• PhD, University of Iowa

In the Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychometrics Laboratory, we pursue two interrelated programs of research broadly relevant to measurement of and theory related to personality and psychopathology: (a) research aimed at better understanding the phenotypic description and structure of personality and psychopathology, especially as related to personality pathology and the mood and anxiety disorders, and (b) applied psychometric research designed to create, improve upon, or evaluate psychological assessment tools.  In addition, we are interested in research aiming to translate the above line of research into clinically and practically useful applications.

• Tartak, O., Emery, L. T., & Simms, L. J. (2025). CAT-PD and MMPI-3 validity scales detect simulated overreporting and underreporting. Journal of Personality Assessment, 107, 530-541.
• Emery, L. T., Evans, C. M., Dimitrova, J., O’Keefe, C., & Simms, L. J. (2024). Understanding the association between normal and maladaptive personality traits: Replication and extension of Morey et al. (2020). Journal of Personality, 92, 1477-1491.
• Calabrese, W. R., Emery, L. T., Evans, C. M., & Simms, L. J. (2024). DSM-5 personality disorders and the alternative model: Prediction of naturalistically observed behavior, interpersonal functioning, and psychiatric symptoms, one year later. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 15(5), 361–370.
• Emery, L. T., & Simms, L. J. (2023). Extending the self-other knowledge symmetry (SOKA) model to pathological traits. Journal of Research in Personality, 103, 104335.
• Ringwald, W.R., Emery, L., Khoo, S., Clark, L.A., Kotelnikova, Y., Scalco, M.D., Watson, D., Wright, A.G.C., & Simms, L. J. (2023). Structure of pathological personality traits through the lens of the CAT-PD model. Assessment, 30, 2276-2295.
• Dimitrova, J., & Simms, L. J. (2022). Construct validation of narrative coherence: Exploring links with personality functioning and other aspects of psychopathology. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 13, 482-492.
• Simms, L. J., Wright, A. G. C., Cicero, D. C., Kotov, R., Mullins-Sweatt, S. N., Sellbom, M., Watson, D., Widiger, T. A., & Zimmermann, J. (2022). Development of measures for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A collaborative scale development project. Assessment, 29, 3-16.
• Simms, L. J., Zelazny, K., Williams, T. F., & Bernstein, L. (2019). Does the number of response options matter? Psychometric perspectives using personality questionnaire data. Psychological Assessment, 31, 557-566.
• Evans, C., & Simms, L. J. (2018). Assessing inter-model continuity between the Section II and Section III conceptualization of borderline personality disorder in DSM-5. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 9, 290-296.
• Kotov, R., Krueger, R. F., Watson, D., Achenbach, T. M., Althoff, R. R., Bagby, R. M., Brown, T. A., Carpenter, W. T., Caspi, A., Clark, L. A., Eaton, N. R., Forbes, M. K., Forbush, K. T., Goldberg, D., Hasin, D., Hyman, S. E., Ivanova, M. Y., Lynam, D. R., Markon, K., Miller, J. D., Moffitt, T. E., Morey, L. C., Mullins-Sweatt, S. N., Ormel, J., Patrick, C. J., Regier, D. A., Rescorla, L., Ruggero, C. J., Samuel, D. B., Sellbom, M., Simms, L. J., Skodol, A. E., Slade, T., South, S. C., Tackett, J. L., Waldman, I. D., Waszczuk, M. A., Widiger, T. A., Wright, A. G. C., & Zimmerman, M. (2017). The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A dimensional alternative to traditional nosologies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 4, 454-477.
• Simms, L. J., & Calabrese, W. R. (2016). Incremental validity of the DSM-5 Section III personality disorder traits with respect to psychosocial impairment. Journal of Personality Disorders, 30, 95-111.
• Wright, A. G. C., & Simms, L. J. (2015). A metastructural model of mental disorders and pathological personality traits. Psychological Medicine, 45, 2309-2319.
• Yam, W. H., & Simms, L. J. (2014). Comparing criterion- and trait-based personality disorder diagnoses in DSM-5. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123, 802-808.
• Wright, A. G. C., & Simms, L. J. (2014). On the structure of personality disorder traits: Conjoint analyses of the CAT-PD, PID-5, and NEO-PI-3 trait models. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 5, 43-54.
• Simms, L. J., Goldberg, L. R., Roberts, J. E., Watson, D., Welte, J., & Rotterman, J. H. (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: Introducing the CAT-PD project. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93, 380-389.