RIA: Principal Investigator - Robert G. Rychtarik, PhD

Principal Investigator

Clinical Psychology

Primary Research Areas

Substance abuse treatment outcome research; development and evaluation of coping skill training programs for family members of those with addictive disorders.

Current Projects

Developing Web-delivered Coping Skills Training for Women with Alcoholic Partners (funded by NIAAA). This project develops a web-delivered coping skills training program for women with alcoholic partners. It will provide the foundation for a larger research effort evaluating this promising treatment delivery model with this population (in collaboration with Neil B. McGillicuddy, PhD and Chris Barrick, PhD).

Project STARTT (Stress Tension and Alcohol Relationships Today and Tomorrow) (funded by NIAAA). Evaluates different interventions to reduce the psychological and relationship distress among women living with an alcoholic or problem drinking partner who is not in treatment (in collaboration with Neil B. McGillicuddy, PhD). For more information, visit www.ProjectSTARTT.org.

On-going Research

Coping in Those with Alcoholic Partners (funded by NIAAA). An evaluation of the relative efficacy of skill training and 12-step facilitation treatments for women whose alcoholic partner was not in treatment.

Coping in Those with Pathological Gambling Partners (funded by NIMH). Developed and examined skill training treatment program for those with pathological gambling partners (in collaboration with Neil B. McGillicuddy, PhD).

Skill Training for Parents of Adolescent Drug Abusers (funded by NIDA). Examined the relative efficacy of a parent skill training program, a 12-step facilitation program, and a wait list control for parents of adolescent substance abusers (in collaboration with Neil B. McGillicuddy, PhD).

Treatment Settings for Alcoholics: A Field Extension (funded by NIAAA). Replication and extension into community field settings of the investigators' prior work on matching clients to inpatient versus outpatient alcoholism treatment (in collaboration with Gerard J. Connors, PhD, Neil B. McGillicuddy, PhD, and Robert Whitney, MD, of UB’s Family Medicine Department).

Representative and Recent Publications

McGillicuddy, N. B., Rychtarik, R. G., Morsheimer, E. T., & Burke, M. R. (2007). Agreement between parent and adolescent reports of adolescent substance use. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 16, 59-78.

Rychtarik, R. G., & McGillicuddy, N. B. (2006). Preliminary evaluation of a coping skills training program for those with a pathological-gambling partner. Journal of Gambling Studies, 22, 165-178.

Rychtarik, R. G., & McGillicuddy, N. B. (2005). Coping skill training and 12-step facilitation for women whose partner has alcoholism: Effects on depression, the partner’s drinking, and partner physical violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 249-261.

McGillicuddy, N. B., Rychtarik, R. G., & Morsheimer, E. T. (2004). Psychometric evaluation of the Parent Situation Inventory (PSI): A role-play measure of coping in parents of substance-using adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 16, 386-390.

Rychtarik, R. G., Connors, G. J., Whitney, R. B., McGillicuddy, N. B., Fitterling, J. M., & Wirtz, P. W. (2000). Treatment settings for persons with alcoholism: Evidence for matching clients to inpatient versus outpatient care. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 277-289.

Rychtarik, R. G., Connors, G. J., Dermen, K. H., & Stasiewicz, P. R. (2000). Alcoholics Anonymous and the use of medications to prevent relapse: An anonymous survey of member attitudes. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, 134-138.