Jennifer L. Maggs, Ph.D.

1993, University of Victoria

Associate Professor of Human Development

110F South Henderson
(814) 865-2028
jmaggs@psu.edu

Research

My research interests center around risk behaviors during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Our lab group is actively engaged in two projects funded by the NIH (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)—The University Life Study and the British Cohort Studies. Each is described below. Together these studies use very different developmental designs to examine the etiology, correlates, and consequences of substance use and sexual behavior during this age period. Graduate students working in our group are encouraged to develop their research interests and skills by reading, conducting analyses, writing papers for publication, and learning to seek funds to pursue their emerging research programs. Students are actively mentored in writing NRSA applications to fund doctoral and postdoctoral research, with positive results.

The University Life Study is designed to examine links between motivations, daily activities, college experiences, and risk behaviors (including alcohol use, sexual behavior, other substance use, and gambling) among university students. This NIAAA-funded 3 ½ year longitudinal + measurement burst design study is designed to examine developmental changes and situational fluctuations in links between risk behaviors across contexts. Our web-based data collection was launched in Fall 2007 with over 725 African American, Asian American, European American, and Latino American first-year students. Each semester from the fall of freshman to senior year, participants complete a longer developmental survey and a series of 14 consecutive daily surveys. Using multi-level daily and longitudinal models, we are testing hypotheses about the extent to which associations between risk behaviors (e.g., drinking and sex) vary as a function of intrapersonal (e.g., affect), interpersonal (e.g., relationship status), and environmental (e.g., sporting events) predictors. The team (role; affiliation) for this project includes Dr. Jennifer Maggs (PI), Dr. Eva Lefkowitz (Co-Investigator; HDFS), Dr. Meg Small (Managing Investigator; Prevention Research Center [PRC]), Nicole Morgan (Study Director; PRC), Dr. Wayne Osgood (Investigator; Sociology, and Crime, Law, and Deviance), Dr. Megan Patrick (Postdoctoral fellow; University of Michigan), Dr. Bethany Bray (PI of Gambling Sub-study; Methodology Center), Dr. Jackie Wiersma (Postdoctoral fellow; PRC), Andrea Finlay (HDFS PhD Student), Sara Vasilenko (HDFS PhD student), Denille Bezemer (HDFS Graduate Student), Tina Iannucci, (HDFS Honors student).

British Cohort Studies. Using the long-term longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study and the British Cohort Study 1970, we are examining consequences of heavy alcohol use during adolescence for adult status attainment, romantic relationship formation and dissolution, adult substance use and crime. Data for these NIAAA-funded secondary analyses began to be collected in 1958 and continue with age 50 (NCDS) and age 38 (BCS) surveys currently underway by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the University of London. Our secondary data analysis team consists of Dr. Jennifer Maggs (PI; HDFS & PRC), Dr. Eric Loken (HDFS), Dr. Jeremy Staff (Sociology, and Crime, Law, and Deviance), Dr. Megan Patrick (Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan), Andrea Finlay (HDFS PhD student), Laura Wray-Lake (HDFS PhD student) and Dr. Lela Rankin (Social Work, Arizona State University).

Education

Research and Professional Experience

2004 - Present: Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University

2006 - Present, Research Associate, Bedford Group for Life Course and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education, University of London

2000-2003: Associate Professor, Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona

2003: Visiting Scholar, Institute of Education, University of London

2000: Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria

1996-2000: Assistant Professor, Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona

1996-2003: Adjunct Assistant Research Scientist, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

1995: Research Investigator, Survey Research Center, Instutute for Social Research, University of Michigan

1993-1995: Visiting Scholar, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

1993-1994: Visiting Scientist, Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence, Faculty of Public Health, Universität Bielefeld, Germany

Selected Publications

Galambos, N. L., Dalton, A., & Maggs, J. L. (in press). Losing sleep over it: Daily variation in sleep quantity and quality in the transition to university. Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Patrick, M. E., Abar, C., & Maggs, J. L. (in press). Adolescent drinking. Encyclopedia of the life course and human development. Gale: Farmington Hills, MI.

Patrick, M. E., & Maggs, J. L. (in press). Short-term changes in plans to drink and importance of positive and negative alcohol consequences. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 307-321.

Staff, J. L., Patrick, M. E., Loken, E., & Maggs, J. L. (in press). Teenage alcohol use and educational attainment. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Brown, S., Mague, M., Maggs, J. L., Schulenberg, J., Hingson, R., Swartzwelder, S., Martin, C., Chung, T., Tapert, S. F., Sher, K., Winters, K. C., Lowman, C., Murphy, S. (2008). A developmental perspective on alcohol and youth ages 16-20. Pediatrics, 121 (Suppl 14), S290-S310.

Maggs, J. L., Patrick, M. E., & Feinstein, L. (2008). Childhood and adolescent predictors of alcohol use and problems in adolescence and adulthood in the National Child Development Study. Addiction, 103 (Suppl. 1), 7-22.

Patrick, M. E., Blair, C., & Maggs, J. L. (2008). Executive functioning, approach sensitivity, and emotional decision-making as influences on risk behaviors in young adults. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 30, 449-462.

Schulenberg, J., & Maggs, J. L. (2008). Destiny matters: Distal developmental influences on adult alcohol use and abuse: Introduction to special issue. Addiction, 103 (Suppl. 1), 1-6.

Patrick, M. E., Abar, C. C., & Maggs, J. L. (2007). Reasons to have sex, personal goals, and sexual behavior during the transition to college. Journal of Sex Research, 44, 240-249.

Lee, C. M., Maggs, J. L., & Rankin, L. A. (2006). Spring Break trips as a risk factor for heavy alcohol use among first-year college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 911-916.

Rankin, L. A., & Maggs, J. L. (2006). First-year college student affect and alcohol use: Paradoxical within- and between-person associations. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 925-937.

Rhoades, B. L., & Maggs, J. L. (2006). Do academic and social goals predict planned alcohol use among college-bound high school graduates? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 913-923.

Maggs, J. L., & Schulenberg, J. (2004-2005). Trajectories of alcohol use during the transition to adulthood. Alcohol Research and Health, 28, 195-201.

Maggs, J. L., & Lee, C. M. (2005). What do you expect? Alcohol expectancies and consequences. In M. Fearnow-Kenney, D. L. Wyrick, & W. B. Hansen (Eds.), Alcohol use and harm prevention: A resource for college students. Greensboro, NC: Tanglewood Research.

Maggs, J. L., & Schulenberg, J. (2005). Initiation and course of alcohol use among adolescents and young adults. In M. Galanter (Ed.), Recent Developments in Alcoholism (pp. 29-47). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

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, 54-70.