Elizabeth D'Amico

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Senior Behavioral Scientist
Santa Monica Office

Education

Ph.D. in clinical psychology, University of Texas

Overview

Biography

Elizabeth D'Amico is a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation and a licensed clinical psychologist. D'Amico is nationally recognized for her work developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions for adolescents. She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and the interventions she has developed all utilize motivational interviewing (MI).

D'Amico currently has several grants in the field that evaluate MI interventions with youth in a variety of settings, including middle schools, primary care, and teen court. She also has a longitudinal study that examines substance use patterns over seven years among a large sample of youth from middle school through high school. In 2009, D'Amico received the Mentor of the Year award at RAND for her work in mentoring junior investigators. She was also editor for the APA Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology) newsletter from 2007 to 2010. D'Amico received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

  • Assessing the effects of a voluntary brief alcohol and drug intervention in 16 middle schools across three school districts in Southern California
  • Development and testing of a group motivational intervention for first-time alcohol and drug offenders in a teen court setting
  • Development and testing of a web-based motivational interviewing intervention for DUI educational settings

Selected Publications

D'Amico, E.J., Osilla, K.C., Miles, J.N.V., Ewing, B. Sullivan, K., Katz, K. & Hunter, S.B., "Assessing motivational interviewing integrity for group interventions with adolescents," Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2012 (forthcoming)

Shih, R.A., Miles, J.N.V., Tucker, J. S., Zhou, A. J., & D'Amico, E.J., "Racial/ethnic differences in the influence of cultural values, alcohol resistance self-efficacy and expectancies on risk for alcohol initiation," Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2012 (forthcoming)

D'Amico, E.J., Tucker, J.S., Miles, J.N.V., Zhou, A.J., Shih, R.A, & Green, H.D., "Preventing alcohol use with a voluntary after school program for middle school students: Results from a randomized controlled trial of CHOICE," Prevention Science, 13(4):415-25, 2012

D'Amico, E.J., Green, H.D., Miles, J.N.V., Zhou, A. J., Tucker, J. S., & Shih, R.A., "Voluntary after school alcohol and drug programs: If you build it right, they will come," Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(3):571-582, 2012

D'Amico, E.J., Osilla, K.C., & Hunter, S.B., "Developing a group motivational interviewing intervention for adolescents at-risk for developing an alcohol or drug use disorder," Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 28(4):417-436, 2010

D'Amico, E.J., Feldstein Ewing, S.W., Engle, B., Hunter, S.B., Osilla, K.C., & Bryan, A., in press. "Group motivational interviewing for young people at risk for alcohol and other drug use," in S. Naar-King and M. Suarez, Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Families, New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 2010

Honors & Awards

  • Mentor of the Year, RAND Health

Recent Media Appearances

Interviews: CNN; KPBS/NPR; Los Angeles Times; Time Magazine; Washington Post

Publications

Temporal Associations of Popularity and Alcohol Use Among Middle School Students - 2013

The Effects of Employment Among Adolescents At-Risk for Future Substance Use - 2013

Assessing Measurement Invariance of Familism and Parental Respect Across Race/Ethnicity in Adolescents - 2012

Assessing Motivational Interviewing Integrity for Group Interventions with Adolescents - 2012

Interventions to Improve Student Mental Health: A Literature Review to Guide Evaluation of California's Mental Health Prevention and Early Intervention Initiative - 2012

Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use Among Injection Drug Users - 2012

Preventing Alcohol Use with a Voluntary After-School Program for Middle School Students: Results from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of CHOICE - 2012

Racial/ethnic Differences in the Influence of Cultural Values, Alcohol Resistance Self-Efficacy, and Alcohol Expectancies on Risk for Alcohol Initiation - 2012

Voluntary After-School Alcohol and Drug Programs for Middle School Youth: If You Build It Right, They Will Come - 2012

Group Alcohol and Drug Treatment - 2011

Multisite Cost Analysis of a School-Based Voluntary Alcohol and Drug Prevention Program - 2011

Substance Use Among Middle School Students: Associations with Self-Rated and Peer-Nominated Popularity - 2011

The In Vivo Adherence Intervention for at Risk Adolescents with Asthma: Report of a Randomized Pilot Trial - 2011

Developing a Group Motivational Interviewing Intervention for First-Time Adolescent Offenders At-Risk for an Alcohol or Drug Use Disorder - 2010

Racial/ethnic Differences in Adolescent Substance Use: Mediation by Individual, Family, and School Factors - 2010

The Influence of Personal, Family, and School Factors on Early Adolescent Substance Use - 2010

A Pilot of a Tripartite Prevention Program for Homeless Young Women in the Transition to Adulthood - 2009

Analysis of Item Response and Differential Item Functioning of Alcohol Expectancies in Middle School Youths - 2009

Community Prevention Handbook on Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment: Evidence-Based Practices - 2009

Developing a Tripartite Prevention Program for Impoverished Young Women Transitioning to Young Adulthood: Addressing Substance Use, HIV Risk, and Victimization By Intimate Partners - 2009

Seven Years Later: Developmental Transitions and Delinquent Behavior for Male Adolescents Who Received Long-Term Substance Treatment - 2009

Victimization from Mental and Physical Bullying and Substance Use in Early Adolescence - 2009

Brief Motivational Interviewing for Teens at Risk of Substance Use Consequences: A Randomized Pilot Study in a Primary Care Clinic - 2008

Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery - 2008

The Longitudinal Association Between Substance Use and Delinquency Among High-Risk Youth - 2008

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Progress During 2004 and 2005 - 2007

Pilot Test of Project CHOICE: A Voluntary Afterschool Intervention for Middle School Youth - 2007

Problem Drinking Among Cambodian Refugees in the United States: How Big of a Problem Is It? - 2007

Project CHAT: A Brief Motivational Substance Abuse Intervention for Teens in Primary Care - 2007

Adolescent Self-Selection of Service Formats: Implications for Secondary Interventions Targeting Alcohol Use - 2006

Escalation and Initiation of Younger Adolescents' Substance Use: The Impact of Perceived Peer Use - 2006

Victimization and Health Among Indigent Young Women in the Transition to Adulthood: A Portrait of Need - 2006

A Prospective Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Substance Use Among Impoverished Women Living in Temporary Shelter Settings in Los Angeles County - 2005

Developmental Considerations for Substance Use Interventions from Middle School Through College - 2005

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Program Advancement in 2005 - 2005

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Program Advancement in 2005 - 2005

Experiencing Interpersonal Violence: Perspectives of Sexually Active, Substance-Using Women Living in Shelters and Low-Income Housing - 2005

Factors That Impact Adolescents' Intentions to Utilize Alcohol-Related Prevention Services - 2005

Identification of and Guidance for Problem Drinking By General Medical Providers: Results from a National Survey - 2005

Marijuana Use and Later Problems: When Frequency of Recent Use Explains Age of Initiation Effects (and When It Does Not) - 2005

Processes Linking Adolescent Problems to Substance-Use Problems in Late Young Adulthood - 2005

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Progress from Program Inception to 2004 - 2004

Multicultural Web-Based Motivational Interviewing for Clients with a First-Time DUI Offense -