catalano@uw.edu
206-543-6382 (SDRG)
Professional interests
Promotion of positive youth development and prevention of problem behavior, Etiology of problem behavior and positive youth development, Research methodology, and impact of culture on etiology and prevention
Richard F. Catalano, Jr.
Professor Emeritus
PhD, University of Washington
Richard Catalano, Jr., Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Social Work, University of Washington and the co-founder of the Social Development Research Group. He received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, and his masters and PhD in sociology from the University of Washington. He is past-president of the Society for Prevention Research, and a steering committee member of the Coalition for the Promotion of Behavioral Health. For over 35 years, he has led research and program development to promote positive youth development and prevent problem behaviors. His work has focused on discovering risk and protective factors for behavioral health problems, designing and evaluating programs to address these factors, and using this knowledge to understand and improve prevention service systems in states and communities.
Dr. Catalano is currently on the National Academy of Sciences Board of Children, Youth and Families and the NAS Consensus Study Committee on Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development Among Children and Youth; and a member of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) National Advisory Council. He was the prevention chapter editor of the Surgeon General’s Report “Facing Addiction: Alcohol, Drugs and Health”. He has served as a member of expert panels for federal and state government and foundations. He has published over 350 articles and book chapters. His work has been recognized by practitioners (1996 and 2016 National Prevention Network’s Award of Excellence); criminologists (Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, 2007 August Vollmer Award from the American Society of Criminology, and 2003 Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology); prevention scientists (2001 Prevention Science Award, 2012 Presidential Award from the Society for Prevention Research), and social workers (elected fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare). Dr. Catalano is a board member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He is the co-developer of the parenting programs “Guiding Good Choices,” “Supporting School Success,” “Staying Connected with Your Teen,” and “Focus on Families;” the school-based program, “Raising Healthy Children;” and the community prevention system, “Communities That Care.”
Published research
- Positive youth development programs: History in the United States, global expansion, growing efficacy, and links to moral and character education
- Alcohol-tolerant workplace environments are a risk factor for young adult alcohol misuse on and off the job in Australia and the United States
- The potential for prevention science in middle and late adulthood: A commentary on the special issue of Prevention Science
- “Letting Go and Staying Connected”: Substance use outcomes from a developmentally targeted intervention for parents of college students
- Understanding the interplay of individual and social-developmental factors in the progression of substance use and mental health from childhood to adulthood
- Translating grand challenges from concept to community: The “Communities in Action” experience
- Time-varying effects of families and peers on adolescent marijuana use: Person-environment interactions across development
- The social development model
- The role of self-regulation in academic and behavioral paths to a high school diploma
- The interplay between marijuana-specific risk factors and marijuana use over the course of adolescence
- The association of unemployment from age 21 to 33 with substance use disorder symptoms at age 39: The role of childhood neighborhood characteristics
- Social cognitive mediators of the relationship between impulsivity traits and adolescent alcohol use: Identifying unique targets for prevention
- Sexual behavior in early adolescence: A cross-national comparison of Australian and United States youth
- Risk and protective factors for adolescent marijuana use
- Psychometric properties of the Transitions From Foster Care Key Leader Survey
- Psychometric properties of the Iranian version of ‘Communities That Care Youth Survey’
- Prevention programs and policies (Chapter 3)
- Prevention of substance use and substance use disorders
- Prevention of adolescent mental, emotional, and behavioral health disorders: A global perspective
- Prevent crime and save money: Return-on-investment models in Australia
- Prevalence of homelessness and co-occurring problems: A comparison of young adults in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States
- Positive youth development programs in low- and middle-income countries: A conceptual framework and systematic review of efficacy
- Peer group patterns of alcohol-using behaviors among early adolescents in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States
- Parent-focused prevention of adolescent health risk behavior: Study protocol for a multisite cluster-randomized trial implemented in pediatric primary care
- Outcomes of early adolescent sexual behavior in Australia: Longitudinal findings in young adulthood
- Outcomes of childhood preventive intervention across 2 generations: A nonrandomized controlled trial
- Optimizing assessment of risk and protection for diverse adolescent outcomes: Do risk and protective factors for delinquency and substance use also predict risky sexual behavior?
- Opportunity youth: Insights and opportunities for a public health approach to reengage disconnected teenagers and young adults
- Neighborhood structural factors and proximal risk for youth substance use
- Mechanisms linking high school graduation to health disparities in young adulthood: A longitudinal analysis of the role of health behaviors, psychosocial stressors, and health insurance
- Longitudinal consequences of adolescent alcohol use under different policy contexts in Australia and the United States
- Longitudinal associations between the adolescent family environment and young adult substance use in Australia and the United States
- Longitudinal associations between early-mid adolescent risk and protective factors and young adult homelessness in Australia and the United States
- Investigating the efficacy of a self-directed parenting intervention to reduce risky behaviors among college students: Study protocol for a multi-arm hybrid type 2 randomized control trial
- Influence of early onset of alcohol use on the development of adolescent alcohol problems: A longitudinal bi-national study
- Identifying and predicting criminal career profiles from adolescence to age 39
- How can Hong Kong utilize the research base for prevention and promotion science to improve the well-being of its adolescents? (Commentary)
- Evidence-based prevention for adolescent substance use
- Evaluation of community-level effects of Communities That Care on adolescent drug use and delinquency using a repeated cross-sectional design
- Effects of social development intervention in childhood on adult life at ages 30 to 39
- Does adolescent alcohol harm minimization policy exposure reduce adult alcohol problems? A cross-national comparison
- Developmental pathways of youth gang membership: A structural test of the social development model
- Depressed mood during early to middle adolescence: A bi-national longitudinal study of the unique impact of family conflict
- Demographic and socioeconomic predictors of school suspension: A longitudinal study in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States
- Defining and achieving permanency among older youth in foster care
- Communities That Care: Building community engagement and capacity to prevent youth behavior problems
- Commentary: Fostering healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development in children and youth: A national agenda
- Commentary on recent consensus studies from the Board on Children, Youth, and Families
- Assessment of risk and protection in Native American youth: Steps toward conducting culturally relevant, sustainable prevention in Indian Country
- Assessing an adapted approach to Communities That Care for child maltreatment prevention
- Applying the social development model in middle childhood to promote healthy development: Effects from primary school through the 30s and across generations
- An examination of alcohol use disorder symptoms and neighborhood disorganization from age 21 to 39
- Adolescent antecedents of young adult homelessness: A cross-national path analysis
- Accounting for quality improvement during the conduct of embedded pragmatic clinical trials within healthcare systems: NIH collaboratory case studies
- A test-replicate approach to candidate gene research on addiction and externalizing disorders: A collaboration across five longitudinal studies
- Using Communities That Care for community child maltreatment prevention
- Use of Web and phone survey modes to gather data from adults about their young adult children: An evaluation based on a randomized design
- Time-varying effects of families and peers on adolescent marijuana use: Person-environment interactions across development
- Long-term effects of staying connected with your teen® on drug use frequency at age 20.
- HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Messaging: Targeting Root Causes of Sexual Risk Behavior.
- Effects of Communities That Care on males’ and females’ drug use and delinquency 9 years after baseline in a community-randomized trial
- Benefit-cost analysis of a randomized evaluation of Communities That Care: Monetizing intervention effects on the initiation of delinquency and substance use through grade 12