About

Jason D Jones, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. He is based at the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Jones's educational background includes a BA in Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University, a Master's in Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a PhD in Psychology from the same institution. His research focuses on adolescent mental health, with particular attention to depression, suicidality, perceived discrimination, and the impact of telehealth interventions. He has contributed to studies examining long-term outcomes of adolescent depression prevention programs, the development of social media interventions for at-risk youth, and the effects of perceived xenophobia on youth mental health. Dr. Jones's work involves both clinical and community-based research, aiming to improve mental health outcomes among youth through innovative prevention and intervention strategies.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Longer-Term Outcomes of Telehealth-Delivered Adolescent Depression Prevention: Findings from a School-Based Randomized Controlled Trial

  Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · 2026-02-13

  article

  OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine longer-term outcomes of a school-based randomized controlled trial comparing a telehealth-delivered adolescent depression prevention program, Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), to services as usual (SAU) across 17 public schools. METHOD: = .70; 65% female; 21% Black; 13% Hispanic/Latinx) with elevated depression screening scores completed surveys through 15-month follow-up (approximately 1-year post-intervention). Adolescents completed a diagnostic interview to measure depression diagnoses at baseline and 15-month follow-up. Depression symptoms and diagnoses were primary outcomes and anxiety symptoms were secondary. RESULTS: Hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that adolescents in both IPT-AST and SAU demonstrated similar decreases in depression and anxiety symptoms during the follow-up and total study periods, supporting hypotheses regarding the follow-up period but not the total study. Baseline depression diagnostic status moderated intervention effects on anxiety symptoms such that, among adolescents without a depression diagnosis at baseline, those in IPT-AST showed greater reductions in anxiety symptoms than those in SAU. Exploratory analyses indicated SAU adolescents were more likely to endorse elevated depression symptoms (i.e. above a clinical cutoff) compared to IPT-AST adolescents. The hypothesis regarding depression diagnoses was partially supported; although diagnosis rates and timing to episode onset did not differ between IPT-AST and SAU, exploratory restricted mean survival time analyses demonstrated that adolescents in IPT-AST gained approximately one month free of diagnosis compared to those in SAU. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight the importance of school-based depression prevention programming for reducing longer-term risk.

  PublisherDOI

• 5.63 Perceived Discrimination Significantly Associated With Suicidal Ideation for Black Youth in a Clinical Sample of Adolescents

  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025-10-01

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  PublisherDOI

• Prevention bends adolescent internalizing trajectories: Within-person changes from pre- to post-prevention

  Journal of Affective Disorders · 2025-12-20

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  PublisherDOI

• Implementation Determinants and Outcomes of a Telehealth-Delivered Depression Prevention Program

  American Journal of Psychotherapy · 2025-10-28

  article

  OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a school-based, telehealth-delivered depression prevention program (interpersonal psychotherapy-adolescent skills training). METHODS: Adolescents in ninth or 10th grade (N=14), school counselors and other student support staff (N=14), and school and district administrators (N=14) from schools that were included in a larger randomized controlled trial completed hour-long, semistructured qualitative interviews. RESULTS: A content analysis, involving a combination of a priori codes from implementation science frameworks and codes derived from transcripts of the interviews, demonstrated that the prevention program was generally viewed as helpful and relevant. Moreover, the importance of mental health programming in the school setting was recognized. Nonetheless, key barriers to implementation were noted, including limited time and resources in the schools, technology challenges, and perceptions from some counselors that the program was more structured than was their typical practice. CONCLUSIONS: The results elucidated key factors to consider for optimizing future efforts to implement evidence-based mental health programs in schools and other community settings.

  PublisherDOI

• Predicting Adolescent Depression and Suicide Risk Based on Preadolescent Behavioral Health Screening in Primary Care

  Academic Pediatrics · 2025-04-15

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: To examine the degree to which a broadband behavioral health screener administered in preadolescence in primary care (PC) could serve as an early risk indicator for depression and suicide risk in adolescence. METHODS: Participants included 9329 patients who attended well visits at 9 and 12 years old in a large pediatric PC network. The sample was 49% female, 64% White, 18% Black, 4% Asian, 14% other races, and 6% Hispanic/Latinx. Caregivers completed the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17) about their child at age 9; youth completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Modified for Teens (PHQ-9-M) at age 12. RESULTS: After adjusting for demographic covariates, patients scoring above the risk cutoffs on the PSC-17 total scale and subscales (internalizing, externalizing, and attention) at age 9 had significantly greater odds of elevated depression and/or suicide risk on the PHQ-9-M at age 12 (odds ratios: 2.41-4.23, P < .001). Approximately one third of patients with depression (sensitivity: 37.1%) or suicide (sensitivity: 33.3%) risk at age 12 were identified as at risk on the PSC-17 at age 9. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the PSC-17, a well-researched screener widely used in pediatrics, has moderate predictive value with respect to depression and suicide risk during adolescence. More research is needed on the feasibility and potential benefits of broadband behavioral health screening in preadolescence to promote early identification and prevention efforts.

