Identification of and Guidance for Problem Drinking by General Medical Providers: Results from a National Survey
Few people are queried about alcohol or drug use when they visit a GMP.
Elizabeth D'Amico is a senior behavioral scientist at RAND, a licensed clinical psychologist, and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. 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 MI interventions with young people in a variety of settings, including schools, homeless shelters, and teen court. She currently has grants focused on substance use prevention among adolescents in primary care and with urban American Indian and Alaska Native emerging adults across the United States. She is also currently conducting a large clinical trial to address suicide prevention among Alaska Native young people in Alaska. She has conducted epidemiological work to examine predictors and consequences of adolescent and emerging adult 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. She has also addressed the effects of cannabis advertising on adolescents' cannabis 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 the RAND Behavioral and Policy Sciences department. She has discussed how to talk to adolescents about cannabis legalization on 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.
Education
Ph.D. in clinical psychology, University of Texas
Selected Work
- Siconolfi, D., Tucker, J.S., Pedersen, E.R., Perez, L.G., Dunbar, M.S., Davis, J.P., Rodriguez, A., Seelam, R., D’Amico, E.J., "Sober curiosity and participation in temporary alcohol abstinence challenges in a cohort of U.S. emerging adults," Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 85, 2024
- Dunbar, M. S., D’Amico, E. J., Seelam, R., Davis, J. P., Pedersen, E. R., Rodriguez, A., & Kilmer, B., "High potency cannabis flower use is associated with heavier consumption and risk for cannabis use disorder among young adults in California, USA," Addiction, 120, 2025
- 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
- Troxel, W.M., Klein, D.J., Dong, L., Mousavi, Z., Dickerson, D.L., Johnson, C.L., Palimaru, A.I., Brown, R.A., Rodriguez, A., Parker, J., Schweigman, K., & D’Amico, E.J, "Sleep problems and health outcomes among urban American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents," JAMA Network Open, 2024
- 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., 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