Christie J Rizzo, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in adolescent mood disorders, high risk behavior, and dating violence. She has been a staff psychologist at Rhode Island Hospital since 2007 and an assistant professor at the Alpert Medical School since 2008. She is a clinical supervisor for interns, residents and postdoctoral fellows in clinical psychology and child psychiatry. Rizzo is also a staff psychologist at the Rhode Island Family Court's Juvenile Mental Health Clinic.
Rizzo is a graduate of Barnard College. She earned her master's degree and doctorate, both in clinical psychology, from the University of Southern California.
Research Interests
Rizzo’s interests include adolescent dating violence, romantic relationship stress, sexual risk behavior, HIV prevention, mood disorders, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and intervention development.
Her current research examines adolescent romantic relationships, with a particular focus on dating violence and sexual risk prevention. She is currently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to develop an intervention to reduce dating violence and sexual risk behaviors among adolescent girls with prior dating violence exposure. Rizzo is also interested in the influence of mood and behavioral disorders on the development of unhealthy dating relationships during the adolescent years.
Publications
Rizzo, C.J., Esposito-Smythers, C., Spirito, A., & Thompson, A. (2010). Psychiatric and Cognitive Functioning in Adolescent Inpatients with Histories of Dating Violence Victimization. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma, 19(5), 1-19.
Rizzo, C.J., Esposito-Smythers, C. & Swenson, L. et al. (2007). Factors Associated with Mental Health Service Utilization among Bipolar Youth. Bipolar Disorders, 9(8), 839-850.
Rizzo, C.J., Daley, S.E. & Gunderson, B.H. (2006). Interpersonal Sensitivity, Romantic Stress, and the Prediction of Depression: A Study of Inner-City, Minority Adolescent Girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35 (3), 444-453.