Heidemarie Blumenthal

 

University of Arkansas - Fayetteville, Arkansas (2012)

 

My research focuses on the etiology and interplay of maladaptive stress responding and risk behaviors, with an emphasis on how anxiety vulnerability may enhance the likelihood of substance use problems. Although my work spans the life course, my primary interest is in risk, protection, and selective intervention during adolescence and emerging adulthood. For instance, I study how significant facets of adolescent development (e.g., puberty, sensitivity to social stress) contribute to the onset and maintenance of anxiety psychopathology and problematic alcohol use behaviors. As a developmental psychopathologist my work reflects an intersection between traditional developmental and clinical domains, and an integrative, interdisciplinary approach is essential to my program. As such, I employ a variety of methodological approaches, including experimental psychopathology techniques, multi-informant, multi-modal (e.g., skin conductance, salivary hormone levels), self-report, interview, and short-term prospective designs.