult, and older adult strengths and emotional and behavioral problems. His research revealed…
Research Review
BACKGROUND: Youth anxiety and depression have long been combined within the empirically derived internalizing syndrome. The two conditions show substantial comorbidity, symptom co-occurrence, and overlap in treatment procedures, but paradoxically diverge in psychotherapy outcomes: strong, positive effects for anxiety and weak effects for depression. METHODS: Drawing on recent research, we examine candidate explanations for this paradox to help id…
How do cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy improve youth depression? Applying meta-analytic structural equation modeling to three decades of randomized trials
Investigating the mechanisms through which psychotherapy brings about desired change can inform efforts to improve therapies. We applied meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) to assess putative change mechanisms for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as mediators of youth depression treatment outcome. Then, we tested whether candidate mediators (CMs) showed evidence of treatment-specificity to CBT versus interpersonal psychotherapy (…
Is Irritability a Top Problem in Youth Mental Health Care? A Multi-informant, Multi-method Investigation
Loneliness in Kenyan adolescents
Loneliness is associated with negative mental health outcomes and is particularly common among adolescents. Yet, little is known about the dynamics of adolescent loneliness in non-Western, low-income nations. Accordingly, we estimated the severity of loneliness in a sample of Kenyan adolescents and used mixed-effects regression modelling to determine the socio-cultural factors associated with loneliness. We also used network analysis to examine t…
In Their Own Words
Conducting global mental health research
Mental health disorders are prevalent among youth and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries, and access to evidence-based treatments is poor. Although there is a great need for high-quality research to serve young people in low- and middle-income countries, there is limited guidance available for researchers who wish to conduct such work. Here, we describe our process of conducting school-based youth mental health work in Kenya over the…
Modular Psychotherapy Outcomes for Youth With Different Latent Profiles of Irritability and Emotion Dysregulation
Background: Severe irritability is a common, impairing problem among youth referred for mental health services, but evidence to guide care is limited. Treatment research can be advanced by adopting a transdiagnostic perspective, leveraging existing evidence-based treatment (EBT) techniques, and situating irritability within the context of emotion dysregulation. Accordingly, this study examined treatment outcomes for youth with different levels of…
Complementing standard western measures of depression with locally co-developed instruments
Our present understanding of depression relies on a Western nosology that might not be generalizable across diverse cultures around the world. As a consequence, current clinical research and practice may not capture culturally salient features of depression. Expanded cross-cultural research that uses ethnographic methods and local instruments may yield information of clinical utility to enhance culturally sensitive research and practice. In this …
Using Mixed Methods to Identify the Primary Mental Health Problems and Needs of Children, Adolescents, and Their Caregivers during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic
Do Immediate Gains Predict Long-Term Symptom Change? Findings from a Randomized Trial of a Single-Session Intervention for Youth Anxiety and Depression
A single‐session growth mindset intervention for adolescent anxiety and depression
BACKGROUND: Single-session interventions (SSIs) show promise in the prevention and treatment of youth psychopathology, carrying potential to improve the scalability and accessibility of youth psychological services. However, existing SSIs have conferred greater benefits for youths with anxiety, compared to depression or comorbid problems, and their effects have generally waned over time - particularly for follow-ups exceeding 3 months. METHOD: To…
Associations Between Trauma Type, Timing, and Accumulation on Current Coping Behaviors in Adolescents
What five decades of research tells us about the effects of youth psychological therapy
Implicit Theories Relate to Youth Psychopathology, But How? A Longitudinal Test of Two Predictive Models
Relation Between Parent Symptomatology and Youth Problems
The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Short Version
Using a school-based (N = 1,060) and clinic-referred (N = 303) youth sample, the authors developed a 25-item shortened version of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) using Schmid-Leiman exploratory bifactor analysis to reduce client burden and administration time and thus improve the transportability characteristics of this youth anxiety and depression measure. Results revealed that all anxiety items primarily reflected a singl…
Testing Standard and Modular Designs for Psychotherapy Treating Depression, Anxiety, and Conduct Problems in Youth
CONTEXT: Decades of randomized controlled trials have produced separate evidence-based treatments for depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in youth, but these treatments are not often used in clinical practice, and they produce mixed results in trials with the comorbid, complex youths seen in practice. An integrative, modular redesign may help. OBJECTIVE: Standard/separate and modular/integrated arrangements of evidence-based treatments for …
Parenting Stress and Child Behavior Problems Among Clinic-Referred Youth
A meta-systems approach to evidence-based practice for children and adolescents
