Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology: Aidan G. C. Wright.

Abstract

The Early Career Awards, given for the first time in 1974, recognize the large number of excellent early career psychologists. Recipients of this award may not have held a doctoral degree for more than nine years. For outstanding early career research in personality and psychopathology, Aidan G. C. Wright's trailblazing studies on the structure and dynamics of individual differences have changed the way the field thinks about psychopathology. By applying sophisticated and often longitudinal data analysis to multisource personality and psychopathology data, he has made specific advances in understanding the course of personality disorders, connections between personality traits and mental health symptoms, and within-person processes in psychopathology. His cutting-edge studies marrying established structures of individual differences with person-specific models of psychological functioning have opened up entirely new approaches to public health. Overall, Dr. Wright's research provides a strong methodological and conceptual foundation for more data-driven and individualized approaches to the assessment, understanding, and ultimately prevention and treatment of mental health problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).