Research Focus

Dr. Wills' research interests are in etiology and prevention studies of tobacco and alcohol use, with a focus on early adolescence. This research involves the application of theoretical models that include individual vulnerability characteristics, social processes, and environmental variables, and their interactions, to the onset of smoking and drinking. This research has investigated ethnic differences in smoking and alcohol use prevalence and in pathways to substance-use outcomes. This work involves using advanced analytic techniques such as confirmatory analysis and multiple-group analyses to study ethnic group differences. Within the research program of the Center, Dr. Wills will help use these analytic and conceptual tools to better understand the onset and escalation of smoking and alcohol use as a function of individual and environmental variables and to help delineate how these processes differ across gender and ethnic groups.