About

Robert Krueger is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. His research interests encompass personality, psychopathology, aging, health, and behavior genetics. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, obtained in 1996. His academic and research focus includes behavior genetics, clinical and personality psychology, quantitative psychology, personality disorders, aging, and health. He is based in Elliott Hall at the University of Minnesota, where he contributes to advancing understanding in these areas through his scholarly work.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Political Science
• Psychiatry
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Biology
• Genetics
• Medicine
• Demography
• Ecology
• Clinical psychology
• Mathematics
• Engineering
• Geography
• Evolutionary biology
• Statistics
• Public relations
• Engineering ethics
• Gerontology
• Nursing
• Business
• Applied psychology
• Medical education
• Endocrinology

Selected publications

• Etiological Development of Alcohol Use and Dependence From Adolescence to Midlife in a Longitudinal Community Study of Twins

  Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria emphasize physiological and psychological consequences of alcohol use without direct evaluation of quantity and frequency of consumption. It remains unclear whether alcohol dependence is an extreme outcome on the alcohol use spectrum or if it represents a separate pattern of behavior with different genetic and environmental influences. To investigate this, we evaluated relationships between alcohol consumption and dependence from adolescence to middle age in a large twin sample. METHODS: Participants were twins (monozygotic pairs = 1205, dizygotic pairs = 676; 52% female) assessed at six waves from adolescence into midlife (age range = 13.6-49.4 years) on frequency of alcohol use, quantity of use, and dependence/abuse symptoms. At each assessment, we fit a longitudinal factor model with a single latent factor loading onto the three alcohol measures. Common and specific factor variance was decomposed into genetic and environmental components. RESULTS: Alcohol use frequency peaked in early adulthood and remained stable; alcohol use quantity and dependence symptoms peaked in early adulthood and declined thereafter. Factor loadings within waves could not be constrained to be equal at all timepoints without significant detriment to model fit (increases in AIC = 1149 and BIC = 1081). Models constraining loadings at individual timepoints indicate that the measures can be reasonably equated at ages 24 and 29 (decreases in BIC = 3.1 and 2.9, respectively). Genetic factors accounted for about 50% of variance in the latent alcohol behavior factor from ages 14 through 29 but decreased (p = 0.007) to 24% by age 37. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol use and dependence are distinct in adolescence and young adulthood but show convergence in adulthood, such that alcohol dependence symptom count does not clearly measure a construct separate from alcohol consumption longitudinally. These developmental shifts have clinical implications, with AUD screening reliant on assessment of alcohol use patterns expected to perform more reliably in adults than adolescents.

  PublisherDOI

• An Updated Polygenic Index Repository: Expanded Phenotypes, New Cohorts, and Improved Causal Inference

  Research Square · 2025-10-13

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• How Often is “Often”? Improving Assessment of the Externalizing Spectrum Using Absolute Frequency

  2025-02-11

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Nearly all questionnaires of externalizing problems use vague quantifiers of relative frequency (e.g., rarely/sometimes/often) or true/false statements. Vague quantifiers have many problems, including imprecision and low interpretability. An alternative is numeric quantifiers that quantify, in absolute frequency, how many times the person engaged in the behavior during a given timeframe. This study evaluates whether absolute frequency provides utility for assessing the externalizing spectrum. Participants included adults recruited online and college students, for a combined sample of 1,237 adults (290 males; 947 females) spanning 18–92 years of age. A subset of items was adapted from the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory to assess absolute frequency, supplemented with additional items to ensure broad coverage. Using a 30-day reference period, participants indicated how many times they engaged in each behavior per day, per week, in the past month, or in the prior year. Externalizing problems showed age-related decreases from early to later adulthood. On average, men showed greater externalizing problems than women in early and older adulthood; women showed greater externalizing problems than men in middle adulthood. Latent scores derived from absolute frequency items demonstrated convergent validity with a widely used measure of externalizing problems (Adult Self-Report), discriminant validity with respect to internalizing problems, and criterion and incremental validity in relation to functional impairment and inhibitory control. Count data led to greater precision—less uncertainty in the estimate of each person’s level of externalizing problems—than dichotomized versions of the items. Findings suggest there is key utility in assessing absolute frequency of externalizing behavior.

