Karl G. Hill, Ph.D.
Prinicpal Investigator, Associate Professor

	Address:	University of Washington Social Development Research Group 9725 3rd Avenue NE Seattle, WA 98115 USA
	Email:	khill@uw.edu
	Phone:	206-685-3859
	Fax:	206-543-4507
	v-card:	download outlook v-card

Research Interests

Areas of Specialization
Prevention Research; Life-Span Development; Intergenerational Mechanisms; Gene-Environment Interplay; Substance Abuse; Crime and Delinquency; Research Methods

Ever since working as a teacher in Zaire in the late 1970's, I have sought to understand the optimal conditions for development.

Prior to working at the University of Washington's Social Development Research Group, I focused on prosocial development, cognitive development, motivation, and the qualitative aspects of performance. While at Brandeis University and Wellesley College, I adopted a systems-oriented, social-developmental, life-span approach.

During the last sixteen years as project director and investigator on the Seattle Social Development Project, and ten years as PI of the SSDP Intergenerational Project (The Intergenerational Influence of Substance Use on Children, National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01 DA12138) my work has focused on understanding development and consequences of antisocial behaviors such as drug use and dependence, crime, and gang membership, and the mechanisms of continuity and discontinuity in these behaviors across generations. In addition, I am the Principal Investigator of a study entitled Understanding Alcohol Misuse, Abuse and Dependence in Young Adulthood (R01; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, grant #AA016960). This study seeks to understand the relationship between childhood and adolescent patterns of alcohol use and young adult binge drinking, alcohol abuse and dependence, and the social developmental factors that affect this relationship.

Finally, we have undertaken a study to examine gene-environment interplay (correlation and interaction) in the development of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse and dependence (Gene-Environment Interplay in the Development of Drug Abuse and Comorbid Problems; Principal Investigator - R01; National Institute on Drug Abuse, grant #DA024411). This new research endeavor is being developed through a multidisciplinary team in collaboration with Matt McGue and William Iacono and others at the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research. The addition of genotype data to the extensive longitudinal person and environment data existing in the SSDP panel, in a study guided by the Social Development Model, will provide new information about genetic and environmental interplay in the initiation and development of drug use and dependence and related health problems.

In addition to research at SDRG, I enjoy teaching a course in quantitative research methods in the doctoral program at the University of Washington.

Back to Staff