Rate My Professor Matthew Jarrett

Matthew Jarrett, PhD, is a Professor in the Clinical Child subarea of the Department of Psychology at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He earned his PhD in Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and completed a pre-doctoral internship at Children’s National Medical Center. Prior to graduate training, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. Jarrett was recently promoted to full Professor in the Psychology department. He maintains affiliations with the Center for Youth Development and Intervention (CYDI) and the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR). As a member of the Psychology Clinic staff, he specializes in clinical child psychology and teaches courses including Psychopathology (PY 358), Junior Seminar (PY 391), Advanced Child Practicum (PY 639), and Teaching of Psychology (PY 695).

Jarrett's research program investigates developmental psychopathology, with emphasis on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), co-occurring anxiety disorders, sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT)/cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS), neuropsychological functioning, and social impairments in children, adolescents, and emerging adults. His laboratory is conducting an NIMH-funded clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a group-based mindfulness intervention for first-year college students with ADHD. Jarrett has produced a substantial body of peer-reviewed scholarship, accumulating nearly 4,000 citations. Representative publications include Becker, S. P., Leopold, D. R., Burns, G. L., Jarrett, M. A., Langberg, J. M., Marshall, S. A., McBurnett, K., Waschbusch, D. A., & Willcutt, E. G. (2016). The internal, external, and diagnostic validity of sluggish cognitive tempo: A meta-analysis and critical review. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 55, 163-178; Ferretti, N. M., King, S. L., Rondon, A. T., Hilton, D. C., & Jarrett, M. A. (2019). Social functioning in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and sluggish cognitive tempo. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 92, 29-35; Jarrett, M. A., Gable, P. A., Rondon, A. T., Neal, L. B., Price, H. F., & Hilton, D. C. (2020). An EEG study of children with and without ADHD symptoms: Between-group differences and associations with sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms. Journal of Attention Disorders, 24, 1002-1010; and Reiner, A. I., Greenberg, A. J., Jarrett, M. A., Becker, S. P., Kofler, M. J., Luebbe, A. M., Burns, G. L., & Garner, A. A. (2025). Does stimulant medication status moderate the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and rumination? Journal of Attention Disorders (advance online publication). He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, Journal of Attention Disorders, and Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.