Prevention Research Center Alcohol and Skin Cancer Projects

People

Dr. Rob Turrisi PhD.
Director

turissiDr. Rob Turrisi is currently a Professor at Penn State University with a joint appointment in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Prevention Research Center. Turrisi received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology (with an emphasis in Decision Making and Quantitative Methods) in 1988 from the University at Albany, State University of New York. His research focus is in the application of psychological theories of behavioral decision-making and multivariate statistical modeling to adolescent health issues and family relationships. Dr. Turrisi also has an interest in brief interventions to prevent substance abuse and cancer.

Selected Publications: Alcohol

  • Turrisi, R., Mastroleo, N., & Mallett, K., Larimer, M., & Kilmer, J. (2007). Examination of the mediational influences of peer norms, parent communications, and environmental Influences on heavy drinking tendencies in athletes and non-athletes, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 453-461.
  • Turrisi, R., Jaccard, J., Taki, R., Dunnam, H., & Grimes, J. (2001). Examination of the short-term efficacy of a parent-based intervention to reduce college student drinking tendencies.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors: Special Issue on Understanding Binge Drinking, 15, 366-372.

Selected Publications: Skin Cancer

  • Turrisi, R., Mastroleo, N., Stapleton, J., & Mallett, K. (2008). A comparison of two brief intervention approaches to reduce indoor tanning behavior in high-frequency indoor tanners. Archives of Dermatology, In press.
  • Turrisi, R., Hillhouse, J., Robinson, J., & Stapleton, J. (2007). Mediating variables in a parent-based intervention to prevent skin cancer in children. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 385-393.

E-mail: rjt13@psu.edu | Publications...


Dr Kimberly Mallett Ph.D.
Clinical Director, Research Associate

mallettDr. Mallett received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington . She is interested in developing and evaluating interventions aimed at reducing high risk drinking and related consequences among college students. Her second area of interest is the prevention of skin cancer among high-risk populations. As part of her skin cancer research, she is interested in enhancing communication between physicians and patients and how it impacts behavior change among patients.

Selected Publications:

  • Mallett, K.A., Lee, C.M., Neighbors, C., Larimer, M.E., Turrisi, R. (2006). Do we learn from our mistakes? An examination of the impact of negative alcohol related consequences on college students’ drinking patterns and perceptions. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 269-276.
  • Mallett, K.A., Robinson, J.K., & Turrisi, R. (2008). Enhancing Patient Motivation to Reduce UV Risk Behaviors: Assessing the Interest and Willingness of Dermatologists to Try a Different Approach. Archives of Dermatology, 144, 265-266.

Email: kam54@psu.edu | Publications...


Anne Ray

turissiAnne Ray received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Penn State University in 2004 and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Biobehavioral Health at Penn State. Her research interests include studying peer and parental influences on college students’ alcohol use to develop health promotion and intervention programs to reduce alcohol use among this population. She is also interested in models that predict why students engage in risky and protective behaviors when drinking and studying how this information can improve existing prevention and intervention programs.

Selected Publications:

  • Turrisi, R., Ray, A. E., & Abar, C. (in press). Are we done parenting? Examining the relationship of parental monitoring to prevent high-risk alcohol consumption in college students. In J. Jaccard, P. Dittus, & V. Guilamo-Ramos (Eds.), Parental Monitoring of Adolescents. NY: Guilford Press
  • Ray, A. E., Turrisi, R., Abar, B. & Peters, K. E. (2008). The utility of predicting protective drinking behaviors and reducing alcohol-related consequences among college students. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Email: anneray@psu.edu | Publications…


Beau Abar M.S.

turissiBeau received his Master’s in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason University and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University. He is interested in the application of mixture models and person specific analysis to data from prevention and promotion programs in the fields of substance use, health behaviors, and education. He is also interested in research examining the within person etiology of risk and protective behaviors over time.

Noted Publications:

  • Abar, B., & Winsler, A. (2006). Authoritative parenting style. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.). The encyclopedia of human development, Vol.1 (pp. 146-147). London, England: Sage.
  • Abar, B., & Winsler, A. (2006). Permissive parenting. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.). The encyclopedia of human development, Vol.3 (pp. 984-985). London, England: Sage.

