Laura J. Finan

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University. My background is in Psychology (MA-University of Colorado, Colorado Springs), Human Development and Family Science (PhD-University of Delaware), and Prevention Science (Post-doc-University of California, Berkeley and the Prevention Research Center).

My research interests include how social-ecological factors contribute to adolescents’ and young adults’ health and health risk behaviors. I am particularly interested in family relationships as developmental contexts and alcohol and other substance use and problems. Recently, I have started to explore environmental factors to better capture the range of salient influences that drive young peoples’ behavior.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, gardening, and all things outdoors.