Michael S. Robbins, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, Oregon Research Institute
Director of Research, Functional Family Therapy, Inc.
mrobbins@ori.org
Dr. Michael Robbins is a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute and
Director of Research for Functional Family Therapy, Inc. Dr. Robbins has extensive
experience conducting clinical research on family therapy with drug using, delinquent
adolescents and their families. He has directly overseen the training of hundreds of
family therapists, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Robbins is a frequent lecturer
and consultant, and is recognized as a leader in the areas of process and outcome research
in adolescent drug abuse treatment. He has led numerous federally-funded research
studies, including innovative process studies that involve the examination of in-session
processes across three, empirically-validated family interventions as well as one of the
largest multi-site family therapy trials conducted with adolescent drug users. Dr. Robbins
has extensive publications in the area of family therapy for adolescents with behavior
problems, including Co-Editing the Third Edition of the Handbook of Family Therapy
(Brunner Routledge, 2003), a primary source textbook for many family therapy training
programs. He has served as Consulting Editor for the Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology. He has mentored many new investigators, including psychiatrists,
psychologists, and master’s level students.
Dr. Robbins worked as an undergraduate student and graduate student with Dr.
Alexander from 1988 to 1995. During this time, he completed both his master’s thesis
and doctoral dissertation on the topic of the impact of reframing on family conflict in
functional family therapy. Since 1993, Dr. Robbins has continued to collaborate with Dr.
Alexander to conduct studies examining the clinical interior of functional family therapy.
His research has had a direct impact on the evolution of techniques for enhancing how
therapists create a motivational context for change. Dr. Robbins’ experiences conducting
clinical “process” research places him in a unique position for addressing critical
differences between empirically-based family approaches for adolescents with behavior
problems, a topic which he is frequently asked to address to national and international
audiences. Working closely with members of Functional Family Therapy, Inc,
community agency partners, and research staff at the Oregon Research Institute, Dr.
Robbins is leading efforts to implement and disseminate research to maintain Functional
Family Therapy’s status as a leader in evidence-based practice.
Select Publications
T.L. Sexton, G. Weeks, & M. Robbins (Eds.) (2003), Handbook of Family Therapy,
New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Robbins, M.S., Szapocznik, J., Dillon, F.R., Turner, C.W., Mitrani, V.B., & Feaster, D.J.
(2008). The Efficacy of Structural Ecosystems Therapy with Drug Abusing/Dependent
African American and Hispanic American Adolescents. Journal of Family Psychology,
22(1), 51-61.
Robbins, M.S., Szapocznik, J., Feaster, D.J., Mayorga, C.C., Dillon, F.R., & Burns, M.
(2007). The Impact of Family Functioning on Family Racial Socialization Processes.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(4), 313-320.
Robbins, M.S., Liddle, H.A., Turner, C.W., Dakof, G.A., Alexander, J.F., & Kogan,
S.M. (2006). Adolescent and Parent Therapeutic Alliances as Predictors of Dropout in
Multidimensional Family Therapy. Journal of Family Psychology, 20 (1), 108-116.
Robbins, M.S., Briones, E., Schwartz, S.J., Dillon, F.R., & Mitrani, V.B. (2006).
Differences in family functioning in grandparent and parent-headed households in a
clinical sample of drug using African American adolescents. Cultural Diversity and
Ethnic Minority Psychology, 12(1) 84-100.
Robbins, M.S., Kumar, S., Walker-Barnes, C., Feaster, D., Briones, E. & Szapocznik, J.
(2002). Ethnic differences in psychiatric comorbidity among substance abusing
adolescents referred to outpatient therapy. Journal of the American Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(4), 394-401.