Journalist and storyteller Sam Quinones to present virtual talk March 23
SSRI's Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction and the Criminal Justice Research Center will host a virtual talk with Sam Quinones on Wednesday, March 23, from noon to 1:30 p.m., titled "True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth with Sam…
Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction in SSRI opens seed grant proposals
The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA), part of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at Penn State, has announced an invitation for its Level 2 Seed Grants program.
Applications for the program are encouraged to build upon the University’s distinctive…
Can wearable technology predict the negative consequences of drinking?
“How much have you had to drink?” might seem like a simple question, but it is not always easy to answer. Although there are general guidelines about responsible alcohol consumption, a person’s level of intoxication depends not only on the number of drinks they consume but also on the alcohol…
Examining the opioid epidemic through the lens of crime data
The opioid overdose epidemic in the United States remains a critically important public health issue that continues to worsen as time goes on. The estimated death toll in 2021 has reached the historical high of 100,000 overdose deaths from all drugs…
How can body weight affect the mortality risk of excessive drinkers?
While research has long shown a higher risk of death linked to alcoholism for people with overweight, a new study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence has found that people with underweight who drink excessively may be at an even higher risk of dying from heart disease,…
How understanding neighborhoods can help reduce tobacco use
A Penn State researcher testing a new way to assess tobacco use with a neighborhood mapping platform and in-person interviews has found that community engagement is key to addressing risky health behaviors.
Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease…
Youth with mental illness, substance-misuse histories at risk of opioid misuse
Opioid misuse is a devastating problem in the U.S. and a leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. Penn State College of Medicine researchers found young people with certain mental health conditions and histories of substance misuse may have an increased risk of being…
Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction launches new website
The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA), a unit of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), has launched its new website.
The new website corresponds to a name update, from the "Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse" to the "Consortium on Substance Use…
Penn State receives a five-year, nearly $6 million grant to study factors promoting early childhood development
The effects of genetics, home environment, and prenatal substance use on child health and brain development are largely unknown, even though pregnancy and early childhood are incredibly important periods of growth. To address this knowledge gap, Penn State…
Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction seeking applicants for Community Fellows Program
The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA), part of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at Penn State, has announced an invitation for its Community Fellows Program.
The Community Fellows Program, a funding mechanism of CSUA and the SSRI, provides support for faculty seeking to…
Education project to help improve data on drug overdose deaths
A new Penn State-led project is educating coroners, medical examiners, and others in the death certifier community in Pennsylvania about the reporting of substances associated with accidental overdose.
The project, known as the Death Certifier Education Project, is a collaborative effort with the…
Can mindful yoga reduce opioid dependence?
With more than 100 people dying from opioid overdoses each day in the U.S., new approaches to treating opioid-use disorders are needed. Emma Rose, assistant research professor with Penn State's Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, is leading a study that adds twice-weekly mindfulness-…
Five faculty members join Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction
Penn State’s Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA) recently announced five new co-funded faculty members who will join the consortium in the 2021-22 academic year: Kristina Brant, Sarah Brothers, Brandy Henry, Jennifer Nyland, and Sujeong Park.
Kristina Brant will start her…
HHD professor and graduate students “rappel for recovery”
As part of National Recovery Month, Hobart ‘Bo’ Cleveland, SSRI cofunded faculty member and professor of human development and family studies, Erik Dolgoff, graduate student in human development and family studies, and Samuel Wakely Stull, graduate student in biobehavioral health, recently…
Life Unites Us' campaign receives grant from PA Department of Drug and Alcohol
The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol (DDAP) recently awarded multiple faculty members, staff and units from Penn State Harrisburg, Penn State College of Medicine's Project ECHO and Addiction Center for Translation, and additional Penn State campuses a $…
New book: Time-Varying Effect Modeling for the Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
This book, co-authored by Stephanie Lanza, Penn State professor of biobehavioral health and director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (PRC); and Ashley Linden-Carmichael, PRC assistant research professor, is the first to introduce applied behavioral, social, and health sciences…
Engage Podcast highlights project
Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute released the latest episode of its Engage Podcast discussing research into e-cigarettes. Andrea Hobkirk, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavior health, discusses her work into how the brain responds to flavored e-cigarettes…
Human development and family studies professor joins Recovery Rising initiative
H. Harrington ‘Bo’ Cleveland, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State and SSRI cofunded faculty member, has been appointed to the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs’ Recovery Rising initiative.
Recovery Rising works to foster a resilient, diverse and…
Training scientists in substance use prevention the focus of $3.2 million grant
A $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will fund the continuation of Penn State's Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) program, which focuses on training the next generation of scientists in preventing substance use and addiction.
Effective strategies to prevent…
Annual substance-use conference examines cross-systems solutions
The Penn State Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse (CCSA) hosted its second annual conference, “Addressing Substance Use: Cross-Systems Solutions,” on Monday, May 3.
Held virtually via Zoom and drawing over 120 attendees throughout the day, the conference kicked off with a welcome…
How drunk is 'drunk?' New scale helps predict negative drinking effects
The words young adults use to describe how they feel when they have been drinking alcohol are a key to understanding whether they will engage in risky behaviors such as driving under the influence. A new scale for researchers developed at Penn State has been shown effective in gauging how young…
Are more parents letting their teens drink during the pandemic?
COVID-19 stay-at-home orders during spring 2020 dramatically changed daily life and created significant challenges for families. A new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that 1 in 6 parents first allowed their adolescent children to have an alcoholic drink with their families…
Addressing stigma and discrimination one story at a time
The Story Powered Initiative is a newly relaunched nationally focused initiative that addresses stigma and discrimination through sharing individual stories. Founded and led by Glenn Sterner, assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Abington and…
Penn State researchers combat problems of substance misuse
The misuse of alcohol, opioids, and other substances poses many serious, well-known risks to people’s health and communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, economic stress, social isolation, and anxiety about the future may have deepened the public health emergency posed by substance misuse and…
Annual substance use and addiction conference to be held virtually on May 3
Penn State’s Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse (CCSA) will hold its second annual conference to bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, foundation representatives and the public to discuss significant and emerging problems in combating substance use and…