Improving outcomes for children and adolescents with mental health needs demands a broad meta-systemic orientation to overcome persistent problems in current service systems. Improving outcomes necessitates inclusion of current and emerging evidence about effective practices for the diverse population of youth and their families. Key components of the meta-system for children with emotional or behavioral needs include families, cultural norms and…
Changing the world and changing the self
There is extensive evidence that people strongly value and are reluctant to re-linquish the perception of control. Yet, both helplessness and locus of control theorists interpret various "inward " behaviors (passivity, withdrawal, and sub-missiveness) as signs of relinquished perceived control. As evidence, they note that inward behavior frequently is accompanied by causal attributions to limited ability, chance, and powerful others—all attributi…
Attachment and culture
How to feel better when it feels bad
When confronted with stress, adults tend to respond with primary control coping (trying to change the stressful circumstances), secondary control coping (trying to adjust to circumstances as they are), or relinquished control (trying neither to change circumstances nor to adjust to them). Applying this notion to children, we asked 6-, 9-, and 12-year-olds to recall stressful episodes involving six different situations (e. g., separation, medical …
Parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior in nonclinical samples
A meta-analysis of 47 studies was used to shed light on inconsistencies in the concurrent association between parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior. Parent-child associations were strongest when the measure of caregiving relied on observations or interviews, as opposed to questionnaires, and when the measure tapped combinations of parent behaviors (patterns), as opposed to single behaviors. Stronger parent-child associations were a…
Effects of psychotherapy for depression in children and adolescents
Serious sequelae of youth depression, plus recent concerns over medication safety, prompt growing interest in the effects of youth psychotherapy. In previous meta-analyses, effect sizes (ESs) have averaged .99, well above conventional standards for a large effect and well above mean ES for other conditions. The authors applied rigorous analytic methods to the largest study sample to date and found a mean ES of .34, not superior but significantly …
The lab versus the clinic
Effects of psychotherapy with children and adolescents revisited
A meta-systems approach to evidence-based practice for children and adolescents
Improving outcomes for children and adolescents with mental health needs demands a broad meta-systemic orientation to overcome persistent problems in current service systems. Improving outcomes necessitates inclusion of current and emerging evidence about effective practices for the diverse population of youth and their families. Key components of the meta-system for children with emotional or behavioral needs include families, cultural norms and…
Cultural Exchange and the Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices
Objective: The dynamics of interactions between evidence-based intervention (EBI) developers and trainers and organizations and providers that deliver the EBI was examined in two case studies, a statewide randomized effectiveness trial of an EBI to reduce child neglect and a randomized trial of EBIs for depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in children and adolescents. Methods: Data were collected using ethnographic methods of participant obs…
East African medical attitudes
Developmental change in perceived control
To study developmental change in an important component of perceived control, children's contingency judgments were examined with respect to totally uncontrollable outcomes (drawing cards blindly from a shuffled deck). Kindergarteners perceived outcomes as contingent, that is, they regarded competence-related factors (age, practice, intelligence, and effort) as significantly affecting outcomes, and they interpreted extremely high or low levels of…
You can try or you can just give up
Research on children's coping with homesickness during relatively uncontrollable separations has suggested that secondary control coping (i.e., adjusting oneself to fit objective conditions) is often preferred over primary control coping (i.e., modifying objective conditions to fit oneself). Related research suggests that negative affect is associated with (a) relinquishing control or using primary control to cope with uncontrollable stressors an…
Perceived control and learned helplessness among retarded and nonretarded children
Learned helplessness is produced by successive failures and by feedback attributing failure to uncontrollable causes. Retarded children appear to encounter both causal factors frequently and may thus be susceptible to helplessness. To test this possibility, children of low, average, and high IQ at three mental age levels were administered a response-initiation measure, a puzzle-repetition measure of perseverance after failure, and a questionnaire…
More of What? Issues raised by the Fort Bragg study
Perceived contingency of skill and chance events
Outcomes in skill-controlled activities are contingent on people's attributes and behavior. Outcomes of chance activities are inherently noncontingent. In this study, we explored age differences in recognition of this distinction between skill and chance. Kindergarteners, fourth graders, eighth graders, and college students took part in one game of chance and one game of skill. After each game, subjects predicted winnings of other players who dif…
Illusory contingency in children at the state fair
Accurate judgments about personal control depend in part on accurate judgments about the contingency of outcomes because noncontingent outcomes are inherently uncontrollable. Yet children often fail to recognize noncontingency when they see it. In a developmental study of such failures, children's contingency judgments were assessed following their participation in chance activities at a state fair. Younger children (aged 6-10 years) regarded the…
