Kevin King

Image of Kevin King

Kevin King, Ph.D.

Professor
Advising: Not accepting new graduate students in 2025-2026.
Interests: Pathways to Alcohol and Drug Use and Dependence, Impulsivity and Self Regulation, Stress and Coping, Developmental Psychopathology, Longitudinal Methods
Links:

Research

Dr. King focuses on both substantive and methodological research.

His substantive research focuses on how cognitive and emotional aspects of self-regulation develops across adolescence, how context shapes their development, and how these forms of self regulation may either enhance or buffer the effects of other risk factors on problematic alcohol and drug use.

His methodological research focuses on how to improve the quality of data analysis in the psychological sciences. This work has examined ways to screen data for invalid respondents, improve the graphical display of data analysis, and improve the application of longitudinal models.

His research utilizes advanced statistical methods to study development and change over time, including latent growth curve modeling, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, models for count and non-linear data, IRT and measurement models, and advanced tests and forms of mediational processes.

He has been principal and co-investigator on multiple federal and private foundation grants to examine substance use in youth, served on the editorial board of several journals, has been a standing member of NIH grant review committees, and is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications appearing in major journals including Addiction, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, and Prevention Science.

Education

Arizona State University (2007)

  • Cruz, R. A., King, K. M., Cauce, A. M., Conger, R. D., & Robins, R. (2017). Cultural orientation trajectories and substance use: Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth. Child Development, 88, 555-572.
  • Cruz, R.A., King, K.M., Bamaca-Colbert, M., Mechammil, M. & Robins, R.W. (accepted). Mexican-origin youth substance use trajectories: Associations with cultural and family factors. Child Development.
  • Kim, D.S., McCabe, C.J., Yamasaki, B.L., Louie, K.A., & King, K.M. (in press). Detecting random responders with infrequency scales using an error balancing threshold. Behavioral Research Methods.
  • King, K.M., Luk, J.W., Witkiewitz, K., Racz, S.J., McMahon, R.J., Wu, J. and the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (in press). Externalizing behavior across childhood as reported by parents and teachers: A partial measurement invariance model. Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191116660381
  • King, K.M., McLaughlin, K.A., Silk, J. & Monahan, K.C. (accepted). Peers’ effects on self-regulation in adolescence depend on the nature and quality of the peer interaction. Development and Psychopathology.
  • King, K.M., Pedersen, S.L., Louie, K., Pelham, W.E., Jr., Molina, B.S.G. (accepted). Between and within person associations between negative life events and alcohol outcomes in adolescents with ADHD. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
  • Lewis, M. A., King, K. M., Litt, D. M., Swanson, A., & Lee, C. M. (2016). Examining daily variability in willingness to drink in relation to young adult alcohol use. Addictive Behaviors, 61, 62-67.
  • Luk, J. W., King, K. M., McCarty, C. A., Stoep, A. V., & McCauley, E. (2016). Measurement invariance testing of a three-factor model of parental warmth, psychological control, and knowledge across European American and Asian/Pacific Islander American youth. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 7, 97-107.
  • Vaughn, M. & King, K.M. (2016). Premeditation and sensation seeking moderate the reasoned action and social reaction pathways in the Prototype/Willingness Model of alcohol use. Substance Use and Misuse, 51, 711 - 721.
  • Luk, J. W., Patock-Peckham J. A., & King, K. M. (2015). Are dimensions of parenting differentially linked to substance use across Caucasian and Asian American college students? Substance Use and Misuse, 50, 1360-1369.
  • McCabe, C.; Louie, K.A. & King, K.M. (2015). Premeditation moderates the relation between sensation seeking and risky substance use among young adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29, 753-765.
  • Monahan, K.C.; King, K.M.; Shulman, E.P.; Cauffman; & Chassin, L. (2015). The effects of violence exposure on the development of impulse control and future orientation across adolescence and early adulthood: Time specific and generalized effects in a sample of juvenile offenders, Development and Psychopathology, 1 – 18.
  • King, K.M., Patock-Peckham, J.A., Dager, A.D., Thimm, K. & Gates, J.R. (2014). On the mismeasurement of impulsivity: Trait, behavioral, and neural models in alcohol research among adolescents and young adults. Current Addiction Reports, 1, 19-32.
  • King, K.M., Lengua, L.J., & Monahan, K. (2013). Individual Differences in the Development of Self-Regulation During Pre-adolescence: Connections to Context and Adjustment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 57-69.
  • Luk, J.W., Emery, R.L., Karyadi, K.A., Patock-Peckham, J.A., & King, K.M. (2013). Religiosity and substance use among Asian American college students: Moderated effects of race and acculturation. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 130, 142-149.
  • King, K.M., Nguyen, H.V., Kosterman, R., Bailey, J.A., Hawkins, J.D. (2012). Co-occurrence of sexual risk behaviors and substance use across emerging adulthood: Evidence for state- and trait-level associations. Addiction, 107, 1288-1296.
  • King, K.M., Karyadi, K.A., Luk, J.W. & Patock-Peckham, J.A. (in press). Dispositions to rash action moderate the associations between concurrent drinking, depressive symptoms and alcohol problems during emerging adulthood.
  • King, K.M., Chung, T. & Maisto, S.R. (2009). Adolescents’ thoughts about abstinence curb the return of marijuana use during and after treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 564-565.
  • King, K.M., Molina, B.S.G., & Chassin, L. (2009). Prospective relations between growth in drinking and stressful life events across adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 610-622.
  • King, K.M., & Chassin, L. (2008). Mechanisms of the Stress-Substance Use Disorder Relation. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69, 629-638.
  • King, K.M., Molina, B.S.G., & Chassin, L. (2008). A state-trait model of stressful life events in adolescence: Predictors of stability in the occurrence of stressors. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 848-859.
  • King, K.M. & Chassin, L. (2007). A prospective study of the effects of age of initiation of alcohol and drug use on young adult substance dependence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68, 256-265.
  • King, K.M., Meehan, B.T., Trim, R.T., & Chassin, L. (2006). Marker or Mediator? The relation between adolescent substance use and young adult educational attainment. Addiction, 101, 1630-1640.
  • King, K.M., Meehan, B.T., Trim, R.T., & Chassin, L. (2006). Substance Use and Academic Outcomes: Synthesizing Findings and Future Directions. Addiction, 101, 1688-1689.
  • Zhou, Q., King, K.M., & Chassin, L. (2006). The Relation of Family History of Alcoholism to Young Adults_ Substance Use Disorders: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Family Environment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 320-331.
  • Chassin, L., Flora, D.B., & King, K.M. (2004). Trajectories of Alcohol and Drug Use and Dependence from Adolescence to Adulthood: The Effects of Parent Alcoholism and Personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 4, 483-498.
  • King, K.M., & Chassin, L. (2004). The Mediating and Moderated Effects of Adolescent Behavioral Undercontrol and Parenting in the Prediction of Drug Use Disorders in Emerging Adulthood. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 3, 239-249.