National Crime Victims Center > About Us > Faculty > MUSC/NCVC faculty - Dr. Carla Kmett Danielson					Print This Page

Carla Kmett Danielson, Ph.D.  
[NCVC Rotation; COPE Rotation]

Dr. Carla Kmett Danielson is an Associate Professor at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at MUSC. Dr. Danielson received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in 2003. She completed a Pre-Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology at the Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship Program at MUSC, followed by a 2-year, NIMH-supported Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the NCVC. Broadly, Dr. Danielson’s research interests focus on both treatment and prevention with high-risk adolescent populations and traditionally underserved populations.  In the area of treatment, her current program of research, funded by a NIDA R01 award (R01DA031285), involves the evaluation of Risk Reduction through Family Therapy (RRFT), an ecologically-based intervention targeting substance abuse, trauma-related psychopathology, and HIV-risk behaviors among adolescent sexual assault victims.  In the area of prevention, Dr. Danielson is the PI and Program Director on the SAMHSA-funded EMPOWERR Program (1U79SP015156), which focuses on prevention of HIV and substance abuse among local African American adolescents. As an extension of the HIV prevention work she has done with the EMPOWERR Program, she is currently investigating web-based approaches to bringing evidence-based HIV prevention curriculum to African American teen girls (funded by SCTR pilot grant; UL!RR029882).  Dr. Danielson also has an active program of translational research focused on factors and mechanisms underlying the etiology of PTSD, addiction, and other psychopathology among trauma exposed young people. Specifically, she serves as PI on an NIAAA-funded Alcohol Research Center Clinical Research Component (P50 AA010761; Center PI: Randall), which is a 5-year lab-based study, examining the relation between acute stress and drinking behavior in trauma and non-trauma exposed emerging young adults, as well as an NIMH-funded study (R21MH086313) focusing on the identification of mechanisms underlying the development of PTSD, substance abuse, and other high risk behaviors among disaster-exposed teens.   Finally, Dr. Danielson is actively involved in the training of future researchers, mentoring promising predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows training at the NCVC and serving as Training Director and Co-PI on our T32 grant (T32MH18869; PI: Kilpatrick). She has published more than 50 papers on issues related to high risk adolescents, addiction, and mental health and been the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of her work in the aforementioned areas, such as the APA (Division 37, Child Maltreatment Section) Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice (2008).

Research Interests:

• Treatment of co-occurring problems (PTSD, substance use) among trauma-exposed adolescents
• HIV prevention among at-risk and traditionally underserved youth populations
• Developmental psychopathology of PTSD and addiction (in the aftermath of trauma)
• Design and evaluation of web-based and technology-assisted approaches to intervention and prevention with young people
• Selected Honors/Awards:

Select Publications:
(*denotes an author that was a trainee at the time of manuscript)