Loneliness in Kenyan adolescents
Loneliness is associated with negative mental health outcomes and is particularly common among adolescents. Yet, little is known about the dynamics of adolescent loneliness in non-Western, low-income nations. Accordingly, we estimated the severity of loneliness in a sample of Kenyan adolescents and used mixed-effects regression modelling to determine the socio-cultural factors associated with loneliness. We also used network analysis to examine t…
Complementing standard western measures of depression with locally co-developed instruments
Our present understanding of depression relies on a Western nosology that might not be generalizable across diverse cultures around the world. As a consequence, current clinical research and practice may not capture culturally salient features of depression. Expanded cross-cultural research that uses ethnographic methods and local instruments may yield information of clinical utility to enhance culturally sensitive research and practice. In this …
Associations Between Trauma Type, Timing, and Accumulation on Current Coping Behaviors in Adolescents
Choosing problem-solving rewards and Halloween prizes
Three experiments were conducted to generate and cross-validate a developmental account of reward preferences in the lifelike condition in which available rewards differ on both the immediate-delayed and material-symbolic dimensions. Children within a broad range of developmental levels selected from arrays in which immediate-material, immediate-symbolic, delayed-material, and delayed-symbolic items were available. In each experiment more mature …
Field dependence-independence on the Children's Embedded Figures Test
Impulsivity-reflectivity and cognitive development in preschoolers
Effects of IQ and mental age on hypothesis behavior in normal and retarded children
Mental-age-matched normal and retarded subjects at mental-age (MA) levels 5.5, 7.5, and 9.5 years received blank-trial discrimination problems designed to expose hypothesis behavior. There was evidence that subjects at all MA levels used hypotheses. Use of feedback indicating that a response was wrong increased significantly with MA, while use of feedback indicating that a response was right increased significantly with IQ. On simple problems inv…
A proposal to unite two different worlds of children's mental health
615–627. President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America. Final report (DHHS Pub. No. SMA-03– 3832). Rockville, MD: Author. Tolan, P. H., & Dodge, K. A. (2005). Children’s mental health as a primary care and concern: A system for comprehensive support and service. American Psychologist, 60, 601–614. Weisz, J. R., Sandler, I. N., Durlak, J. A., & Anton, B. S. (2005). Pr…
Learned helplessness in Black and White children identified by their schools as retarded and nonretarded
The life experience of retarded children may heighten susceptibility to helplessness. Earlier literature has supported this hypothesis but has failed to demonstrate a key feature of the helplessness syndrome: performance deterioration in response to failure feedback. This study was designed to fill this gap. Children who had been identified by their school systems as retarded and nonretarded but were similar in mental age were administered a seri…
East African medical attitudes
Field dependence-independence on the Children's Embedded Figures Test
Impulsivity-reflectivity and cognitive development in preschoolers
Effects of IQ and mental age on hypothesis behavior in normal and retarded children
Mental-age-matched normal and retarded subjects at mental-age (MA) levels 5.5, 7.5, and 9.5 years received blank-trial discrimination problems designed to expose hypothesis behavior. There was evidence that subjects at all MA levels used hypotheses. Use of feedback indicating that a response was wrong increased significantly with MA, while use of feedback indicating that a response was right increased significantly with IQ. On simple problems inv…
Choosing problem-solving rewards and Halloween prizes
Three experiments were conducted to generate and cross-validate a developmental account of reward preferences in the lifelike condition in which available rewards differ on both the immediate-delayed and material-symbolic dimensions. Children within a broad range of developmental levels selected from arrays in which immediate-material, immediate-symbolic, delayed-material, and delayed-symbolic items were available. In each experiment more mature …
Cognitive development in retarded and nonretarded persons
From the debate over developmental universals in Piagetian theory and the controversy between developmental and difference theories of mental retardation, an important hypothesis emerges—one that is testable via cognitivedevelopmental comparisons between retarded and nonretarded persons. This similar sequence hypothesis holds that retarded and nonretarded persons traverse the same stages of cognitive development in the same order, differing only …
Cognitive development in retarded and nonretarded persons
Perceived control and learned helplessness among retarded and nonretarded children
Learned helplessness is produced by successive failures and by feedback attributing failure to uncontrollable causes. Retarded children appear to encounter both causal factors frequently and may thus be susceptible to helplessness. To test this possibility, children of low, average, and high IQ at three mental age levels were administered a response-initiation measure, a puzzle-repetition measure of perseverance after failure, and a questionnaire…
Developmental change in perceived control
