Danielle Dick, Ph.D.

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How our Genes and Environments Shape our Lives

I’m a researcher who studies child behavior, addiction, and mental health, to help people live their best lives — I’m a researcher who is trained across psychology and genetics. I run a research institute at a large university, and I study the ways that our genes and environments come together to influence our lives. I became a professor by accident. I went to college with a love of learning…

4 min read

How our Genes and Environments Shape our Lives

Jul 28

What Every Parent of a Child with Mental Health or Behavioral Challenges Needs to Know

As a parent, there is nothing more heart-wrenching than watching your child struggle. Having a child with behavioral or emotional health challenges can be incredibly difficult. It’s a club that no one wants to belong to, and no one imagines they will join when they have children. I know, I’m…

6 min read

What Every Parent of a Child with Mental Health or Behavioral Challenges Needs to Know

Jul 20

Worried about your drinking or a loved one?

Here’s how to find help for alcohol problems — I recently returned from the international scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism. It’s a meeting that draws thousands of scientists from around the world who are dedicated to studying all things related to alcohol (and other drugs) — from what causes people to develop addiction, to how we…

4 min read

Worried about your drinking or a loved one?

Jun 20

Daiquiris, Margaritas, Frosés, Oh my!

Some simple ways to keep alcohol in check during summer fun — It’s summertime! For many people, warmer weather and vacations mean frosés by the pool, daiquiris on the beach, or a beer in hand at cookouts. Alcohol is a central part of our culture, and a glass of wine or a margarita can feel synonymous with relaxation and fun. The flip…

4 min read

Jun 7

The Chaos of Raising Children

Ever wonder why you can’t seem to get it together? Here’s the reason — It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m surveying the chaos. Uno cards spread across the coffee table next to a discarded tea party of stuffed animals and American girl dolls. Most have fallen from their tiny plastic chairs and are laying on the ground, some half-dressed. It reminds me of the morning…

3 min read

May 18

Does Allowing Your Child to Use Alcohol in Your Home Teach Them to Drink Responsibly?

What the research says about teenage brains and alcohol — As a researcher who studies adolescent alcohol use and problems, I frequently talk to parent groups, and I always, inevitably, get asked a question along the following lines: “Isn’t part of the problem that in the United States we make alcohol off-limits to adolescents, and by doing so, make it…

5 min read

Does Allowing Your Child to Use Alcohol in Your Home Teach Them to Drink Responsibly?

May 9

How to Grow Your Child’s Social Skills

Strategies to help your child with their emotional intelligence — Whether you have a highly extraverted child who constantly talks over others, or an introverted child who has trouble joining in group activities, most children benefit from honing their social skills. Just like walking and talking, interacting with others is something that is learned and fine-tuned through practice. Social skills…

3 min read

Mar 17

Why I Wrote THE CHILD CODE

Simplify parenting & remove a little pressure by understanding how your child is wired — Never in the course of human history have parents spent so much time trying to actively shape their children. And this high investment in parenting is coming at a tremendous cost, with sharp declines in happiness both among couples, and among kids who feel pressured at best, and at worst…

6 min read

Mar 15

How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes

A conversation with fellow parenting author Melinda Wenner Moyer — I recently had a chance to sit down with science journalist and fellow parenting author Melinda Wenner Moyer about her book “How to Raise Kids who Aren’t Assholes”. Moyer’s book is my version of the parenting trifecta: full of science, strategies, and stories, making for informative and entertaining reading. In…

8 min read

Mar 10

Science-Based Books for Parents

Resources that got me through my most challenging parenting periods, and others that shaped The Child Code — I wrote The Child Code because I saw a missing piece in mainstream parenting books — namely, there was no mention of how our kids’ genes play a critical role in their behavior, and how we can use that information to better parent our children (and take some of the…

5 min read