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Dr. Laura Finan

Assistant Professor
Psychology
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Current Courses

303.001Adult Development And Aging

213.002Lifespan Development

290.009Special Projects: Research Apprenticeship

599.009Doctoral Research In Psychology

599.099Doctoral Research In Psychology

499.009Independent Research For The Master's Thesis

Teaching Interests & Areas

Adolescent development; research methods; life-span development

Research Interests & Areas

My research addresses how psycho-social and contextual factors influence adolescents' and young adults' health risk behaviors. I am particularly interested in (a) family relationships as developmental contexts and (b) alcohol and other substance use and problems. Recently, I have begun to explore environmental factors (e.g., neighborhoods and schools) to better capture the range of salient factors which drive young peoples' behavior.

Research Interests: Adolescent health • Alcohol and other substance use and problems • Family relationships

Post-Doc

University of California, Berkeley; Prevention Research Center
Berkeley, California, USA

Ph D Human Development and Family Studies

University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware, USA

MA Psychological Science

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

BA Psychology

Nazareth College
Rochester, New York, USA

Outstanding University Teaching Initiative Award

Illinois State University
2023

Research Initiative Award Winners

Illinois State University
2023

Interdisciplinary Civic Engagement Award

Center for Civic Engagement, Illinois State University
2022

Journal Article

Please visit the following website to see a list of research publications and presentations: https://about.illinoisstate.edu/ljfinan/

Presentations

Vaping and Oral Health among College Students. 2023 AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting. (2023)
Collective action for school-wellness: An ecological example. AIESEP World Congress. (2022)
Trajectory classes of adolescents’ family relationship experiences and associations with later substance use. Society for Research on Adolescence. (2022)