Roisin M. O'Connor

My primary research interest is in the etiology of young adult heavy and problem alcohol use. My research aims to explicate the positive (drinking to increase positive affect) and negative (drinking to reduce negative affect) 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., motivational drive), anxiety, impulsivity, and alcohol-related cognitions (e.g., attitudes, associations, cognitive processes) to distinguish who is at risk and the processes of risk. In one line of my current work I am examining the interactive effects of behavioural inhibition/disinhibition and state affect on cue elicited alcohol associations, impulsivity, and subsequent alcohol use. Planned work in my lab includes: (a) refining measurement of alcohol-related cognition, such as assessments of implicit attitudes; (b) isolating social anxiety - and the intervening mechanisms - as a risk factor for negative reinforcement (self-medication) drinking in University students widely, and for women specifically; (c) integrating environmental-level factors (e.g., context) into models of risk.  

Grant Institution Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Fonds de recherché sur la société et la culture Quebec (FQRSC)

Selected Publications

• Krank, M., Stewart, S. H., O'Connor, R. M., Conrod, P. J., Woicik, P. B., & Wall, A-M (2011). Structural, concurrent, and predictive validity of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale in early adolescence. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 37-46.
• O'Connor, R. M., & Stewart, S. H. (2010). Brief motivational interventions for college drinkers: What we still need to know. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 17, 72-76
• O’Connor, R. M., & Colder, C. R. (2009).  Influence of alcohol use experience and motivational drive on college students’ alcohol-related cognition.  Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 33(8), 1430-1439.
• O’Connor, R. M., Stewart, S. H., & Watt, M. C. (2009).  Distinguishing BAS risk for university students’ drinking, smoking, and gambling behaviors.  Personality and Individual Differences, 46(4), 514-519.  
• O’Connor, R. M., Farrow, S. & Colder, C. R. (2008).  Clarifying the anxiety sensitivity and alcohol use relation: Considering alcohol expectancies as moderators.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69(5), 765-772.
• O’Connor, R. M., Fite, P. J., Nowlin, P. R., & Colder, C. R. (2007).  Children’s beliefs about substance use: An examination of age differences in implicit and explicit cognitive precursors of substance use initiation.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21(4), 525-533. 
• Read, J. P., & O’Connor, R. M. (2006).  High and low dose expectancies as mediators of personality dimensions and alcohol involvement.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67(2), 204-214. 
• O’Connor, R. M. & Colder, C. R. (2005).  Predicting alcohol patterns in first year college students via motivational systems and reasons for drinking.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 19(1), 10-20.