Developmental Area Brown Bag - Prevalence, Predictors, and Consequences of Substance Use: A Neurodevelopmental Perspective

Abstract: Despite being a major public health concern, substance use is pervasive in the United States. Substance use tends to begin in adolescence and then escalate through early adulthood, indicating the importance of using a developmental perspective in substance use research. In this talk, I will discuss psychosocial and neural predictors of substance use among youth, focusing on alcohol and marijuana. I will also discuss impacts of substance use on psychosocial and neural functioning. In addition to presenting multi-level risk factors for youth substance use, I will highlight aspects of resilience as well.

Bio: Dr. Martz is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan Addiction Center within the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on psychosocial and neural factors associated with substance use risk and resilience among adolescents and young adults. Using multidisciplinary methods, Dr. Martz has examined both population-level survey data from the Monitoring the Future study and is currently working with fMRI data from the Michigan Longitudinal Study and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Dr. Martz received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan and completed a pre-doctoral fellowship with NIDA’s Substance Abuse Interdisciplinary Training Program. Prior to completing her PhD, Dr. Martz received a MSW degree from the University of Chicago and a BS degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Development and Family Studies from Indiana University.