Leona S. Aiken

Leona Aiken is President’s Professor of psychology at Arizona State University (ASU). In 1998 she became the founding chair of the Ph.D. concentration in Quantitative Methods in Psychology at ASU. Aiken's research spans both method and substance in psychology. Her methodological work has in the main focused on models containing continuous variable interactions. She is co-author with Stephen West of the book "Multiple Regression: Testing and interpreting interactions." She is also co-author with Jacob Cohen, Patricia Cohen, and Stephen West of the third edition of "Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences." Her work on continuous variable interactions includes interactions in both the measured and latent variable frameworks. Her substantive research focuses on women's health protective behavior across the lifespan. She has been recognized repeatedly for her teaching and mentoring, most recently as ASU Outstanding Graduate Mentor, ASU Professor of the Year, and as an ASU President’s Professor. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Psychological Methods, Multivariate Behavioral Research, and the American Psychologist. She is past president of the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, Western Psychological Association and the Division of Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics of the American Psychological Association. Leona S. Aiken is a distinguished academic and researcher specializing in psychology and applied statistics, with a particular focus on health psychology and quantitative research methods. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Purdue University in 1970 and has since held various prominent positions, most notably as a President’s Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University (ASU) since 2010 and Director of the Quantitative Concentration from 1997 to 2007 and 2011 to 2017. Her academic career also includes professorships at Temple University and visiting positions at Texas Christian University and ASU. As an administrator, Aiken played a critical role as Associate Dean for Research at ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, managing research and scholarly activities across 20 academic departments and several research centers. Her contributions included planning for research growth in areas such as biotechnology and materials science and overseeing initiatives to enhance research activities and develop science facilities. Additionally, she served as Associate Provost for Academic Programs at Temple University, focusing on program development, budgeting, affirmative action, and collaboration with other academic institutions and the state government. Aiken's research interests bridge two key areas: health psychology and applied statistics. Her work in health psychology emphasizes understanding and promoting health-protective behaviors, particularly among women. Her studies often focus on developing psychosocial models to comprehend health behaviors and applying these models to design effective interventions. This approach has been applied to issues such as mammography screening, sun protection, safer sex practices, and decision-making regarding hormone replacement therapy. In the field of applied statistics, Aiken has made significant contributions to developing methods for analyzing complex data, especially interactions within regression models and structural equation modeling. Her collaboration with Stephen West has resulted in influential publications, including the books Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions and Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Aiken’s methodological research also extends to evaluating treatment effects, understanding how interventions work through mediation analysis, and improving statistical power in detecting interaction effects. She has been actively involved in editorial and review activities for prestigious journals, such as American Psychologist and Psychological Methods, and has served as an editor for several leading publications. Her dedication to teaching and mentorship has earned her numerous accolades, including the title of President’s Professor at ASU, the Arizona Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Research award, and the Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching from Temple University. Moreover, Aiken is a respected leader within the American Psychological Association (APA), having held various leadership positions, including President of the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology and Co-chair of the APA Board of Scientific Affairs. Her professional memberships and elected roles demonstrate her commitment to advancing psychology through research, mentorship, and service. Overall, Leona S. Aiken’s career reflects a profound dedication to integrating quantitative research methods with psychological science to address real-world issues in health behavior, earning her recognition as a pioneering scholar in her field.