To study developmental change in an important component of perceived control, children's contingency judgments were examined with respect to totally uncontrollable outcomes (drawing cards blindly from a shuffled deck). Kindergarteners perceived outcomes as contingent, that is, they regarded competence-related factors (age, practice, intelligence, and effort) as significantly affecting outcomes, and they interpreted extremely high or low levels of…
Cognitive development in retarded and nonretarded persons
Cognitive development in retarded and nonretarded persons
Learned helplessness in Black and White children identified by their schools as retarded and nonretarded
The life experience of retarded children may heighten susceptibility to helplessness. Earlier literature has supported this hypothesis but has failed to demonstrate a key feature of the helplessness syndrome: performance deterioration in response to failure feedback. This study was designed to fill this gap. Children who had been identified by their school systems as retarded and nonretarded but were similar in mental age were administered a seri…
Illusory contingency in children at the state fair
Accurate judgments about personal control depend in part on accurate judgments about the contingency of outcomes because noncontingent outcomes are inherently uncontrollable. Yet children often fail to recognize noncontingency when they see it. In a developmental study of such failures, children's contingency judgments were assessed following their participation in chance activities at a state fair. Younger children (aged 6-10 years) regarded the…
Perceived contingency of skill and chance events
Outcomes in skill-controlled activities are contingent on people's attributes and behavior. Outcomes of chance activities are inherently noncontingent. In this study, we explored age differences in recognition of this distinction between skill and chance. Kindergarteners, fourth graders, eighth graders, and college students took part in one game of chance and one game of skill. After each game, subjects predicted winnings of other players who dif…
Changing the world and changing the self
There is extensive evidence that people strongly value and are reluctant to re-linquish the perception of control. Yet, both helplessness and locus of control theorists interpret various "inward " behaviors (passivity, withdrawal, and sub-missiveness) as signs of relinquished perceived control. As evidence, they note that inward behavior frequently is accompanied by causal attributions to limited ability, chance, and powerful others—all attributi…
Swapping recipes for control
Standing out and standing in
Swapping recipes for control
The comments by Azuma and Kojima are both encouraging and thought provoking. We thoroughly agree that there may be multiple recipes for both primary and secondary control and that a focus on those used in Japan can fill out the picture nicely. We emphasize, in addition, the essential overdetermination of human behavior, and the fact that elements of both primary and secondary control may sometimes underlie the same overt act. Overall, the comment…
Standing out and standing in
There are at least two general paths to a feeling of In control, individuals enhance their rewards by influencing existing realities (e.g., other people, circumstances, symptoms, or behavior problems). In control, individuals enhance their rewards by accommodating to existing realities and maximizing satisfaction or goodness of fit with things as they are. American psychologists have written extensively about control, but have generally defined i…
Performance of retarded and nonretarded persons on information-processing tasks
In this article we review information-processing studies applicable to the similar structure hypothesis. This hypothesis holds that when nonorganically impaired retarded and nonretarded persons are similar in general developmental level, they are also similar in the cognitive processes and concepts by which they reason. Results of this review were strikingly different from those of an earlier review focusing on Piagetian investigations. A meta-an…
Performance of retarded and nonretarded persons on information-processing tasks
How to feel better when it feels bad
When confronted with stress, adults tend to respond with primary control coping (trying to change the stressful circumstances), secondary control coping (trying to adjust to circumstances as they are), or relinquished control (trying neither to change circumstances nor to adjust to them). Applying this notion to children, we asked 6-, 9-, and 12-year-olds to recall stressful episodes involving six different situations (e. g., separation, medical …
The lab versus the clinic
Parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior in nonclinical samples
A meta-analysis of 47 studies was used to shed light on inconsistencies in the concurrent association between parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior. Parent-child associations were strongest when the measure of caregiving relied on observations or interviews, as opposed to questionnaires, and when the measure tapped combinations of parent behaviors (patterns), as opposed to single behaviors. Stronger parent-child associations were a…
Determinants and consequences of children's coping in the medical setting
The recent burgeoning of theory and research on how children cope with painful medical stressors warrants close scrutiny. The authors examine the prominent typologies of coping and the research on child adjustment and outcomes stimulated by those typologies. They focus on what researchers know and need to know about moderators (characteristics of the child and the environment that influence coping and outcome) and mediators (mechanisms linking st…
Psychology (61 works) · Developmental psychology (33 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (30 works) · Clinical Psychology (24 works) · Psychiatry (23 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Medicine (17 works) · Clinical Psychology (16 works) · Cognitive psychology (15 works) · Cognition (12 works)