Past Research

Daily Activities and Young Adult Experiences Survey (DAYS) Project

How women engage with the social contexts of young adulthood may increase vulnerability to or provide protection against SA. Yet one of the defining characteristics of assault risk – the interpersonal facets of this risk – has not been considered in the literature. This study aims to address this gap, by examining dynamic, short-term associations between interpersonal goal orientation and routine risk activities, and assault protective behaviors that guard against SA, and how self-regulation and the peer context may influence risk and protection. This study will also use historical data to examine early adolescent interpersonal goals that may serve as developmental precursors for risk. Finally, it links shorter-term changes in interpersonal processes to longer-term developmental processes.

R01 AA026105 (Read, PI; Colder, Co-PI)

Historical data supported by  R01 DA0119631 (Colder, PI; Read, Co-I)

Social goal Orientation and Assault Risk (SOAR)

Sexual assault occurs in college in settings that are social in nature, often with perpetrators known to the victim. Understanding how women interact with their social environment may be the key to assault vulnerability. The objective of this lab-based study is to better understand how social goal orientation (interpersonal orientations toward agency and communion) may influence women’s navigation of complex social situations and as such, how these orientations represent a risk or protective factor sexual assault. We also seek to understand how these orientations, long believed to be static, trait-like constructs, may shift in response to the demands of the social environment. To this end, we are using assault vignettes and an experimental social goal paradigm to examine the impact of explicit and implicit social goals on sexual assault risk perception during an alcohol-involved social situation. We also will test the role that self-regulation may play in this association. This work is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Mark Seery and Dr. Veronica LaMarch (University at Essex).

Promoting Optimal Wellness and Empowering Resilience through Narrative Exposure Therapy (POWER-NET)

The goal of this study is to examine preliminary feasibility and efficacy of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) to promote adolescent mental health related to interpersonal trauma. Among those at highest risk for interpersonal violence and its sequelae are youth from urban, low-resourced neighborhoods. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common outcome associated with IPT. Substance misuse (SUB) is a frequent concomitant of PTSD and other disorders such as depression. NET is a promising intervention to reduce PTSD symptoms and associated psychological distress, via the supported reconstruction (narrative telling) of the traumas. NET has a critical advantage over existing PTSD treatments in that it can be delivered in a brief format, in community settings where at-risk adolescents are likely to be found. We currently are conducting a trial (N=50) to estimate NET treatment effects on PTSD and depression symptoms and substance use outcomes in urban adolescents (ages 16-21). NET will be compared against a wait list control condition. This is the first study to examine NET efficacy in this population. Recruitment and intervention are taking place at our community partner, a Buffalo area facility that serves homeless and at-risk youth. We are collecting outcome data at Baseline, and at 1 and 3 month follow-up assessments. Potential mechanisms of change and treatment outcome also will be examined.

This study is funded by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and by The Fahs-Beck Foundation.

This work is inspired by the life and work of Dr. Ellen Volpe. Learn more about Ellen here.

Protecting Allies in Risky Situations (PAIRS) Project

The study developed and completed a preliminary test of a brief, dyad-based motivational intervention that empowers college women to protect themselves and one another from sexual assault (SA). Delivered to pairs of friends, this intervention was designed to harness the power of friendships to arrive at a personalized and effective approach to assault prevention. R34 AA027046 (Read, PI, Livingston, Co-PI)

Narrative Exposure Treatment: Integrating an evidence-based trauma intervention with residential substance abuse treatment for adolescents (TOWER-NET)

The objective of this 3-year project was to bring evidence-based trauma intervention to substance abuse residential treatment for adolescents with substance use problems. The grant provided training in Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) to treatment staff at Buffalo’s Renaissance House, a residential treatment facility. Our study examined training and implementation outcomes for NET, as well as substance use and trauma-related outcomes for 50 adolescents treated by Renaissance House staff.

This study was conducted in collaboration with co-PI Susan Zannoni, and funded by the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation.

