Overview
Kenneth A. Dodge is the William McDougall Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He is also the founding and past director of the Center for Child and Family Policy, as well as the founder of Family Connects International.
Dodge is a leading scholar in the development and prevention of aggressive and violent behaviors. His work provides a model for understanding how some young children grow up to engage in aggression and violence and provides a framework for intervening early to prevent the costly consequences of violence for children and their communities.
Dodge joined the faculty of the Sanford School of Public Policy in September 1998. He is trained as a clinical and developmental psychologist, having earned his B.A. in psychology at Northwestern University in 1975 and his Ph.D. in psychology at Duke University in 1978. Prior to joining Duke, Dodge served on the faculty at Indiana University, the University of Colorado, and Vanderbilt University.
Dodge's research has resulted in the Family Connects Program, an evidence-based, population health approach to supporting families of newborn infants. Piloted in Durham, NC, and formerly known as Durham Connects, the program attempts to reach all families giving birth in a community to assess family needs, intervene where needed, and connect families to tailored community resources. Randomized trials indicate the program's success in improving family connections to the community, reducing maternal depression and anxiety, and preventing child abuse. The model is currently expanding to many communities across the U.S.
Dodge has published more than 500 scientific articles which have been cited more than 120,000 times.
Elected into the National Academy of Medicine in 2015, Dodge has received many honors and awards, including the following:
- President (Elected), Society for Research in Child Development
- Fellow, Society for Prevention Research
- Distinguished Scientist, Child Mind Institute
- Research Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health
- Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution from the American Psychological Association
- J.P. Scott Award for Lifetime Contribution to Aggression Research from the International Society for Research on Aggression
- Science to Practice Award from the Society for Prevention Research
- Inaugural recipient of the “Public Service Matters” Award from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration
- Inaugural recipient of the Presidential Citation Award for Excellence in Research from the Society for Research on Adolescence
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
A Longitudinal Study of Adolescent-to-Young Adult Executive Function Development in Seven Countries.
Journal Article Developmental science · July 2025 Executive functioning (EF) is an important developing self-regulatory process that has implications for academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Most work in EF has focused on childhood, and less has examined the development of EF throughout adolescence a ... Full text CiteUnique Profiles of Postpartum Family Needs and Evidence of Racial and Ethnic Disparities: Insights from Community Implementation of Family Connects.
Journal Article Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · June 2025 ObjectivesTo delineate specific family needs during the postpartum period using data from Family Connects (FC), a universal home-visiting initiative, and to scrutinize potential racial and ethnic disparities in these needs.MethodFC implem ... Full text Open Access CiteRumination Mediates the Relation of Hostile Attribution to Psychological Maladjustment Among Adolescents from Three Countries.
Journal Article Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · June 2025 Addressing global concerns about youth mental health requires understanding longitudinal pathways to psychological maladjustment among diverse youth. Hostile attribution bias (HAB) and hostile rumination (HR) are cognitive vulnerabilities associated with m ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Intergenerational Persistence of Treatment Effects in Human Capital Interventions
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2029Factors in Persistence Versus Fadeout of Early Childhood Intervention Impacts
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of California - Irvine · 2024 - 2029Duke University Psychiatry Physician-Scientist Residency Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2024 - 2029View All Grants