• Adams, Z. W*., McCart, M., Zajac, K., Danielson, C. K., Sawyer, G. K., Saunders, B. E., & Kilpatrick, D. G. (in press).  Psychiatric problems and trauma exposure in non-detained delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology
• Danielson, C. K., McCart, M., Walsh,  K.*, de Arellano, M. A., White, D., & Resnick, H. S. (2012).  Reducing substance use risk and mental health problems among sexually assaulted adolescents: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Journal of Family Psychology, 26, 628-635.
• Walsh, K*., Danielson, C.K., McCauley, J., Saunders, B.E., Kilpatrick, D.G., & Resnick, H.S. (2012). Prevalence of PTSD Among Sexually Revictimized Adolescent, College, and Community Residing Adult Women: Results from Three Nationally Representative Samples. Archives of General Psychiatry, 69, 935-942.
• Danielson, C. K., Begle, A. M., Ayer, L*., & Hanson, R. H. (2012). Psychosocial Treatment of Traumatized Juveniles (pgs. 467-484). In E. Grigorenko (Ed.). Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry. New York: Springer.
• Amastadter, A. B., Daughters, S. B., MacPherson, L., Reynolds, E. K., Danielson, C. K., Wang, F., Potenza, M. N., Gelernter, J., & Lejuez, C. W. (2012). Genetic Associations with Performance on a Behavioral Measure of Distress Intolerance. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46, 87-94.
• Walsh, K*., Danielson, C.K., McCauley, J., et al. (2012). Longitudinal trajectories of PTSD symptoms and binge drinking among adolescent girls: The role of sexual victimization. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50, 54-59. 
• Ayer, L. A*., Danielson, C. K., Amstadter, A. B., et al. (2011). Latent Classes of Adolescent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Predict Functioning and Disorder After One Year.  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 364-375. 
• McCart, M.R., Zajac, K.*, Danielson, C. K. et al. (2011). Interpersonal victimization, posttraumatic stress disorder, and change in adolescent substance use prevalence over a ten-year period. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40, 136-143.
• Danielson, C. K., McCart, M., de Arellano, M. A., Macdonald, A*., Silcott, L., & Resnick, H. (2010).  Risk reduction for substance use and trauma-related psychopathology in adolescent sexual assault victims: Findings from an open trial. Child Maltreatment, 15, 261-268.
• Danielson, C. K., Macdonald, A.*, Amstadter, A. B., et al. (2010). Risky behaviors and depression in conjunction with –or in the absence of—lifetime history of PTSD among sexually abused adolescents. Child Maltreatment, 15, 101-107. PMCID: PMC2813318
• Macdonald, A.,* Danielson, C. K., Resnick, H. S., Saunders, B. E., & Kilpatrick, D. G. (2010). PTSD and comorbid disorders in a representative sample of adolescents: The risk associated with multiple exposures to potentially traumatic events. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 773-783.
• Hawkins, A. O.*, Danielson, C. K., Ruggiero, K. J., de Arellano, M. A., Hanson, R. Smith, D.,  Saunders, B. E., Kilpatrick, D. G. (2010). Ethnic/racial differences in the prevalence of injurious spanking and other child physical abuse in a National Survey of Adolescents. Child Maltreatment, 15, 242-249. 
• Danielson, C. K., Ruggiero, K. J., Daughters, S. B., & Lejuez, C. W. (2010). Distress tolerance, risk-taking propensity, and PTSD symptoms in trauma-exposed youth: Pilot study.The Behavior Therapist, 33, 28-34.
• Danielson, C.K., Amstadter, A.*, Dangelmaier, R. E., et al. (2009). Does typology of substance abuse and dependence symptoms differ by exposure to child maltreatment?  Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 18, 323-342. PMCID: PMC2819723
• Danielson, C.K., Amstadter, A.*, Dangelmaier, R. E., et. al. (2009). Trauma-related risk factors for substance abuse among male versus female young adults. Addictive Behaviors, 34,395-399. PMCID: PMC2704020

Select Presentations:
(*denotes an author that was a trainee at the time of presentation)

• Danielson, C.K. et al. (Nov., 2011). Translating Evidence-Based, Behaviorally-Focused HIV Prevention For the Web-Based Delivery: SIHLE Web for female African American Teens for Symposium, "Dissemination Efforts in Behaviorally-Focused HIV Prevention Among High Risk Youth:  From Bench to Desktop to Africa and Beyond" (Chair: Danielson, C.K.).  Annual Meeting of the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies, Toronto, Canada 
• Danielson, C. K. et al. (Nov., 2010). The Functional Significance of the Ecology in the Treatment of Traumatized Adolescents: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial of RRFT for Symposium Innovative Applications of CBT to Diverse Traumatized Youth and Young Adult Populations (Chairs: Danielson, C. K. & McCart, M.). Annual meeting of the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies, San Francisco, CA. 
• Danielson, C. K. & Begle, A. M.* (June, 2009). Risk Reduction through Family Therapy (RRFT). Advanced Training Pre-Meeting Institute at the annual colloquium of APSAC, Atlanta, GA.
• Danielson, C.K., Amstadter, A. B.*, Dangelmaier, R. E., Resnick, H., Saunders, B., &., Kilpatrick, D. G. (June, 2008). Gender differences in the association between victimization history and substance abuse with regard to prevalence and risk factors. Research paper presented at the annual College on Problems of Drug Dependence, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Current and Past Predoctoral (Intern) and Postdoctoral Trainees:

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Curriculum Vitae   (2012)  (Requires Adobe® Readerto view)

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Last Published: October 17, 2012