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Norman A. Constantine, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Program Director, Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development

Dr. Constantine is a research psychologist focusing on adolescent sexual health policy, measurement and research design, and the study of policy use and misuse of research evidence. He directs the Public Health Institute's Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, and is principal investigator for grants from The California Wellness Foundation, W.T. Grant Foundation, and Walter S. Johnson Foundation. He also serves as clinical professor of community health and human development at the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Adolescent Health, and coeditor of the Jossey-Bass volume Foundations and Evaluation: Contexts and Practices for Effective Philanthropy. Constantine helped develop and enact the 2003 California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act (SB 71) and the 2007 Sexual Health Education Accountability Act (AB 629), and has been widely featured in state and national media stories on adolescent sexual health research and policy.

Constantine's research program comprises two intertwined strands. The first involves policy-oriented translational research in adolescent sexual health policy. This entails conducting rigorous research that is systematically translated into evidence-based policy advocacy messages, materials, and supports. These are used to educate state and local policy makers and other California stakeholders about adolescent sexual health policies and practices, via direct advocacy as well as mediated advocacy involving state, local, legislative, and media partners. The second strand examines the role of social-cognitive processes in research evidence use and appraisal, investigating how implicit (rapid, intuitive, and preconscious) and explicit (slow, logical, and conscious) reasoning processes are employed by policy influentials in appraising and applying research evidence, and how these processes are influenced by (and influence) prior beliefs and information, moral values and judgments, ideology, and interests and obligations.

Selected Downloadable Publications

(click here for No Time for Complacency Policy Reviews and Update Reports)

  1. Constantine, N. A. (2008). Converging evidence leaves policy behind: Effectiveness of and support for school-based sex education programs. [editorial]. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42, 324-326.
  2. Constantine, N. A., Jerman, P., & Huang, A. X. (2007). California parents' preferences and beliefs on school-based sexuality education policy. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 39, 167-175.
  3. Constantine, N.A. & Jerman, P. (2007). Acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccination by Californian parents of daughters: A representative statewide analysis. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40(2), 108-115.
  4. Jerman, P., Constantine, N. A. & Nevarez, C. R. (2007). Sexually transmitted infections among California youth: Estimated incidence and cost, 2005. California Journal of Health Promotion, 5, 80-91.
  5. Constantine, N. A., Slater, J. K., & Carroll, J. (2007). Motivational aspects of community support for comprehensive school-based sexuality education. Sex Education, 7, 421-439.
  6. Constantine, N. A., Jerman, P, & Huang, A. X. (2007, November). Evidence-b(i)ased policy arguments: A theoretical framework from the sex education debates. Paper presented at the 29th Annual Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Research Conference. Washington, DC.
  7. Constantine, N.A. (2007). Simpson's paradox. In S. Boslaugh (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Epidemiology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers.
  8. Constantine, N.A. (2007). The peer review process. In S. Boslaugh (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Epidemiology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers.
  9. Constantine, N.A. (2007). Publication bias. In S. Boslaugh (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Epidemiology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers. 
  10. Neuhauser, L., Constantine, W. L., Constantine, N.A., Sokal-Gutierrez, K, Obarski, S .K., Clayton, L, Desai, M., Sumner, G., & Syme, S. L. (2007). Promoting prenatal and early childhood health: Evaluation of a statewide materials-based intervention for parents. American Journal of Public Health, 97(10), 1813-1819.
  11. Constantine, N. A. & Jerman, P. (2007). Acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccination among Californian parents of daughters: A representative statewide analysis. [condensed]. Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. 62(6):377-379.
  12. Constantine, N. A. (2007). [Book review of Luker, K., When sex goes to school: Warring views on sex and sex education since the sixties.] Sex Education, 7(4), 441-443.
  13. Constantine, N. A., Nevarez, C. R., Miller, M., & Hamilton, P. (2006). A statewide policy advocacy intervention in California: The No Time For Complacency initiative. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 4,10-22.
  14. Constantine, N. A. (2004). Changes in sexual behaviors among high school students [letter]. Journal of Adolescent Health, 35, 430-431.
  15. Constantine, N. A. & Moskowitz, J. M. (2004). California adolescents' use of family planning services [letter]. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 36(6), 288-289.
  16. Constantine, N. A. & Braverman, M. T. (2004). Appraising evidence on program effectiveness. In M. T. Braverman, N. A. Constantine, and J. K. Slater (Eds.), Foundations and evaluation: Contexts and practices for effective philanthropy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
  17. Braverman, M. T. Constantine, N. A., & Slater, J. K. (Eds.) (2004). Foundations and evaluation: Contexts and practices for effective philanthropy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
  18. Constantine, N. A. (1999). [Book review of Evaluating HIV Prevention Interventions.] American Journal of Evaluation, 20(1), 141-143.
  19. Constantine, W. L., Haynes, C., Spiker, D., & Constantine, N. A. (1993). Recruitment and retention in a multisite clinical trial for low birth weight infants. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 14(1), 1-7.
  20. LeTendre, D., Spiker, D., & Constantine, N. A. (1992). Establishing a ceiling on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 24 months. In L. Lipsitt & C. K. Rovee-Collier (Eds.), Advances in Infancy Research: Vol. 7 (pp. 187-198). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  21. Spiker, D., Kraemer, H. C., Constantine, N. A., and Bryant, D. (1992). Reliability and validity of behavior problem checklists as measures of stable traits in low birth weight preschool children. Child Development, 63(6), 1481-1496.
  22. Infant Health and Development Program: Gross, R. T., Spiker, D., Constantine, N. A., et al. (1990). Enhancing the outcomes of low birth weight, premature infants: A multisite, randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 263(22), 3035-3042.
  23. Constantine, N. A., Kraemer, H. C., Kendall-Tackett, K. A., Bennett, F. C., Tyson, J. E., & Gross, R. T. (1987). Use of physical and neurologic observations in assessment of gestational age in low birth weight infants. Journal of Pediatrics, 110(6), 921-928.