B.A. in Psychology from University of Texas at Austin
PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Clinical Internship completed at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Dr. Scalco plans to admit a new PhD student to start in Fall 2023

My research focuses on understanding the etiological factors involved with the development of substance use and substance use disorders from late childhood through adulthood using advanced statistics and data analytic techniques. I attempt to integrate multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives (developmental psychopathology, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral) and advanced methodology (structural equation modeling, propensity score modeling, and machine learning) to provide rigorous tests of current theories of substance use disorder. Specifically, my prior work has focused on how problem behavior (externalizing and internalizing symptoms), temperament, affect, and social contexts (peers and parents) are related to substance use disorder within moderation and mediation models and while adjusting for the large array of known confounders in the literature. I am also interested in using ecological momentary assessment and technology to improve assessment of temperament, environmental, and affective factors. Current research in my lab focuses on the interaction of temperament and the environment and whether they predict very specific aspects of substance use in early to middle adolescence, while my future work will focus on improving measurement of these constructs by increasing precision in statistical models.