My research program seeks to identify relationships between health-risk behaviors across adolescence and young adulthood. This work examines biobehavioral (self-regulation), socio-contextual (peer victimization), and psychological (depressive symptoms) factors that inform developmental processes and pathways to co-occurring health-risks. I have a particular interest in the relationship between obesity and substance use, specifically addressing nicotine/tobacco use. Utilizing my graduate training in developmental psychopathology and postdoctoral training in addictive behaviors, I employ latent variable modeling to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal data across community-based populations.
