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Primary Research and Clinical Interests

Romain (Ro) Decrop earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the child clinical track of Bowling Green State University and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Pelham Lab at the University of California – San Diego. He completed a predoctoral research fellowship at the University of California – Irvine and a predoctoral clinical internship at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Broadly, Dr. Decrop’s research investigates how externalizing behaviors (e.g., lying, substance use, aggression) emerge and change over time, as well as the developmental, interpersonal, and contextual factors that shape their persistence and escalation into serious problems (e.g., criminality, clinical disorders). More recently, he has begun translating this work into efforts to improve adolescent substance use treatment by both refining intervention content and expanding how evidence-based care can be delivered. This includes developing psychosocial approaches that promote honesty and caregiver-adolescent trust (Building Trust within Contingency Management) and examining whether contingency management can be delivered effectively by a broader behavioral health workforce.

Selected Publications

  • Decrop, R., Rodgers, E., Cho, S., Briones, A., Beardslee, J., & Cauffman, E. (2026). Pathways to Honesty: Exploring the Ecological Desistance of Atypical Lying Features. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 36(1), e70130. doi:10.1111/jora.70130

  • Decrop, R., Rodgers, E., Frick, P., Lawrence, L., & Cauffman, E. (2026). «Why Bother? There’s Always Another Question.»: Shortening Bandura’s Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale. Assessment. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/10731911251407472

  • Decrop, R. & McCart, M. (2026). “It’s Okay, Everyone Else is Doing It.”: Moral Disengagement and Peer Delinquency. Journal of Adolescence, 98(6), 2059-2069. doi:10.1002/jad.70203

  • Decrop, R. & Docherty, M. (2025). Pants on fire: Risks for and Outcomes of Atypical Lying. Journal of Adolescence, 97(3), 650-661. doi:10.1002/jad.12441

     

  • Decrop, R., McManamon, B., Williams, K., Houlihan, K., Bok, H.C., Knestrick, K., Rodgers, E., Docherty, M., & Cauffman, E. (2025). Cognitive Loopholes of Crime: Mapping the Co-Development of Moral Disengagement within Perceptions of Risks and Rewards. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 35(3), e70056. doi:10.1111/jora.70056

  • Decrop, R. & Docherty, M. (2024). Chronicle of deceit: Navigating the developmental cognitive landscape from childhood fabrications to prolific adulthood artistry. Developmental Review, 74, 101165. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2024.101165

  • Decrop, R., Nowalis, S., Yannon, M., McGraw, J., & Docherty, M. (2024). Unveiling Hidden Dimensions: A Novel Bifactor Approach to Unraveling Adverse Childhood Experiences. Child Abuse & Neglect, 147, 106599. doi:1016/j.chiabu.2023.106599