Dr. Steve Balsis

Assistant Professor
Ph.D. Washington University (2008)

Department of Psychology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4235

Office: 216 Psychology Building
email: balsis@tamu.edu
Phone: (979) 862-2557
Fax: (979) 845-4727

Clinical Geropsych Assessment
Personality Disorders
Alzheimer’s Disease

I am interested in questions of the following type. Does personality pathology change as people age? Are personality disorders more or less common in later life? How do older adults with these disorders adjust to the many late-life challenges they face? Current answers to these questions rest on personality assessment tools that do not work well for this age group. A major line of my research focuses on improving these assessment instruments for older adults, a necessary first step before personality problems in later life can be understood adequately. A second related line of research focuses on personality change that accompanies dementia. One goal of this work is to hasten the early detection of Alzheimer's disease, which is a critical step in managing the disease. Another goal is to raise fundamental questions about the nature of personality change in later life. Much of my current research involves item response theory-based analyses.

Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center, Houston, TX. Mitchell Pilot Grant Program 2008-2009. New answers to elusive questions: Assessing dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Co-Principle Investigator, Steve Balsis. Co-Principle Investigator, Paul Massman. Consultant, Jared Benge. Direct Costs: $52,500.

National Research Service Award (5F31-MH075336), 2006-2007. Assessment of Personality Disorders in Older Adults. Awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Principle Investigator, Steve Balsis. Direct Costs: $63,836.

Balsis, S., Segal, D., L., & Donahue, C. (in press). Revising the personality disorder diagnostic criteria for DSM-V: Consider the later life context. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.

Balsis, S., Lowmaster, S., Cooper, L. D., & Benge, J. F. (in press). Personality disorder diagnostic thresholds correspond to different levels of latent pathology. Journal of Personality Disorders.

Cooper, L. D., & Balsis, S. (in press). When less is more: how fewer diagnostic criteria can indicate more personality disorder pathology. Psychological Assessment (Special Issue).

Tackett, J. L., Balsis, S. Oltmanns, T. F. & Krueger, R. F. (in press). A trait perspective on personality pathology across the lifespan. Development and Psychopathology (Special Issue).

Benge, J. F., Balsis, S., Geraci, L., Massman, P., & Doody, R. S. (2009). How well do the ADAS-cog and its subscales measure cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease? Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 28, 63-69.

Carpenter, B. D., Balsis, S., Otlingam, P. G., Hanson, P. K., & Gatz, M. (2009). The Alzheimer’s disease knowledge scale: Development and psychometric properties. The Gerontologist, 49, 236 – 247.

Balsis, S., & Cully, J. A. (2008). Comparing depression diagnostic criteria across younger and older adults. Aging and Mental Health, 12, 800-806.

Balsis, S., Woods, C. M., Gleason, M. E. J., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2007). The over and underdiagnosis of personality disorders in older adults. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 742 - 753.

Balsis, S., Gleason, M. E. J., Woods, C. M., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2007). Age group bias in DSM-IV personality disorder criteria: An item response theory analysis. Psychology and Aging, 22, 171-185.

Balsis, S., Eaton, N. R., Martin Zona, D., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2006). Teaching advanced psychopathology: A method that promotes undergraduate basic clinical and research experience. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 242-245.

Balsis, S., Carpenter, B. D., & Storandt, M. (2005). Personality change precedes clinical diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer type. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60B, 98-101.

Balsis, S., & Carpenter, B. D. (2005). Evaluations of elderspeak in a caregiving context. Clinical Gerontologist, 29, 73-90.

PSYC306: Abnormal Psychology