Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center

Anthony Spirito, PhD

Director of clinical psychology training at theWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Professor of psychiatry and human behavior at theWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Research Interests

Spirito currently conducts research in adolescent health risk behaviors, including suicidal behavior and depression, and substance use. He is currently involved in several treatment trials, one for adolescents who have co-occurring substance use and suicidality, a multi-site trial for adolescents with treatment resistant depression, and a combined individual/family motivational interview for alcohol positive adolescents seen in the emergency room.

Selected Research Projects

Motivational Interviewing for ETOH+ Teens in the ER
The goal of this project is to determine whether a brief intervention in the ED with booster sessions will reduce harmful drinking and related risk-taking behaviors in older adolescents.

Mid-Career Mentoring Award: Adolescent Suicide Research
This K Award focuses on comorbidity of adolescent substance abuse and suicidal behavior.

Family Motivational Interview for ETOH+ Teens in the ER
This project compares an integrated individual plus family motivational interview to individual motivational interviewing alone for adolescents who present as alcohol-positive to the ER.

Honors

President, Society of Pediatric Psychology, Division 54, American Psychological Association(2002)

Selected Publications

Barnett, N. P., Lebeau-Craven, R., O’Leary, T. A., Colby, S. M., Woolard, R., Rohsenow, D. J., Spirito, A., & Monti, P. M. (2002). Predictors of motivation to change after medical treatment for drinking-related events in adolescents. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16, 106-112

Colby, S., Barnett, N., Eaton, C., Spirito, A., Woolard, R., Lewander, W., & Rohsenow, D. J. (2002). Potential biases in case detection of alcohol involvement among adolescents in the emergency department. Pediatric Emergency Care, 18, 350-354.

D’Amico, E. J., Barnett, N. P., Monti, P. M., Colby, S. M., Spirito, A., & Rohsenow, D. J. (2002). Does alcohol use mediate the association between alcohol evaluations and alcohol-related problems in adolescents? Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16, 157-160.

Perez-Smith, A., Spirito, A., & Boergers, J. (2002). Neighborhood predictors of hopelessness among adolescent suicide attempts: A preliminary study. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 32, 139-145.

Prinstein, M., Boergers, J., & Spirito, A. (2001). Adolescents’ and their friends' health-risk behaviors: Factors that alter or add to peer influence. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 26, 287-298.

Spirito, A., Barnett, N., Lewander, W., Colby, S., Rohsenow, D., Eaton, C., & Monti, P. (2001). Risks associated with alcohol-positive status among adolescents in the emergency department: A matched case-control study. Journal of Pediatrics, 139, 694-699.

Spirito, A., Boergers, J., Donaldson, D., Bishop, D., & Lewander, W. (2002). An intervention trial to improve adherence to community treatment of adolescents following a suicide attempt. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 435-442.

Spirito, A., Brown, R., D’Angelo, E., Delameter, A., Rodrique, J., & Siegel, L. (2003). Society of Pediatric Psychology Task Force Report: Recommendations for the training of pediatric psychologists. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 28, 85-98.

Spirito, A., & Overholser, J. Editors (2003). Attempted suicide in adolescence: From research to practice. New York: Academic Press.

Spirito, A., Stanton, C., Donaldson, D., & Boergers, J. (2002). Treatment- as-usual for adolescent suicide attempters: Implications for the choice of comparison groups in psychotherapy research. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 31, 41-47.

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