  PublisherDOI

• Integrating HiTOP and Computational Psychiatry for a New Era of Clinical Science

  2025-10-29

  articleOpen access

  For decades, advancements in understanding and treating mental illness have been hindered by a categorical psychiatric nosology that fails to describe and explain how symptoms emerge and relate to one another. In response, two separate initiatives have contributed to a renewed sense of optimism for scientific and translational discovery. First, quantitative models of psychopathology improve clinical description by relying on empirical data to provide a more accurate representation of the structure of mental illness. Chief among these approaches is the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), which organizes psychopathology based on patterns of symptom covariation observed across numerous studies. In parallel, computational psychiatry seeks to identify neurocognitive processes that give rise to psychopathology and leverage them to forecast important clinical and functional outcomes. Here, we highlight points of convergence and complementarity between HiTOP and computational psychiatry and propose further integration. HiTOP provides an empirically based approach to understanding the structure of psychopathology, but lacks strong explanations of how symptom dimensions are connected to underlying neurocognitive processes. Conversely, computational psychiatry’s emphasis on cognitive processes and multivariate prediction make it well-suited to linking lower level dynamics with symptom variability. Yet, many contemporary computational psychiatry findings lack specificity and validity as a result of a continued reliance on categorical diagnoses. We conclude by highlighting potential barriers that will need to be addressed to maximize the productivity of future collaborative efforts between these initiatives.

  PublisherDOI

• How Often is “Often”? Improving Assessment of the Externalizing Spectrum Using Absolute Frequency

  2025-10-02 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Nearly all questionnaires of externalizing problems use vague quantifiers of relative frequency (e.g., rarely/sometimes/often) or true/false statements. Vague quantifiers have many problems, including imprecision and low interpretability. An alternative is numeric quantifiers that quantify, in absolute frequency, how many times the person engaged in the behavior during a given timeframe. This study evaluates whether absolute frequency provides utility for assessing the externalizing spectrum. Participants included adults recruited online and college students, for a combined sample of 1,237 adults (290 males; 947 females) spanning 18–92 years of age. A subset of items was adapted from the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory to assess absolute frequency, supplemented with additional items to ensure broad coverage. Using a 30-day reference period, participants indicated how many times they engaged in each behavior per day, per week, in the past month, or in the prior year. Externalizing problems showed age-related decreases from early to later adulthood. On average, men showed greater externalizing problems than women in early and older adulthood; women showed greater externalizing problems than men in middle adulthood. Latent scores derived from absolute frequency items demonstrated convergent validity with a widely used measure of externalizing problems (Adult Self-Report), discriminant validity with respect to internalizing problems, and criterion and incremental validity in relation to functional impairment and inhibitory control. Count data led to greater precision—less uncertainty in the estimate of each person’s level of externalizing problems—than dichotomized versions of the items. Findings suggest there is key utility in assessing absolute frequency of externalizing behavior.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• How Often is “Often”? Improving Assessment of the Externalizing Spectrum Using Absolute Frequency

  2025-06-14

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Nearly all questionnaires of externalizing problems use vague quantifiers of relative frequency (e.g., rarely/sometimes/often) or true/false statements. Vague quantifiers have many problems, including imprecision and low interpretability. An alternative is numeric quantifiers that quantify, in absolute frequency, how many times the person engaged in the behavior during a given timeframe. This study evaluates whether absolute frequency provides utility for assessing the externalizing spectrum. Participants included adults recruited online and college students, for a combined sample of 1,237 adults (290 males; 947 females) spanning 18–92 years of age. A subset of items was adapted from the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory to assess absolute frequency, supplemented with additional items to ensure broad coverage. Using a 30-day reference period, participants indicated how many times they engaged in each behavior per day, per week, in the past month, or in the prior year. Externalizing problems showed age-related decreases from early to later adulthood. On average, men showed greater externalizing problems than women in early and older adulthood; women showed greater externalizing problems than men in middle adulthood. Latent scores derived from absolute frequency items demonstrated convergent validity with a widely used measure of externalizing problems (Adult Self-Report), discriminant validity with respect to internalizing problems, and criterion and incremental validity in relation to functional impairment and inhibitory control. Count data led to greater precision—less uncertainty in the estimate of each person’s level of externalizing problems—than dichotomized versions of the items. Findings suggest there is key utility in assessing absolute frequency of externalizing behavior.

