Health Psychology and Prevention Science Institute

The Health Psychology and Prevention Science Institute (HPPS) is an organized research unit of the School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences (SBOS) at Claremont Graduate University (CGU).

HPPS is dedicated to improving the health and well being of all people through the application of psychological theory and methods. The Institute has been or is currently funded by a number of Federal grants through organizations such as the Center for Disease Control, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Domains of inquiry include: asthma, diabetes, mental health, organ donation, and substance use. Student training and applied methodological rigor are hallmarks of HPPS. Over a dozen students are gaining hands on experience working on the numerous applied studies currently underway.

Team Members

Dr. William Crano, Director

William D. Crano is Oskamp Professor of Psychology at Claremont Graduate University. His work has focused on principally on research methodology and persuasion, most recently on the development of models of minority and majority group influence. His field work is concerned with the application of principles of persuasion to prevention of drug abuse in children and adolescents. Outside the academy, he served as the Program Director in Social Psychology for the National Science Foundation, as Liaison Scientist for the Office of Naval Research, London, as NATO Senior Scientist, University of Southampton, and was a Fulbright Fellow to the Federal University-Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. He was founder/director of the Center for Evaluation and Assessment, Michigan State University, and directed the Public Policy Resources Laboratory of Texas A&M University. He was Head of the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. Crano's research currently is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He has written/edited 11 books, which have been translated into three languages, more than 30 book chapters, and more than 300 scholarly articles and scientific presentations. He is the past chairman of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Western Psychological Association, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He has served on many review panels for the National Institutes of Health, and is currently a permanent member of the Community Influences on Health Behavior Panel for NIH’s Center for Scientific Research. He is on the editorial boards of three journals in social psychology and communication.

Eusebio M. Alvaro, Co-Director

Dr. Eusebio Alvaro is a Research Professor in the School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences at Claremont Graduate University and also directs the Arizona office of the Institute of Organizational and Program Evaluation Research. Dr. Alvaro received a doctorate in Communication (specializing in Social Influence) and a Masters of Public Health in Health Education and Promotion from the University of Arizona. His basic research centers on the study of social influence processes with an emphasis on biased message processing, resistance to persuasion, indirect effects of persuasive messages, and mechanisms by which minorities can achieve change. His applied research and evaluation activities involve studying persuasion in the context of health promotion, disease prevention, and medicine with a particular focus on the development and testing of mass media messages targeting health behavior change. He is currently funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and other organizations.

Jason T. Siegel, Co-Director

Jason T. Siegel, Ph.D., is currently part of the Research Faculty, Claremont Graduate University, Department of Psychology. Dr. Siegel received his B.A. (TV/Radio) from Brooklyn College and his M.A. (Health Communication) and Ph.D. (Educational Psychology) from the University of Arizona. Dr. Siegel is an interdisciplinary health psychologist whose research focuses on health behavior of adults and adolescents. Regarding adolescence, Dr. Siegel is particularly interested in the role of socio-personal expectations in decision-making and risky behavior. His adolescent research has been published in journals such as Journal of Adolescent Health, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and Substance Use and Misuse. Regarding adults, Dr. Siegel’s main focus is health behavior as it relates to organ donation. This research has been published in journals such as Health Psychology, Health Education and Behavior, and Journal of Health Communication. Accordingly, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in health behavior, research methodology, and adolescent development.

Research Associates

Andrew Lac. Andrew Lac is currently working on a meta-analytic review of the effect of parental monitoring on adolescent marijuana use (r = - .22, k = 23, N = 40,068). Among his research interests are health, developmental, and quantitative psychology.

Lac, A., Alvaro, E. M., Crano, W. D., & Siegel, J. T. (in press). Pathways from parental knowledge and warmth to adolescent marijuana use: An extension to the Theory of Planned Behavior. Prevention Science.

Jessie Skenderian. Jessie Skenderian is studying the contribution of expectancies and the perceived value of expected effects in predicting marijuana use.

Skenderian, J., Siegel, J.T., Crano, W.D., Alvaro, E., & Lac, A. (2008). Expectancy Violations and Adolescents’ Intentions to Use Marijuana. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 563-569.

Vanessa Hemovich. Vanesssa is a fifth year doctoral student currently investigating the role of family dynamics as a factor for adolescent drug use. She is also pursuing research on harm reduction, relapse prevention, and recividism in older adolescent populations.

Hemovich, V., & Crano, W. D. (accepted). Family structure and adolescent drug use: Findings from a national study. Substance Use & Misuse.

Ferrari, J. R., & Hemovich, V. B. (2004). Student-based psychology journals: Perceptions by graduate program directors. Journal of Teaching Psychology, 31, 272-275.

Brianna Alyssa Lienemann. Brianna is studying the attributions that Hispanic friends and family members make toward a depressed loved one and their willingness to offer help to the depressed individual. She is also studying the differential effects of depression ads for the depressed and nondepressed on variables such as counterarguing, responsibility attributions, perceived public stigma, attitudes toward depression, attitudes toward help-seeking for depression, and intentions to seek help if depressed. In addition, she is creating and evaluating the impact of a kidney health literacy program and a living donor education intervention for Hispanic patients on a kidney donor wait list to increase communication with potential living donors.

Lienemann, B.A. & Lamb, C. S. (submitted) Heavy Episodic Drinking in College Females: An Exploration of Expectancies, Consequences, and Self-Efficacy.

