Enrico Mezzacappa, MD

Department	Psychiatry
Hospital Title	Director of Residency Training, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Academic Title	Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Phone	617-355-7605
Fax	617-730-0428
Email	Enrico Mezzacappa
Location	300 Longwood Avenue HU-121 Boston, MA 02115

Research Overview

Enrico Mezzacappa's research examines the interaction of social factors and executive function (regulation of goal-directed behaviors) in the development of aggressive behaviors. The areas of investigation involved in this research include assessment of growth and change in executive function, and how the development of executive function is shaped by the home environment and parenting practices.

His long-term aim is to understand normative and pathological development of basic cognitive processes central to prosocial behavior. To this end, he is currently conducting longitudinal studies from infancy through adolescence, within the context of the landmark Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods study.

About Enrico Mezzacappa

Enrico Mezzacappa received his MD from Catholic University in Rome. He completed an internship in medicine and residency in psychiatry at SUNY Health Sciences Center and a fellowship in child psychiatry at Children's Hospital Boston.

Key Publications

• Mezzacappa E, Buckner J, and Earls, F. (In press). Prenatal cigarette exposure and infant learning stimulation as predictors of cognitive control in childhood. Developmental Science.
   
• Hamoda H, Bauer M, DeMaso D, Sanders K, and Mezzacappa E. (In press). A Competency-Based Model for Research Training during Psychiatry Residency. Harvard Review of Psychiatry.
   
• Mezzacappa E, Bingenheimer JB, Brennan R and Earls F. (In press). Ethnic-racial differences in response thresholds for externalizing behavior problems: Testing the measurement equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist. In: Advancing the Research Agenda for DSM-V: Externalizing Disorders of Childhood. American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Washington, D.C.
   
• Mezzacappa E and Buckner J. (2010). Working Memory Training for Children with Attention Problems or Hyperactivity: A School-Based Pilot Study. School Mental Health, 2(4) 202-208. Published online February 23.
   
• Buckner J, Mezzacappa E, and Beardslee W. (2009). Self-regulation and its relations to adaptive functioning in low-income youths. America Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 79(1):19-30.
   
• Mezzacappa E. (2004). Alerting, orienting, and executive attention: Developmental properties and socio-demographic correlates in an epidemiological sample of young, urban children. Child Development, 75: 1-14.
   
• Buckner JC, Mezzacappa E, Beardslee WR. (2003). Characteristics of resilient youths living in poverty: The role of self-regulatory processes. Developmental Psychopathology, 15: 139-162.
   
• Mezzacappa E, Kindlon D, Earls F. (2001). Child abuse and performance task assessments of executive functions in boys. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42: 1041-1048.