Alexander M Wasserman, PhD
Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Wasserman is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Neurobehavioral Research Laboratory and Clinic (NRLC) headed by Dr. Donald M Dougherty and includes a multidisciplinary team of researchers. He's primarily working on a longitudinal project of high-risk adolescents with a family history of substance use disorder. His goal with the project is to ascertain developmental mechanisms for why these high-risk youth are more likely to have substance use problems compared to low-risk youth. The future goal is to become a tenure-track professor at a research-intensive university.
CONTACT INFO:
RESEARCH AREAS
- Adolescent Risk Behavior
- Impulsivity
- Sensation Seeking
- Applications of Advanced Quantitative Methods
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Wasserman earned his PhD in developmental psychology in the spring of 2018. After completing the graduate program, he joined the NRLC as a postdoctoral fellow in hopes of studying the development of substance use problems among high-risk youth and applying my quantitative skillset to the longitudinal data. He considers himself to be a developmental–quantitative psychologist and aims to integrate cutting-edge quantitative methods with theoretical models of adolescent risk behavior. Specifically, Dr. Wasserman studies adolescent risk behavior through the lens of the dual models. The dual systems model hypothesizes that adolescent risk behavior is the results of the contrasting developmental timing of impulse control and reward sensitivity (e.g., sensation seeking). Impulse control developments more gradually and linearly, not reaching full development until young adulthood. Conversely, reward sensitivity develops nonlinearly, reaching peak development during adolescence and declining slightly into adulthood. Thus, adolescent is a unique developmental stage when reward sensitivity is fully mature but the capacity for impulse control is not developed enough yet to regulate the rise in reward-seeking tendencies. Overall, Dr. Wasserman's goal is to refine the dual systems model and apply the theory to high-risk populations to better understand the developmental course of psychopathology including substance use disorder.
PUBLICATIONS
Wasserman AM, Wimmer J, Hill-Kapturczak N, Karns-Wright TE, Mathias CW, Dougherty DM. (2020). The Development of Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors Among Youth With or Without a Family History of Substance Use Disorder: The Indirect Effects of Early-Life Stress and Impulsivity. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. PMID33067711.
Wasserman AM, Mathias CW, Hill-Kapturczak N, Karns-Wright TE, Dougherty DM. (2020). The Development of Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking: Associations with Substance Use among At-Risk Adolescents. J Res Adolesc. PMID32951266.
Wasserman AM, Crockett LJ, Hoffman L. Reward Seeking and Cognitive Control: Using the Dual Systems Model to Predict Adolescent Sexual Behavior. J Res Adolesc. PMID29152861.