Ph.D. in clinical psychology, University of Texas
This researcher is available for interviews.
To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.
More ExpertsElizabeth 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 and young adults. She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT).
D'Amico has evaluated motivational interviewing (MI) interventions with adolescents and young adults in a variety of settings, including middle schools, primary care, homeless shelters, and teen court. She has grants focused on prevention for substance use for urban Native American adolescents and young adults that integrate MI with traditional practices, such as beading and Native American cooking. She is currently conducting a large clinical trial to address suicide prevention among Alaska Native youth in Alaska. She has conducted epidemiological work to examine predictors and consequences of adolescent substance use, and is the principal investigator of a longitudinal study examining substance use patterns over 18 years among youth from sixth grade through age 28. Her most recent work has focused on the effects of medical marijuana advertising on adolescents' marijuana use.
In 2016, D'Amico was recognized as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association for Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology). She received the Mentor of the Year Award in 2018 from RAND's Behavioral and Policy Sciences. She has expressed her views on how to talk to adolescents about marijuana legalization on the PBS news hour for the "In My Humble Opinion" (#IMHO) series. D'Amico received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas.
D’Amico, E.J., Rodriguez, A., Tucker, J.S., Pedersen, E.R., & Shih, R.A., "Planting the seed for marijuana use: Changes in exposure to medical marijuana advertising and subsequent adolescent marijuana use, cognitions, and consequences over seven years," Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 188, 2018
D’Amico, E.J., Parast, L., Shadel, W.G., Meredith, L.S., Seelam, R., & Stein, B.D., "Brief motivational interviewing intervention to reduce alcohol and marijuana use for at-risk adolescents in primary care: A randomized clinical trial," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(9), 2018
D’Amico, E. J., Dickerson, D. L., Brown, R. A., Johnson, C., Agniel, D., & Klein, D., "Motivational Interviewing and Culture for Urban Native American Youth (MICUNAY): A randomized controlled trial," Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 111, 2020
D’Amico, E. J., Tucker, J. S., Pedersen, E. R, & Shih, R. A, "Understanding rates of marijuana use and consequences among adolescents in a changing legal landscape," Current Addiction Reports, 4(4), 2017
D’Amico, E.J., Davis, J.P., Tucker, J.S., Seelam, R., Stein, B.D. , "Opioid misuse during adolescence and its effects on risk behaviors, social functioning, health, and emerging adult roles," Addictive Behaviors, 113, 2021
D’Amico, E.J., Palimaru, A.I., Dickerson, D.L., Dong, L., Brown, R.A., Johnson, C.L., Klein, D.J., & Troxel, W.M., " Risk and resilience factors in urban American Indian/Alaska Native youth during the coronavirus pandemic," American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 2021
Tucker, J.S., Pedersen, E. R., Seelam, R., Dunbar, M. D., Shih, R. A, & D’Amico, E. J., "Types of cannabis and tobacco/nicotine co-use and associated outcomes in young adulthood," Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 33(4), 2019
Dunbar, M., Davis, J., Rodriguez, A., Tucker, J. S., Seelam, R., & D’Amico, E. J. , "Disentangling within- and between-person effects of shared risk factors on e-cigarette and cigarette use trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood," Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 21, 2019
Interviews: CNN; KPBS/NPR; Los Angeles Times; Time Magazine; Washington Post; WPR, Wisconsin Public Radio
