The legacy of Nicki R. Crick's contributions to developmental psychopathology

This Special Issue of Development and Psychopathology is devoted to the legacy of Nicki R. Crick. At the time of her passing on October 28, 2012, Nicki was a Distinguished McKnight Professor and Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychology at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. Crick served as the director of the Institute of Child Development from January 2005 to June 2011. To date, there have been few Special Issues or Special Sections in Development and Psychopathology devoted to the life’s work of one individual. Known internationally for her creative and innovative research in the 20 years since she completed her PhD in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University, Crick made many significant and long-lasting contributions to the fields of developmental psychology and developmental psychopathology. Nicki conducted groundbreaking research on the topics of aggression, peer victimization, positive youth development, social cognition, and personality pathology. To date, over 30 of her publications have attained the status of citation classics. Several of her papers are among the most influential publications in the entire field of developmental science. Moreover, Crick’s research fostered the development of interventions and policy initiatives to address aggressive conduct. In addition, Nicki translated her research on relational aggression into work on potential precursors to borderline personality disorder in children and adolescents. In a highly influential set of studies, Crick radically altered the way that researchers, clinicians, teachers, and parents understand aggressive behavior. Crick challenged the field to consider aggressive behaviors that were not physical in nature. Building on theories of indirect aggression, in which the aggressor obscures his or her intention to cause harm (Björkqvist, Lagerspetz, & Kaukiainen, 1992), and social aggression, in which the aggressor targets the victim’s peer acceptance and inclusion (Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson, & Gariépy, 1989), Crick and Grotpeter (1995) argued that aggressive strategies among youth are often focused on damage to interpersonal relationships. In this seminal publication, the authors coined the term relational aggression to capture behaviors that used relationship manipulation to hurt or harm others, such as malicious gossip, social exclusion, and threats of friendship withdrawal. In the two decades following the publication of Crick and Grotpeter (1995), a large body of research has emerged documenting the origins, course, and outcomes associated with relational aggression: the article has been cited over 3,000 times. The impact of this study reflects the authors’ innovative perspective regarding aggressive girls. In contrast to the prevailing assumption in the field at the time that girls were not aggressive, Crick and Grotpeter (1995) documented that girls engaged in relational forms of aggression with some frequency. Moreover, in several studies of peer victimization, Crick and colleagues found that girls were more likely to be targeted by relational, rather than physical, forms of aggression (e.g., Crick, Casas, & Ku, 1999; Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005). Although ensuing research has demonstrated that boys also frequently perpetrate relational aggression (Card, Stucky, Sawalani, & Little, 2008), the inclusion of relational aggression remains critical in studies aimed at understanding the aggressive behavior patterns of girls and women (see Ostrov & Godleski, 2010). Crick also made significant contributions to our understanding of the developmental processes involved in youth maladjustment. In collaboration with her PhD mentor, Dr. Kenneth Dodge, Crick published a highly influential review of the social information processing mechanisms associated with youth social adjustment (Crick & Dodge, 1994). In addition to integrating previous work in the area, this reformulated model underscored the need to consider nonlinear and reciprocal effects, the role of development, and the influence We acknowledge Dan Conaway for his longstanding support of and close relationship with Nicki. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dante Cicchetti, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455; E-mail: cicchett@umn.edu; or Dianna Murray-Close, Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 210A John Dewey Hall, Burlington, VT 05405; E-mail: dmurrayc@uvm.edu. Development and Psychopathology 26 (2014), 557–559 # Cambridge University Press 2014 doi:10.1017/S0954579414000224