Kenneth E. Leonard, PhD
CRIA Director
Senior Research Scientist
Clinical Psychology
Department of Psychiatry
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Contact Information
1021 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14203-1016
Phone: (716) 887-2566
Email: leonard@ria.buffalo.edu
Google Scholar
Primary Research Areas
Marital/family processes; parenting and infant development; interpersonal aggression; bar violence; domestic violence.
Research Agenda
Dr. Leonard’s research focuses on three broad areas. The first of these is the relationship between interpersonal processes, most importantly intimate partner relationships, and substance use problems. This encompasses both the effects of substance use on interpersonal relationships, but also the influence of interpersonal relationships on substance use. Although he is most interested in substance use problems, he is also interested in the impact of intimate partners on each other’s health and health behaviors, and how health and other factors influence couple’s relationships.
Dr. Leonard’s second research agenda, which overlaps with his first agenda, concerns the role of substance use on violent behavior. Currently, he is collaborating with faculty in psychiatry to address the role of mental illness and substance use in the occurrence of violent behavior.
More recently, Dr. Leonard has begun to explore issues surrounding the current epidemic of prescription opiate and heroin overdoses, including predictors of misuse of opioid prescriptions and predictors of treatment engagement among heroin users.
Areas of Expertise
- Alcohol, substance abuse and aggression
- Effects of substance use on marriage, families and relationships
- Interpersonal (domestic) violence
- Marijuana
- Prescription painkillers