  PublisherDOI

• A benchmark of the somatic mutation landscape using single-cell and single-molecule whole-genome sequencing

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-09-04

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Accurate detection of somatic mutations in noncancerous cells is critical for studying somatic mosaicism, a process implicated in aging and multiple chronic diseases. However, single-cell and single-molecule DNA sequencing platforms differ in their error profiles, coverage biases, and sensitivity to specific mutation types, complicating cross-platform comparisons. Here, we present in vitro and in silico benchmarks to quantify true-positive and false-positive rates in single-cell whole-genome sequencing using Single-Cell Multiple Displacement Amplification, and in single-molecule sequencing using Nanorate Sequencing (NS) and whole-genome NS (WGNS). Using standard cell lines, we show that all three methods detect single-nucleotide variants (sSNVs) and small insertions and deletions (sINDELs) with high accuracy, but differ in genomic coverage and susceptibility to artifacts. Method-specific biases influence mutational signatures and hotspot detection. Applying results of the benchmark to IMR-90 fibroblasts, we estimate higher in vitro mutation rates using NS than expected from in vivo data, consistent with potential replication stress and culture-associated DNA damage. Overall, our study highlights the substantial impact of sequencing platform-specific biases on somatic mutation detection and interpretation, and lays the foundation for standardized, cross-platform-comparable analyses of somatic mosaicism in normal human tissues.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• New diagnosis in psychiatry: beyond heuristics

  Psychological Medicine · 2025-01-01 · 27 citations

  reviewOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Diagnosis in psychiatry faces familiar challenges. Validity and utility remain elusive, and confusion regarding the fluid and arbitrary border between mental health and illness is increasing. The mainstream strategy has been conservative and iterative, retaining current nosology until something better emerges. However, this has led to stagnation. New conceptual frameworks are urgently required to catalyze a genuine paradigm shift. METHODS: We outline candidate strategies that could pave the way for such a paradigm shift. These include the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), and Clinical Staging, which all promote a blend of dimensional and categorical approaches. RESULTS: These alternative still heuristic transdiagnostic models provide varying levels of clinical and research utility. RDoC was intended to provide a framework to reorient research beyond the constraints of DSM. HiTOP began as a nosology derived from statistical methods and is now pursuing clinical utility. Clinical Staging aims to both expand the scope and refine the utility of diagnosis by the inclusion of the dimension of timing. None is yet fit for purpose. Yet they are relatively complementary, and it may be possible for them to operate as an ecosystem. Time will tell whether they have the capacity singly or jointly to deliver a paradigm shift. CONCLUSIONS: Several heuristic models have been developed that separately or synergistically build infrastructure to enable new transdiagnostic research to define the structure, development, and mechanisms of mental disorders, to guide treatment and better meet the needs of patients, policymakers, and society.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reply to Ko, Null within-twin estimates on education and dementia: cautions for within-family contrasts

  European Journal of Epidemiology · 2025-12-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• How often is “often”? Improving assessment of the externalizing spectrum using absolute frequency.

  Psychological Assessment · 2025-12-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Nearly all questionnaires of externalizing problems use vague quantifiers of relative frequency (e.g., rarely/sometimes/often) or true/false statements. Vague quantifiers have many problems, including imprecision and low interpretability. An alternative is numeric quantifiers that quantify, in absolute frequency, how many times the person engaged in the behavior during a given time frame. This study evaluates whether absolute frequency provides utility for assessing the externalizing spectrum. Participants included adults recruited online and college students, for a combined sample of 1,237 adults (290 males; 947 females) spanning 18-92 years of age. A subset of items was adapted from the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory to assess absolute frequency, supplemented with additional items to ensure broad coverage. Using a 30-day reference period, participants indicated how many times they engaged in each behavior per day, per week, in the past month, or in the prior year. Externalizing problems showed age-related decreases from early to later adulthood. On average, men showed greater externalizing problems than women in early and older adulthood; women showed greater externalizing problems than men in middle adulthood. Latent scores derived from absolute frequency items demonstrated convergent validity with a widely used measure of externalizing problems (Adult Self-Report), discriminant validity with respect to internalizing problems, and criterion and incremental validity in relation to functional impairment and inhibitory control. Count data led to greater precision-less uncertainty in the estimate of each person's level of externalizing problems-than dichotomized versions of the items. Findings suggest there is key utility in assessing absolute frequency of externalizing behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• The impact of adverse interpersonal experiences (AIE) on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) in ethnically diverse twins

  NIH · $8.0M · 2016–2027

• Antecedents of Adult Physical Health and Cognitive Risks for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) in Adolescent Family Experiences: A Prospective, Longitudinal Adoption Study

  NIH · $3.9M · 2022–2027

• NIH Grant T32MH017069

  NIH · $3.0M · 2013

Frequent coauthors

• Kristian E. Markon

  University of Minnesota System

  134 shared

• Nicholas R. Eaton

  127 shared

• Matt McGue

  Twin Cities Orthopedics

  124 shared

• Miriam K. Forbes

  Macquarie University

  113 shared

• Roman Kotov

  101 shared

• William G. Iacono

  Twin Cities Orthopedics

  79 shared

• Christopher J. Patrick

  Florida State University

  72 shared

• Ashley L. Watts

  65 shared