George Mason University psychology professor Tara Chaplin has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Independent Research Scientist Award for her research on understanding the role of parenting and emotional arousal in the development of substance use in adolescence.
Chaplin’s research will ultimately result in increasing understanding of adolescent substance use and in developing novel and highly accessible smartphone interventions to prevent youth substance use.
The award will provide Chaplin with cutting-edge advanced training to enhance her career and transform her program of research. Through this training, Chaplin will integrate ecological momentary assessment science into her expertise in developmental neuroscience to understand from a neural and momentary level parenting, emotion, and substance use associations in adolescence.
The award will also support a research study examining the interplay between neural responses and momentary vulnerabilities to more fully understand the role of parenting and emotional arousal in the development of substance use in adolescence. It will provide the infrastructure to support future developmental studies and smartphone-delivered momentary intervention studies.
“This award recognizes Dr. Chaplin’s incredible accomplishments in research to date,” said Timothy Curby, psychology professor and interim chair of the Department of Psychology. “Dr. Chaplin already has a track record of innovative and important funded research. This award sets the stage for her to elevate and expand her groundbreaking research on substance use and parenting—research that exemplifies Psychology Department goals around conducting research of consequence.”
The award is a four-year grant of $125,166 per year.