Stephen Hinshaw | Research UC Berkeley

Research Expertise and Interest

psychology, child clinical, developmental psychopathology, risk factors for attentional, conduct disorders, child psychopharmacology, multimodality interventions, diagnostic validity of disorders, peer relationships, stigma of mental illness

Research Description

Stephen P. Hinshaw is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley, and a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC San Francisco. His main interests lie in the fields of clinical child and adolescent psychology and developmental psychopathology. Major themes of his work include the diagnostic validity of childhood disorders, the role of family interactions and peer relationships in normal and atypical development (particularly ADHD), the early prediction of behavioral and learning problems, the neuropsychology and neurobiology of impulsive and externalizing behavior in childhood, and the implementation of combinations of psychosocial and pharmacologic intervention for children with externalizing behavior disorders. He is particularly interested in the use of clinical intervention studies to provide information on developmental mechanisms of change regarding psychopathology and resilience. His research team is increasingly focused on adolescent and young adult outcomes, as children in his various projects continue to participate in prospective, longitudinal studies from childhood through adulthood. He directs the Berkeley Girls with ADHD Longitudinal Study (BGALS), the largest follow-up study of girls with ADHD in existence, having uncovered high risk for self-harm (including suicicdal behavior), intimate partner violence, and longstanding mood disorders in a significant subset.

More recent conceptual and empirical work is focused on the conceptual underpinnings of definitions of mental disorders and the stigma that pertains to persons with mental illness. He is engaged in clinical trials with adolescents with the intention of reducing stigma and enhancing humanization.

He is an award-winning teacher and mentor, and the recipient of major international research awards in child development, clinical psychology, basic psychological research, applied psychological research, child/adolescent psychiatric research, and international mental health--and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.

In the News
Featured in the Media
Teaching

In the News

Cal Track and Field sprinter Ezinne Abba in a sprinting stance

Breaking the cycle of shame about mental struggles in athletics

Long before sports superstars Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles braved the spotlight to defend their mental health, Graig Chow, a certified mental performance consultant at UC Berkeley, studied the culture that pushes elite athletes like NBA players Chamique Holdsclaw, Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan to their breaking points.

Rucker Johnson, Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, Stefano DellaVigna, Stephen Hinshaw, Tyrone Hayes and R. Jay Wallace have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Six faculty elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Six UC Berkeley faculty members and top scholars have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), a 241-year-old organization honoring the country’s most accomplished artists, scholars, scientists and leaders who help solve the world’s most urgent challenges.

Stephen Hinshaw wins 2020 Sarnat Prize for mental health breakthroughs

UC Berkeley psychologist Stephen Hinshaw has won the National Academy of Medicine’s 2020 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health for his contributions to the understanding and treatment of mental health conditions in childhood and adolescence and for his efforts to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

Berkeley psychologist wins two prestigious awards

UC Berkeley psychologist Stephen Hinshaw has won two distinguished awards for his vast body of research, including his work on developmental psychopathology, the stigmatization of mental illness and longitudinal studies of girls and women with ADHD.

UC Berkeley, UCSF to tackle dyslexia with $20 million gift

UC Berkeley and UCSF to form the UCSF-UC Berkeley Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center thanks for a $20 million gift to support research on dyslexia and similar neurodevelopmental language-processing disorders, or learning differences.

Girls with ADHD more prone to self-injury, suicide as they enter adulthood

“Like boys with ADHD, girls continue to have problems with academic achievement and relationships, and need special services as they enter early adulthood,” said Stephen Hinshaw, UC Berkeley professor of psychology and lead author of a study that reports after 10 years on the largest-ever sample of girls whose ADHD was first diagnosed in childhood.

Learning by getting into the heads of schoolchildren

UC Berkeley psychology professors Silvia Bunge and Stephen Hinshaw are scanning the brains of kids to learn how they learn. The findings may help educators and revolutionize classrooms.

Prenatal pesticide exposure linked to attention problems in preschool-aged children

Children who were exposed to organophosphate pesticides before birth were more likely to develop attention disorders years later, according to a new UC Berkeley study. Researchers linked higher maternal concentrations of pesticide metabolites during pregnancy to greater odds of attention problems in children at age 5.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.

September 12, 2019

Charles Schwab targets dyslexia with $20 million gift to joint UCSF, Berkeley effort

San Francisco Business Times

Ron Leuty

A $20 million gift from financial executive and philanthropist Charles Schwab will fund a new UCSF-UC Berkeley Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center, aimed at advancing research and finding new ways of helping people with dyslexia and other learning disorders. Psychology professor Stephen Hinshaw, who holds appointments at both Berkeley and UCSF, will co-direct the center with UCSF neurology and psychiatry professor and doctor Marilu Gorno Tempini. The center will have clinics and research space at the Berkeley Way West building, and in San Francisco. For more on this, see our story at Berkeley News.

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