Roisin M. O'Connor, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Psychology

Education
Research interests
My primary research interest is in the aetiology of young adult heavy and problem alcohol use. My research aims to explicate the positive and negative reinforcement pathways that lead to problematic drinking, particularly for those transitioning from adolescence to early adulthood. Within this framework I examine the role of individual-level factors such as personality (i.e., behavioural inhibition/approach systems), social anxiety, and cognitive processes (e.g., self-regulatory and impulsive processes) to distinguish who is at risk and the inherent mechanisms. I also consider environmental and cultural context in models of risk and resilience.
Grant institution funding
Selected publications
*indicates graduate supervisee
*Keough, M. T., O’Connor, R. M., & Stewart, S. H. (2018). Solitary drinking is associated with specific alcohol problems in emerging adults. Addictive Behaviors,76,285-290.
*Keough, M. T., & O’Connor, R. M. (2016). Interactive Effects of the BIS and the BAS on trajectories of alcohol misuse after university graduation. Substance Abuse:Research and Treatment, Supplement on Externalizing and Internalizing Symptomatology and Risk for Substance Abuse, 9 (Suppl. 1), 33-40.
*Keough, M. T., O’Connor, R. M., & Read, J. P. (2016). Replication and validation of the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire in a large sample of Canadian undergraduates. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 40(5), 1093-1099.
O’Connor, R. M., & Colder, C. R. (2015). The prospective joint effects of self-regulation and automatic processes on early adolescence alcohol use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 76(6),884-894.
O'Connor, R. M., Lopez-Vergara, H. I., & Colder, C. R. (2012). Implicit cognition and substance use: The role of controlled and automatic processes in children. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73(1), 134-143.
*Noel, M. E., O’Connor, R. M., Boudreau,B., Mushquash, C. J., Comeau, M. N., Stevens, D., & Stewart, S. H. (2010). The Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI): A comparison of cut-points in First Nations Mi’kmaq and non-Aboriginal adolescents in rural Nova Scotia. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8(2),336-350.
*Zahradnik, M., Stewart, S. H., O’Connor, R. M.,Stevens, D., Ungar, M., & Wekerle, C. (2010). Resilience moderates the relationship between exposure to violence and posttraumatic reexperiencing in Mi’kmaq youth. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction,8(2), 408-420.