Richard Leos Jenkins (3 June 1903 – 30 December 1991) was an American psychiatrist known for his work in child psychiatry and juvenile delinquency.
Jenkins earned his A.B. from Stanford University in 1925 and his M.D. from University of Chicago.
In the 1930s he published on intelligence and "mongolism." His work on psychometrics with Louis Leon Thurstone found that the youngest child is usually the smartest, and children of older parents are usually smarter than peers.[1]
Jenkins held teaching appointments at several schools, including Acting Superintendent of the Institute for Juvenile Research and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He served as the Veterans Administration psychiatric research chief and psychiatric evaluation project chief from 1949 to 1961. He then was appointed professor and child psychiatry division chief at the University of Iowa. He was on the committee which oversaw the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
In later life he co-edited several books and self-published a volume of poems. Jenkins died in Iowa City, Iowa of a cerebral hemorrhage.[2]
- ^ Staff report (February 20, 1933). Babies. Time
- ^ Staff report (January 1, 1992). Richard L. Jenkins, Child Psychiatrist. Washington Post