Contents

Continuation Awarded to Alcohol and Early Marriage Study

Director's Report

RIA Co-sponsors Problem Gambling Conference at UB

Research Results

RIA and National Alcohol Screening Day

Kids Day at RIA

Some People Come for a Reason, Some for a Season

UB’s Research Festival

RIA at Research Society on Alcoholism in Montreal

Scientist Spotlight

Spring Seminar Series 2001

Select Conference Presentations

Continuation Awarded to Alcohol and Early Marriage Study

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has awarded Dr. Kenneth Leonard (pictured right) $1.5 million to continue his study of spouse and peer influence on alcohol consumption in early marriage. According to Dr. Leonard, “This award extends our assessment of couples we originally identified at the time they took out marriage licenses, to the celebration of their fourth anniversary.”

“As a result, we will be able to examine further changes in drinking patterns and problems, and to evaluate the role of drinking patterns and problems in the observed decline in marital satisfaction over the early years of marriage and in the occurrence of marital dissolution in this time period. In particular, we will be able to determine the joint impact of both husband and wife drinking patterns on marital problems.”

Begun in 1990, the original project was a three wave longitudinal study of changes in drinking patterns and problems during the first two years of marriage. The overall project is designed to examine the continuity/discontinuity of alcohol consumption patterns and alcohol problems over the transition to marriage.

The focus on marriage is of importance because of evidence that this marks a developmental inflection point at which drinking behavior and problems generally decline. This event is also a major marker with respect to other developmental changes, and is accompanied by changes at the individual, couple, and social network level. To date, the project has recruited and assessed 642 couples as they applied for their marriage license. These couples are then re-assessed at their first and second anniversaries. These assessments include measures of the following substantive domains: (1) drinking patterns and problems, (2) individual difference factors, (3) marital relationship factors, and (4) social network characteristics.

Director's Report

We have had a busy spring and start to summer at RIA, and this issue of the RIA Report highlights our recent activities.

In April, RIA partnered with the New York Council on Problem Gambling in sponsoring a statewide conference on gambling addiction. The conference included presentations by RIA scientists Grace Barnes, Neil McGillicuddy, Robert Rychtarik, and John Welte. Information on their presentations is provided in an article on the conference in this Report.

In terms of new research, Dr. Kenneth Leonard has been awarded funding for a four-year continuation of his ongoing project on spouse and peer influence on alcohol use in marriage. Supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the project will continue the programmatic research being conducted in this area by Dr. Leonard and his colleagues over the past five years. A description of Dr. Leonard’s upcoming project appears in the lead story of the Report.

Our recently-completed Spring Seminar Series focused on substance use in the workplace. Our featured speakers were Dr. Roland Moore from the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, Dr. Paul Roman from the University of Georgia, and Drs. Michael Frone and Kristin Finn from RIA. We were honored to have hosted these nationally-recognized experts during our seminar series.

On other fronts, the staff of the RIA Clinical Research Center headed up the Institute’s now annual participation in National Alcohol Screening Day. In addition, several RIA scientists attended and participated in UB’s Spring Research Festival, which highlighted new investigators and transdisciplinary research at UB. Also, we participated in the annual “Bring Your Child to Work Day.” It was a pleasure for us to host 14 youngsters between the ages of five and 11 for the day and to participate as subjects in a study they conducted. We are indebted to the event’s planning committee for their efforts on behalf of this gathering.

Finally, RIA had its usual strong representation at the June annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Montreal. We enjoyed the opportunity to meet with colleagues and present findings from our research projects. A listing of presentations at RSA by our scientists is provided in this Report.

RIA Co-sponsors Problem Gambling Conference at UB

RIA and the New York Council on Problem Gambling co-sponsored a statewide conference on gambling addiction held at the University’s Center for Tomorrow on April 27, 2001. In his welcoming remarks RIA Director Gerard Connors, Ph.D. said, “We are very pleased to co-sponsor this conference on problem gambling. This is an increasing area for concern in the field of addictions, and RIA has widened the scope of its research focus to encompass gambling.”

“The New York Council on Problem Gambling and the other sponsors of our conference have a long history of supporting those who have found themselves adversely impacted by gambling,” said James C. Moore, NYCPG Executive Director. “The Council is honored to partner with the Research Institute on Addictions at the University at Buffalo to bring this informational and learning event to Buffalo.”

The keynote speaker for the conference was Peggy Northrop, MST, CASAC, a practitioner with the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council of Jefferson County. Panel participants included Joseph Kelly, Ph.D., attorney and professor of history at the State University College at Buffalo and Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. A special award was presented to Assemblyman Sam Hoyt for his outstanding efforts to educate the community about compulsive gambling and for his support of gambling treatment programs in Western New York.

The event included presentations by RIA scientists Drs. Grace M. Barnes, Neil B. McGillicuddy, Robert G. Rychtarik, and John W. Welte. Beginning in 1998, RIA researchers Welte and Barnes, in collaboration with Dr. William F. Wieczorek, director of the Center for Health and Social Research at Buffalo State College, were awarded a grant to study the co-occurrence of gambling and substance use nationally. This research, funded by a grant of $1.2 million from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), includes a geographic analysis of the effect of the availability of gambling opportunities on gambling behavior.

In 1999, Drs. Rychtarik and McGillicuddy began a study which is investigating the coping skills of individuals with pathological-gambling partners. This research is developing a pilot program designed to assist individuals experiencing psychological stress resulting from problems brought on by their partner’s gambling. The study is funded by a grant of $665,476 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Just last year, Drs. Welte and Barnes began a study into the development of gambling and alcohol use by youth. They are examining the psycho-social factors which influence the development of gambling behaviors in adolescents as well as the relationships between gambling, alcohol and other substance use, and delinquency. Their project is funded by an award of $308,000 from NIAAA.

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