Promoting Optimal Wellness and Empowering Resilience through Narrative Exposure Therapy (POWER-NET)

The goal of this study was to examine preliminary feasibility and efficacy of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) to promote adolescent mental health related to interpersonal trauma. Among those at highest risk for interpersonal violence and its sequelae are youth from urban, low-resourced neighborhoods. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common outcome associated with IPT. Substance misuse (SUB) is a frequent concomitant of PTSD and other disorders such as depression. NET is a promising intervention to reduce PTSD symptoms and associated psychological distress, via the supported reconstruction (narrative telling) of the traumas. NET has a critical advantage over existing PTSD treatments in that it can be delivered in a brief format, in community settings where at-risk adolescents are likely to be found. We conducted a trial to estimate NET treatment effects on PTSD and depression symptoms and substance use outcomes in urban adolescents (ages 16-21). NET was compared against a wait list control condition. This is the first study to examine NET efficacy in this population. Recruitment and intervention took place at our community partner, a Buffalo area facility that serves homeless and at-risk youth. We collected outcome data at Baseline, and at 1 and 3 month follow-up assessments. Potential mechanisms of change and treatment outcome were also examined. 

This study was funded by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and by The Fahs-Beck Foundation.

This work is inspired by the life and work of Dr. Ellen Volpe.

Consequences of Marijuana Study (CMS)

Dr. Read is part of the Cross-Cultural Alcohol Study Team, which comprises of a team of researchers with different areas of alcohol expertise from 3 nations (Argentina, Spain, and the United States). With this group, Dr. Read was involved in a multi-site study (CMS) examining marijuana and alcohol use, attitudes, and measures as they occur across various cultures. This two-part study (i.e., baseline: Fall 2017; follow-up: Spring 2018) tested the longitudinal effects of specific risk/protective factors on marijuana use and negative consequences across four universities. Dr. Adrian Bravo (https://www.wm.edu/as/psych-sciences/facultydirectory/bravo_adrian.php) was the lead investigator of this study.

Life Experiences and Health Behaviors in Young Adulthood

The purpose of this study was to understand the association between college students’ life experiences- particularly stressful or upsetting life experiences- and health behaviors such as physical exercise and substance use. The results of this study were helped further our understanding of how people who have experienced a variety of life events engage in different kinds of health behaviors.

Project STAR (Study of Teen Alcohol Risk)

The purpose of the proposed study was to test the efficacy of a two-item question screening measure to identify risk for alcohol-related problems in a sample of adolescents admitted for acute psychiatric care at Erie County Medical Center. Further, this study sought to determine how risk may relate to psychological distress and other health-related behaviors.

Alcohol Information Processing Following Experiential Exposure

In two separate studies, this research sought to examine causal pathways through which PTSD and trauma cues affect alcohol-related information processing in college students. Both studies examined the impact of trauma cue exposure on alcohol-related cognitions. The first study evaluated the impact of trauma cue exposure and PTSD on interference in processing alcohol-related information, using a modified Stroop task. The second study evaluated the impact of cue exposure and PTSD on the evaluation (positive or negative associations) of alcohol-related information, using an implicit association test. This study was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Life Experiences Assessment Project (LEAP)

The LEAP study was designed to offer information about how life experiences and psychological reactions to these experiences may interact with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances. We were interested in young adults, transitioning from high school to college. Findings from this study assisted us and other researchers and therapists to develop more effective preventive interventions for substance use in college students as well as address some questions about the influence of life experiences and their consequences on college drop-outs.

Pre-Gaming Studies

Katrina Bytschkow ran a series of Pre-gaming studies during 2008 and 2009. The first was a focus group study that gathered general information about pre-gaming (the practice of consuming alcohol before going out for the night or before a function starts) including motives for the practice. Based on the data collected during those focus group sessions a group of motives were collected and assessed. The next study, which served as Katrina’s senior honors thesis, was the development of a pre-gaming motives measure and an assessment of pre-gaming’s associations with drinking.