  PublisherDOI

• Trends in Adolescent Depression and Suicide Risk Screening and Symptom Monitoring in a Large Primary Care Network

  Academic Pediatrics · 2025-12-20

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: To examine long-term trends in adolescent depression and suicide risk screening and interim symptom monitoring in pediatric primary care (PC) following implementation of universal screening at well-visits. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study examined electronic health record (EHR) data from 406,192 well-visits of 12 to 17-year-old pediatric patients from 2018 to 2024 in a large PC network in the United States. Screening was conducted using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9: Modified for Teens (PHQ-9-M). We evaluated trends over time in well-visit screening compliance, depression and suicide risk rates, and rates and timing of interim symptom monitoring between well-visits. RESULTS: [1] = 240.74, P<.001) and days from index well-visit to interim screen decreased by greater than 50%. CONCLUSIONS: In the years following implementation of universal depression and suicide risk screening in a large PC network, screening compliance increased significantly. However, low rates of interim symptom monitoring for patients screening positive indicate a gap in secondary prevention. Improving risk-based follow-up procedures, including interim screening, in PC represents a critical next step to enhance the preventive potential of universal screening.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Telehealth-delivered depression prevention: Short-term outcomes from a school-based randomized controlled trial.

  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · 2024-10-31 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To examine short-term (i.e., postintervention) outcomes from a randomized controlled trial comparing a school-based telehealth-delivered depression prevention program, Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), to services as usual (SAU). We expected IPT-AST would be acceptable and feasible and that IPT-AST adolescents would experience greater reductions in depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and impairment compared with SAU. METHOD: = 0.70; 65% female; 21% Black; 13% Hispanic/Latinx) with elevated scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977) at screening provided data at baseline, 2-month (midpoint of IPT-AST), and 3-month (postintervention) assessments. They reported depression symptoms on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, anxiety symptoms on the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (Birmaher et al., 1997), and impairment on the Columbia Impairment Scale (Bird et al., 1993). Baseline depression diagnosis was examined as a moderator. RESULTS: s ≤ .05), such that IPT-AST adolescents without a diagnosis at baseline showed greater improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms than SAU adolescents. Adolescents in SAU with a depression diagnosis at baseline showed greater improvements in impairment compared with IPT-AST. Attendance and satisfaction data demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of telehealth-delivered IPT-AST. CONCLUSIONS: Results support telehealth-delivered IPT-AST as a promising intervention for improving short-term outcomes among adolescents with depression symptoms but without a depression diagnosis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Cognitive and interpersonal moderators of two evidence-based depression prevention programs.

  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · 2024-04-18 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: To test potential cognitive and interpersonal moderators of two evidence-based youth depression prevention programs. METHOD: = 1.65; 56% female; 71% White, 11% Black, 11% multiracial, 5% Asian, 2% other races, 18% Hispanic/Latinx) were randomized to either a cognitive-behavioral (Coping With Stress [CWS]) or interpersonal (Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training [IPT-AST]) prevention program. Potential moderators, selected based on theory and research, included rumination, negative cognitive style, dysfunctional attitudes, hopelessness, parent-adolescent conflict, negative interactions with parents and friends, and social support from parents and friends. Depression symptoms were assessed repeatedly through 18 months postintervention. RESULTS: = .32) moderated intervention effects on change in depression symptoms from postintervention through 18-month follow-up. For example, at high levels of conflict with father, youth in IPT-AST reported a significant decrease in symptoms during follow-up, whereas youth in CWS reported a nonsignificant change in symptoms. At low levels of conflict with father, youth in IPT-AST reported a significant increase in symptoms during follow-up, whereas youth in CWS reported a nonsignificant change in symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These exploratory secondary analyses of Personalized Depression Prevention study data highlight specific cognitive and interpersonal risk factors that could be considered when determining which prevention program may be most effective for a given adolescent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Coordination of parent and adolescent attachment across time.

  Developmental Psychology · 2024-10-31 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  dynamic between mothers' and adolescents' long-term trajectories of attachment security. Mothers who reported higher initial levels of attachment anxiety tended to have adolescent children who reported higher initial levels of avoidance. Additionally, adolescents who increased in attachment avoidance over time tended to have mothers who increased in attachment anxiety. Mothers and fathers mirrored each other's patterns of attachment security as their children navigated their teenage years, reporting similar initial levels of attachment avoidance and synchronized shorter term fluctuations in attachment anxiety and avoidance across time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• The General Psychopathology ‘p’ Factor in Adolescence: Multi-Informant Assessment and Computerized Adaptive Testing

  Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · 2024-06-13 · 5 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew S. Epstein

  Cornell University

  21 shared

• John P. Plastaras

  University of Pennsylvania

  20 shared

• Ima Paydar

  19 shared

• Richard L. Schilsky

  American Society of Clinical Oncology

  19 shared

• Harold J. Burstein

  Harvard University

  18 shared

• John V. Heymach

  18 shared

• Kavita V. Dharmarajan

  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  18 shared

• Lada Krilov

  St. Michael's Hospital

  18 shared