Amelia Gonzalez. Amelia is currently pursuing a PhD in social psychology with an emphasis in health behavior. Amelia’s research interests generally include applying social psychological theory to the development of innovative efforts to promote healthy behaviors and alleviate the occurrence of preventable health conditions. In the future, Amelia hopes to utilize her knowledge and experiences by applying them to the exploration of reproductive health issues, particularly decision-making in adolescent sexual behavior.

Research Assistants

Ryan Coganow. Ryan received his undergraduate degree in psychology from NYU in 2006 and is currently studying minority influence and forewarning effects.

Crystal Coyazo. Crystal is working towards her M.A. in applied social psychology and evaluation. Her primary research interests lie in health behavior, and media studies. Crystal is currently working with a practice based research network, helping physicians in community clinics to conduct studies aimed at reducing health disparities among low-income individuals in LA county. She aspires to earn a PhD and conduct research on health related issues.

Lori Garner. Lori is interested in individuals' perceptions of and cognitive and behavioral responses to risks/threats, especially with regard to health and the environment. She is also interested in the impact of media, particularly the Internet, on these perceived threats as well as on drug use in adolescents. Finally, she is interested in gender and cultural differences in therapeutic help-seeking.

Chris Lamb. Chris Lamb is finalizing a manuscript with Dr. William Crano using data from the National Study of Parents and Youth exploring factors that influence parental accuracy of marijuana use in their adolescent children (namely parental monitoring/knowledge and self-fulfilling prophecies). Chris' research interests are predominately in the general area of interpersonal processes (e.g. families and close relationships). Chris' additional interests are in health behavior, sexuality, culture, and social perception.

Lamb, C. S. & Crano, W. D. (2008) Parental Accuracy of Adolescent Marijuana Use. NIDA/NIAAA/APA Early Career Investigators Poster Session and Social Hour invited poster presentation. Submitted to American Psychological Association, Annual Convention, Boston, Massachusetts.

Lamb, C. S. & Thompson, S. C. (2008) Judging Personal Risk: Two Types of Denial. Submitted Poster Presentation. Submitted to Western Psychological Association, Annual Convention, Irvine, California.

Nadra Lisha. Nadra is studying the use of vested interest theory for promoting physical activity. She is also investigating the role of physical activity and membership in team sports to adolescent drug use. Nadra Lisha is interested in a variety of health related research associated with bolstering of attitudes, attitude change and persuasion.

Alvaro, E.A., Siegel, J.T., Turcotte, D., Lisha, N., Crano W.D., & Dominick, S.A. (in press). Hispanic living kidney donation: A qualitative examination of barriers and opportunities. Progress in Transplantation

Ian Johnson. Ian Johnson's general research interests are centered around persuasion and health risk behavior. Specifically, he is interested in whether there is a relationship between parental characteristics and adolescents' acceptance or rejection of anti-drug messages.

Valerie Okelola. Valerie is studying the normative influence that peer groups and family members have on adolescent norms of drug use and subsequent use.

Hannah Stern. Hannah is Health Master's student whose interests include addiction, drug use, eating disorders and what motivates and maintains these behaviors.

Recent Publications

Crano, W. D., Ting, S. A., & Hemovich, V. (in press). Inhalants. In L. Cohen, F.L.Collins, A. M.Young, D. E.McChargue & T. Leffingwell (Eds.). The pharmacology and treatment of substance abuse: An evidence based approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Siegel, J.T., Alvaro, E.M., Patel, N., Crano, W.D. (in press) “”…you would probably want to do it. Cause that’s what made them popular”: Exploring Perceptions of Inhalant Utility Among Young Adolescent Non-Users and Occasional Users. Substance Use and Misuse

Lac, A., Alvaro, E. M., Crano, W. D., Siegel, J. T. (in press). Parenting Styles and Theory of Planned Behavior: An integrative framework for understanding parenting on adolescent marijuana use. Prevention Science

Skenderian, J., Siegel, J.T., Crano, W.D., Alvaro, E., & Lac, A. (2008). Expectancy Violations and Adolescents’ Intentions to Use Marijuana. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 563-569.

Siegel, J.T., Alvaro, E.M., Crano, W.D., Skendarian, J., Lac, A., & Patel, N. (2008). Reducing inhalant use by changing socio-personal expectations. Prevention Science, 9, 153-165.

Alvaro, E.A., Siegel, J.T., Turcotte, D., Lisha, N., Crano W.D., & Dominick, S.A. (2008). Hispanic living kidney donation: A qualitative examination of barriers and opportunities. Progress in Transplantation, 18, 243-250.

Crano, W.D., Siegel, J.T., Alvaro, E.A., Lac, A., Hemovich, V. (2008). The At-risk Adolescent Marijuana Non-user: Expanding the Standard User/Non-user Distinction. Prevention Science, 9, 129-137.

Crano, W.D., Gilbert, C., Alvaro, E.A., Siegel, J.T. (2008). Enhancing Prediction of inhalant Abuse Risk in Samples of Early Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 895-905.

Siegel, J.T., Alvaro, E., Pace-Jones, S., Crano, W.C., Lac, A., Ting, S. (2008). A Quasi-Experimental Investigation of Message Appeal Variations On Organ Donor Registration Rates. Health Psychology, 27, 170-178.

Siegel, J.T., Alvaro, E., Lac, A., Crano, W.D., Alexander, S. (2008). Intentions of Becoming a Living Organ Donor among Hispanics: A Theoretical Approach Exploring Differences between Living and Non-living Organ Donation, Journal of Health Communication, 13, 80-99.

Crano, W.D., Siegel, J.T, Alvaro, E., Patel, N. (2007). Overcoming Adolescents’ Resistance to Anti-Inhalant Appeals. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 516-524.