RIA: Principal Investigator - John W. Welte, PhD

Principal Investigator

Psychology

Primary Research Areas

Survey epidemiology of substance abuse; relationship between substance abuse and criminal offending; survey epidemiology of pathological gambling.

Current Projects

Problem Gambling — A Decade of Change (funded by NIAAA). Investigating U.S. gambling trends since 2000, including incorporation of neighborhood census data, state gambling laws, and distance to gambling venues (in collaboration with co-investigators Grace Barnes, PhD of RIA and William Wieczorek, PhD of Buffalo State College).

Development of a Computer Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder (funded by NIMH). Developing a comprehensive set of personality pathology dimensions and an efficient method of measuring them with data drawn from a sample of psychiatric patients plus a sample from the general population. (Award made to Dr. Leonard J. Simms, UB’s Department of Psychology. Co-investigators include Dr. John E. Roberts, UB's Department of Psychology and Dr. John W. Welte, RIA.)

Initiation and Continuation of Drinking and Driving Behavior (funded by NIAAA). Developing models of the initiation of drinking-driving behavior, long-term prospective models of continued drinking-driver behavior, and an examination of the impact of various geospatial methods of aggregating point data (e.g., alcohol outlets) into geographic units for use in multilevel and individual models of drinking and driving. (Award made to William Wieczorek, PhD, Buffalo State College, in collaboration with Co-investigators John W. Welte, PhD, RIA; Thomas Nochajski, PhD, UB’s Department of Social Work; Kelly Marczynski, PhD, Buffalo State College; and Dr. David Wong, George Mason University.)

On-going Research

Gambling and Substance Use Among Youth in the U.S. (funded by NIMH). Examining the prevalence of pathological gambling among U.S. youth, youth gambling and gambling opportunities, and other problem behaviors (in collaboration with Grace M. Barnes, PhD).

Co-occurrence of Gambling and Substance Use in the U.S. (funded by NIAAA). Nationwide study of adults and gambling including a geographic analysis of census data and distances from participants' home to gambling facilities (in collaboration with RIA's Grace M. Barnes, PhD and William F. Wieczorek, PhD of Buffalo State College's Center for Health and Social Research).

Drinking and Delinquency in Young Men (funded by NIAAA). This project was a three-wave panel study of the relationship between substance abuse and criminal offending (in collaboration with RIA's Grace M. Barnes, PhD, William F. Wieczorek, PhD of Buffalo State College’s Center for Health and Social Research, Lening Zhang, PhD of St. Francis College).

Representative and Recent Publications

Barnes, G. M., Welte, J. W., Tidwell, M -C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2011) Gambling on the Lottery: Sociodemographic Correlates Across the Lifespan. Journal of Gambling Studies, 27, 575-586.

Barnes, G. M., Welte, J. W., Hoffman, J. H., & Tidwell, M.-C. O. (2011). The co-occurrence of gambling with substance use and conduct disorder in the U.S. American Journal on Addictions, 20, 166-173.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O. & Hoffman, J. H. (2011) Tobacco Use, Heavy Use and Dependence Among Adolescents and Young Adults in the U.S. Substance Use and Misuse, 46, (9): 1090-1098.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2011). Gambling and problem gambling across the lifespan. Journal of Gambling Studies, 27, 49-61.

Zhang, L., Wiecorek, W. F., & Welte, J. W. (2011) Early Onset of Delinquency and The Trajectory of Alcohol-Impaired Driving in Young Males. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 1154-1159.

Barnes, G. M., Welte, J. W., Hoffman, J. H., & Tidwell, M.-C. O. (2010). Comparisons of gambling and alcohol use among college students and non-college young people in the U.S. Journal of American College Health, 58, 443-452.

Barnes, G. M., Welte, J. W., Hoffman, J. H., & Tidwell, M.-C. O. (2009). Gambling, alcohol, and other substance use among youth in the United States. Journal of Alcohol and Drugs, 70, 134-142.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2009). Legal gambling availability and problem gambling among adolescents and young adults. International Gambling Studies, 9, 89-99.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2009). The association between problem gambling and conduct disorder in a national survey of adolescents and young adults in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45, 396-401.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2009). The association of form of gambling with problem gambling among American youth. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23, 105-112.

Nyman, J. A., Welte, J., W., & Dowd, B. E. (2008). Something for nothing: A model of gambling behavior. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 37, 2492-2504

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2008). The prevalence of problem gambling among U.S. adolescents and young adults: Results from a national survey. Journal of Gambling Studies, 24, 119-133.

Welte, J. W., Wieczorek, W. F., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2004). The relationship of ecological and geographic factors to gambling behavior and pathology. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20, 405-423.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Wieczorek, W. F., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Parker, J. (2002). Gambling participation in the U.S. -- Results from a national survey. Journal of Gambling Studies, 18, 313-337.

Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Wieczorek, W. F., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Parker, J. (2001). Alcohol and gambling pathology among U.S. adults: Prevalence, demographic patterns and co-morbidity. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 62, 706-712.