Email: bwa117@psu.edu | Publications…


Caitlin Abar M.S

turissiCaitlin received her Master’s in Human Development and Family Studies from The Pennsylvania State University in 2006 and is now working toward her Ph.D. in the same field. Her interests lie in the developmental period of adolescence and the transition to adulthood, and include the etiology and prevention of health risk behaviors focusing on substance use, drunk driving, and risky sexual behavior. More specifically, she is interested in the role played by parents and peers in the formation of attitudes and beliefs about and engagement in health risk behaviors.

Selected Publications:

  • Abar, C.C., & Turrisi, R. (2008).  How important are parents during the college years? A longitudinal perspective of indirect influences parents yield on their college teens’ alcohol use. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 1360-1368.
  • Abar, C.C, Abar, B., & Turrisi, R. (in press).  Myth of the Forbidden Fruit: The Impact of Parental Modeling and Permissibility on Experienced Negative Drinking Consequences in College. Addictive Behaviors.

Email: cabar@psu.edu | Publications...


Jerod Stapleton

stapletonJerod received his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from East Tennessee State University in 2004 and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University. He is interested in studying decision making models in young adults and adolescents and using these models to develop health promotion and intervention programs. He is also interested in how young peoples’ health behavior can be influenced and reinforced by others in their social environment (e.g., peers, significant others, parents).

Selected Publications:

  • Stapleton, J., Turrisi, R., & Hillhouse, J. (2008). Peer crowd affiliation and indoor artificial UV tanning tendencies. Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 940-945.
  • Robinson, J.K., Stapleton, J., & Turrisi, R. (2008). Relationship and partner moderator variables increase self-efficacy of performing skin self-examination. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 58, 755-762.

Email: jls82@psu.edu | Publications...


Miesha Marzell M.SW.

marzellMiesha received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Southern California and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University. She is interested in health promotion and disease prevention research. More specifically, she is interested in prevention and treatment of alcohol problems and other drug abuse issues among collegiate student-athletes. She is very interested in influencing healthy decision-making among athletes. In addition, She plans to develop prevention and intervention programs targeted at not only student-athletes, but coaches as well.

Selected Publications:

  • Marzell, M., Mastroleo, N.R., & Turrisi, R. (2008). Coach and peer influences on collegiate athlete drinking. Manuscript in progress for submission in April 2008.
  • Marzell, M., (2002). Women’s RX: UCLA National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health Newsletter. Contributing Author. Spring, 2002.

Email: mma12@psu.edu | Publications...


Dr. Holly Gunn M.D.

Holly GunnDr. Gunn received her medical degree from The University of South Alabama College of Medicine in 2007.  Prior to starting Dermatology residency, she is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Dermatology at Hershey Medical Center and collaborating with the Prevention Research Center on developing skin cancer prevention programs.  Her interests are in Pediatric Dermatology and Public Health.

Selected Publications:

  • Gunn HJ, Miller JJ, Clarke SB, Rosamilia LL.  Self Assessment: Pruritic brown plaques in axillae.  Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.  2008, June; 59 (1): 177-178
  • Donaldson MR, Firth SD, Wimpee HJ, Leiferman KM, Zone JJ, Horsley W, O'Gorman MA, Jackson WD, Neuhausen SL, Hull CM, Book LS.. Correlation of duodenal histology with tissue transglutaminase and endomysial antibody levels in pediatric celiac disease.. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2007, Apr; 5(5):567-73.

Email: hgunn@hmc.psu.edu | Publications...


Aimee Reed

Aimee received her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Saint Joseph’s University in 2004. She has experience working in various research areas including Geriatric Psychiatry, Tobacco Use & Cessation, and Prescription Drug/Health Services Research in both Philadelphia and State College. She is interested in expanding her knowledge and practice of skin cancer and alcohol abuse prevention programs.

Selected Publications:

  • Leone FT, Read A, Graden S, Evers-Casey S, Marinari L. Criterion Validation of a Brief Control Assessment Instrument Intended for Use in Physician-Guided Cessation Interventions. American College of Chest Physicians. Accepted April 2007
  • Biroshak J, Read A, Evers-Casey S, Weibel SB, Leone FT. Initial Validation of a New Assessment Instrument Intended for use in Physician-Guided Cessation Interventions. Proceedings of the Society for Research and Nicotine and Tobacco 2007 POS2-128: S107.

Email: alr22@psu.edu