James J. Li

Research Area(s)
Clinical

Lab Website
Social and Behavioral Development Lab

Prospective PhD Students
I will be accepting students for admission in Fall 2027. Please see my lab website for more information.

Bio and Research Interests
I am a clinical psychological scientist with expertise in developmental psychopathology, quantitative methods (i.e., longitudinal models, factor analysis, structural equational modeling), and statistical genetics (i.e., GWAS, polygenic scores). I received my B.A. in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Johns Hopkins University and my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA (minor in Quantitative Psychology). I completed an APA-accredited clinical internship at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a two-year NIH T32 postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatric and Statistical Genetics at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (VIPBG).

My research bridges clinical science, quantitative psychology, genomics, neuroscience, and developmental psychopathology to study the causes of neurodevelopmental and externalizing conditions, with a particular focus on ADHD and autism. I am particularly interested in critically evaluating and strengthening the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) framework to study these conditions, as HiTOP aims to simplify and re-organize mental disorders along a dimensional (and data-driven) lens.  We utilize multiple of scientific approaches – genomics, neuroimaging, machine learning – to study HiTOP broadly and neurodevelopment and externalizing outcomes across diverse populations. My research is highly interdisciplinary; I am affiliated with the Waisman Center, the Center for Demography of Health and Aging’s Initiative in Social Genomics, and the HiTOP Society.

The following are the substantive area of foci in my lab at this time:

• HiTOP and (neuro)development
  • Characterizing multidimensional mental health outcomes from a HiTOP framework, including but not limited to longitudinal studies, inclusion of a developmental perspective into the framework, and the role of autism/ADHD in the model (see our review on this in Michelini et al.,)
  • Measurement invariance or non-invariance of the HiTOP framework across sociodemographic contexts (see our review on this in Rodriguez-Seijas, Li, et al.)
• Statistical genetics and gene-environment interplay
  • Gene, brain, environmental, cognitive and behavioral factors underlying the development of complex neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism and ADHD
  • Gene-environment interactions underlying the development of neurodevelopmental and externalizing outcomes across the lifespan (see examples from our lab in Sasia et al. and Dong, Sasia, and Li)
  • Use of novel statistical tools to identifying biomarkers in the prediction of neurodevelopmental and externalizing outcomes across the lifespan

Representative Publications
Please visit https://lilab.waisman.wisc.edu/publications/ for access to articles from our lab.

*Denotes student from my lab

• Dong, L.*, Sasia, A. B.*, & Li, J. J. (2026). Gene-Environment Interplay Beyond Interactions: Psychosocial Environments Mediate Genetic Effects Underlying Externalizing Behavior Trajectories. Clinical Psychological Science. doi.org/10.1177/21677026261447280
• Li, J. J., He, Q.*, Waldman, I. D., & Rodriguez-Seijas, C. (2025). Invariance and Construct Validity of HiTOP Dimensions Across Race and Ethnicity in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911251391567
• Rodriguez-Seijas, C., Li, J. J., Balling, C., Brandes, C., Bernat, E., Boness, C., Forbes, M., Forbush, K., Joyner, K., Krueger, R., Levin-Aspenson, H., Michelini, G., Ro, E., Rutter, L., Stanton, K., Tackett, J., Waszczuk, M., & Eaton, N. (2023). Diversity and the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). Nature Reviews Psychology. doi: 10.1038/s44159-023-00200-
• Waszczuk, M. A., Jonas, K. G., Bornovalova, M., Breen, G., Bulik, C. M., Docherty, A. R., Eley, T. C., Hettema, J. M., Kotov, R., Krueger, R. F., Lencz, T., Li, J. J., Vassos, E., & Waldman, I. D. (2023). Dimensional and Transdiagnostic Phenotypes in Psychiatric Genome-wide Association Studies. Molecular Psychiatry. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02142-8
• Wang, S. S.*, Walsh, K., & Li, J. J. (2023). A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Multi-Domain Resilience Among Maltreated and Non-Maltreated Youths. Development and Psychopathology, 1-15. doi: 10.1017/S0954579423000032
• Li, J. J., Zhang, Q*., Wang, Z., & Lu, Q. (2022). Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) mechanisms of transdiagnostic polygenic risk for trajectories of depression: From early adolescence to adulthood. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 131(6), 567–574. doi: 10.1037/abn0000659
• Li, J. J., & He, Q.* (2021). Polygenic scores for ADHD: A meta-analysis. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. doi: 10.1007/s10802-021-00774-4
• He, Q.*, & Li, J. J. (2020). Factorial invariance in hierarchical factor models of mental disorders in African American and European American youths. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13243
• Li, J. J. (2019). The positive end of the polygenic score distribution for ADHD: A low risk or protective factor? Psychological Medicine. doi: 10.1017/S0033291719003039
• Li, J. J. (2019). Assessing phenotypic and polygenic models of ADHD to identify mechanisms of risk for longitudinal trajectories of externalizing behaviors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13071
• Li, J. J., & Lansford, J. E. (2018). A smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment of parental behavioral consistency: Associations with parental stress and child ADHD. Developmental Psychology, 54, 1086-1098. doi: 10.1037/dev0000516