Faculty

Jennifer Maggs
Ph.D., University of Victoria, 1993

Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies

Contact Information

S101 Henderson Building

jmaggs@psu.edu

Phone: 814-865-2028
Fax: 814-863-7963

http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/hdfs/faculty/maggs.html

Research Interests

Adolescent social development and health; transition to adulthood; risk behaviors; prevention science; research methods; alcohol expectancies.

Recent Prevention Projects

University Life Study

National Institutes of Health

Start Date: 2006

The University Life Study is designed to examine links between alcohol use and sexual behavior in college students. Using web-based surveys, the study will use a measurement burst design to examine developmental changes and situational fluctuations in links between risks behaviors in different domains, as well as the extent to which such associations vary by intrapersonal (e.g., affect), interpersonal (e.g., relationship status), and environmental (e.g., holidays, sports events) predictors. Students will complete 14 days of web-based surveys each semester from the fall of freshman year through fall of their senior year of college. The team for this project includes Jennifer Maggs (PI), Eva Lefkowitz (Co-Investigator), Meg Small (Managing Investigator), Megan Patrick (Graduate Assistant), Andrea Finlay (Graduate Assistant), Sara Vasilenko (Graduate Assistant), and Nicole Freeman (Project Manager, Survey Research Center).

Recent Publications

Schulenberg, J., & Maggs, J. L. (2002). A developmental perspective on alcohol use and heavy drinking during adolescence and the transition to young adulthood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Supplement No. 14: College drinking, what it is, and what to do about it: A review of the state of the science, 54–70.

Schulenberg, J., Maggs, J. L., & O’Malley, P. M. (2003). How and why the understanding of developmental continuity and discontinuity is important: The sample case of long-term consequences of adolescent substance use. In J. T. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 413–436). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Maggs, J. L. (In press). What do you expect? In M. Fearnow-Kenney, D. L. Wyrick, & W. B. Hansen (Eds.), Alcohol awareness: Readings for college students. Greensboro, NC: Tanglewood Research.