2008 Presidential Initiatives

During his term as president, Dr. Kazdin will pursue three major initiatives: Psychology's Contribution to the Grand Challenges of Society, Interpersonal Violence, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma in Children and Adolescents. Please check back for updates and additional activities.

Psychology's Contribution to the Grand Challenges of Society. The goal is to draw on psychological science to contribute to a deeper understanding of and offer solutions for key challenges facing society. There are scores of challenges in such areas as health, utilization of natural resources, aging, crime, education, discrimination, international relations, business productivity, interpersonal relationships, and poverty. The task will be to identify a subgroup of challenges and articulate the role psychology can play in addressing them and to partner with other sciences in ways that might have broad impact. This initiative is in partnership with Dr. Steven Breckler, Executive Director of APA's Science Directorate. In 2007, a preliminary Grand Challenges meeting was held with several psychologists to discuss the social needs and identify where the impact of our science might be greatest.

Interpersonal Violence. In order to address this enormous topic, multiple activities are planned for this initiative. Dr. Jacquelyn White (President of Division 35: Society for the Psychology of Women) and Dr. Bob Geffner (President of Division 56: Trauma Psychology) organized a Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships: Connecting Agendas and Forging New Directions for February 28–29, 2008. The goal is to bring together multiple disciplines and perspectives—including 17 APA Divisions and multiple national and international organizations—to conceptualize commonalities along different types of violence and abuse against women and children. Drs. Jacquelyn White and Mary Koss will coedit a two-volume set of books that will identify advances in and implications for research, policy, and public communication.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma in Children and Adolescents. Dr. Annette LaGreca is chairing a task force that will identify psychological science's understanding of and contributions to the amelioration of PTSD and trauma; to summarize the current state of knowledge; and to make recommendations for parents/caregivers, healthcare providers, policymakers, and government agencies to help children and their families. A key objective is to make recommendations that can be disseminated to the public and policymakers.