American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (AJO) is dedicated to informing public policy and professional practice and to the expansion of knowledge relating to mental health and human development from a multidisciplinary and interprofessional perspective.

As the principal publication of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (AJO) reflects the Alliance’s goal of informing policy, practice, and research concerning behavioral health, social justice, and well-being. Consistent with that mission, the journal publishes articles that clarify, challenge, or reshape the prevailing understanding of factors in the prevention and correction of injustice and in the sustainable development of a humane and just society. 

What's in the current issue of AJO? 

Special Section: Effecting Social Change Across Contexts: Needs and Mechanisms
Ryan P. Kilmer and Jill D. McLeigh, Editors

• Kilmer, R. P., & McLeigh, J. D. (2019). Effecting social change across contexts: Needs and mechanisms—An introduction to the special section. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 401-405.
• Buckingham, S. L., & Suarez-Pedraza, M. C. (2019). “It has cost me a lot to adapt to here”: The divergence of real acculturation from ideal acculturation impacts Latinx immigrants’ psychosocial wellbeing. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 406-419.
• Gil-Rivas, V., Handrup, C. T., Tanner, E., & Walker, D. K. (2019). Global mental health: A call to action. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 420-425.
• Shaw, J., Feeney, H., & Campbell, R. (2019). Never too early to start: Training graduate students for policy work. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 426-433.
• Scott, J. T., Larson, J. C., Buckingham, S. L., Maton, K. I., & Crowley, D. M. (2019). Bridging the research–policy divide: Pathways to engagement and skill development. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 434-441.
• Wertlieb, D. (2019). Inclusive early childhood development (IECD): A twin-tracking approach to advancing behavioral health and social justice. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 442-448.

• Vargas-Barón, E. (2019). Early childhood policy planning and implementation: Community and provincial participation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 449-457.

Special Section: Cultural Adaptation of Mental Health Interventions for Americans of East Asian Descent
Hyeouk Chris Hahm and Miwa Yasui, Editors

• Hahm, H. C., & Yasui, M. (2019). Guest editors’ introduction to the special section: Cultural adaptation of mental health interventions for Americans of East Asian descent. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 458-461
• Hahm, H. C., Zhou, L., Lee, C., Maru, M., Petersen, J. M., & Kolaczyk, E. D. (2019). Feasibility, preliminary efficacy, and safety of a randomized clinical trial for Asian Women’s Action for Resilience and Empowerment (AWARE) intervention. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 462-474.
• Rivera, A. M., Zhang, Z., Kim, A., Ahuja, N., Lee, H. Y., & Hahm, H. C. (2019). Mechanisms of action in AWARE: A culturally informed intervention for 1.5- and 2nd-generation Asian American women. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 475-481.
• Hwang, W.-C., & Chan, C. P. (2019). Compassionate meditation to heal from race-related stress: A pilot study with Asian Americans. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 482-492.

• Hinton, D. E., & Jalal, B. (2019). Dimensions of culturally sensitive CBT: Application to Southeast Asian populations. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 493-507.

And More...

• Rubens, S. L., Miller, M. A., Zeringue, M. M., & Laird, R. D. (2019). Associations of bullying, victimization, and daytime sleepiness with academic problems in adolescents attending an alternative high school. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 508-517.
• Lambert, J. E., Banford Witting, A., Ponnamperuma, L., & Wickrama, T. (2019). Subjective reactions to international research participation: An illustration of ethical considerations with women heading households in Sri Lanka. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 518-523.
• Huang, C. Y., & Connell, C. M. (2019). Racial/ethnic differences in alcohol use trajectories among adolescents involved in child welfare. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 524-533.
• Gray, J. S., Brionez, J., Petros, T., & Gonzaga, K. T. (2019). Psychometric evaluation of depression measures with Northern Plains Indians. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(4), 534-541.

  What does AJO publish?  

AJO publishes theoretical, policy-analytic, and empirical articles on topics related to the Association’s historic values and themes.  Scholars interested in the topical domains that are within AJO’s scope are encouraged to submit individual manuscripts for consideration.

Contemporary topics in AJO’s topical scope include, but are not limited to, public behavioral health and prevention; institutional reform; causes and solutions to behavioral healthcare disparities; adaption of behavioral health methods to the needs of racial, ethnic, cultural and other minority groups; responses to natural and human-made disasters; immigrants and refugees; underserved behavioral health populations; protection of vulnerable people; and sociocultural dimensions of behavioral health problems.

Submissions are evaluated with respect to the importance and timeliness of the topic, scholarly and methodological rigor, interdisciplinary perspective, and clarity of implications for research, behavioral health practice and administration, and social policy.

Special Sections

AJO occasionally invites leading scholars to edit special sections or issues on topics of particular interest.  These issues usually contain articles solicited by the guest editor, who coordinates initial reviews of the manuscripts that are submitted in response to these invitations.  If you have an idea for a Special Section or issue, contact Jill McLeigh, Symposia Editor.  

Social Innovations

AJO includes a unique magazine-in-a-journal.  This feature is called Social Innovations and is intended to promote conversation about strategies for establishing new social settings and changing social norms to create more auspicious circumstances for mental health promotion.  Scholars are welcome to submit articles for Social Innovations.   

Interested in subscribing to AJO?

• Join the Global Alliance and receive the journal free as a membership benefit!

• Register for online access.  

• Access pricing information for individual or institutional subscriptions.

•  Subscribe to the RSS feed for AJO.

• Opt-in to receive alerts from AJO! Here's how:
  1. Go to psycnet.apa.org and log in.
  2. Click on "My PsycNET" on the far right of the blue bar at the top of the page.
  3. Click the second tab, "PsycALERTS."
  4. Click "Add Journal Alert."
  5. Find AJO, check mark the box to the right of the journal, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Subscribe."

Member of the Global Alliance?

Members of the Global Alliance have free electronic access to the journal! Access to the journal is through myAPA at http://my.apa.org. Your email address will be your username. The first time logging in you will need to create a password, using the “Forgot your password or email/username?” link. This will take you to the next page in which you will enter your e-mail address in the field under “I don’t know my password.” The system will email you a link to create your password. If you have a Google account, you may also login using Google.

Once you successfully log in to your myAPA account, you go to area designated as “Subscriptions.” Under subscriptions, you will see the journal title/link. Once you click on the link, you will have access to all the issues and articles for that specific journal. 

If you need additional assistance, you can email [email protected], and they will help you out. 

Interested in submitting a manuscript to AJO?

The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry is published by the American Psychological Association (effective with the 2014 volume).  For more information about the scope of the journal, criteria and procedures for selection of manuscripts for publication, manuscript submission instructions and editorial policies, please review the Instructions to Authors.  We invite authors to visit the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry manuscript submission site to learn about current editorial policies for AJO and to submit manuscripts for publication.

If you have questions about a manuscript that has been submitted or that you are interested in submitting, please contact Dr. Jill McLeigh. 

Co-Editors

Symposia Editor

Jill D. McLeigh 
Children's Health, Dallas, TX

Articles Editor

William D. Spaulding 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Senior Editors

Oscar A. Barbarin 
University of Maryland, College Park

Gary B. Melton 
University of Colorado School of Medicine and University of Virginia

Editorial Assistant

Sharon Crout 
Clemson University

Editorial Board