At the broadest level, my research aims to better understand the etiology and development of antisocial behavior (e.g, aggression, violence, criminal offending) and psychopathology (e.g., psychopathic or callous-unemotional traits, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder). I leverage methodologies across multiple disciplines (developmental/clinical psychology, psychophysiology, developmental neuroscience), and utilize rigorous quantitative modeling to examine the dynamic interactions between behavior, psychopathology, and environment across adolescence. Specifically, my specific research aims are: 

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 Describe the developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior and psychopathology, while also characterizing the contribution of exposure to negative environments and experiences 

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• *Estrada, S., *Simmons, C., & Baskin-Sommers, A. (2023). Trajectories of psychopathy and community violence exposure differentially predict antisociality in justice-involved youth. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-00989-z  

• Simmons. C., Mitchell-Adams, H., & Baskin-Sommers, A. (2022). Environmental predictors of within-person changes in callous-unemotional traits among justice-Involved male adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2022.2093207 

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Examine the specific cognitive-affective processes associated with antisocial psychopathology and behavior

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• Simmons, C., Rodgers, E. L., & Cauffman, E. (2023). Examining the relation among callous-unemotional traits and cortisol, alpha-amylase, and testosterone reactivity in legal system involved young men. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 106391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106391

• Chan, L., Simmons, C. Tillem, S., Conley, M., Brazil, I.A. and Baskin-Sommers, A. (2022). Classifying Conduct Disorder using a biopsychosocial model and machine learning method. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.02.004​

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Examine the developmental consequences of legal system involvement and advocate for science-based policies and treatments for youth caught in the legal system. 

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• Casey, B.J., Simmons, C. Somerville, L.H., & Baskin-Sommers, A. (2022). Making the sentencing case: Psychological and neuroscientific evidence for expanding the age of youthful offenders. Annual Review of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030920-113250 

• *Baskin-Sommers, A., *Simmons, C., Conley, M.I., Chang, S., Collins, M., Estrada, S., Pelham, W., Beckford, E., Berrian, N., Mitchell-Adams, H., Barch, D., Tapert, S., Gee, D.G., & Casey, B.J., (2021). Adolescent civic engagement: Lessons from Black Lives Matter. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109860118 

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