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Jalie A Tucker (born 1954) is a Professor of Health Education and Behavior at the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
. She is known for her research on impulsive and harmful behaviors, such as alcohol and substance use, the effect of the environment on addiction, and natural resolutions to risky behavior including alcohol misuse. She has received numerous awards for excellence in clinical psychology and addiction research, including the 2015 Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology from the Society of Clinical Psychology (
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
(APA), Division 12). She was honored by APA, Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology) with the Presidential Award for Service to the Division in 2010 and 2012.


Biography

Tucker studied chemistry at
Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...
from 1971 to 1973. Subsequently, she attended
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, where she graduated
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
with a B.S. in psychology in 1975. Tucker further pursued her education by attending graduate school, obtaining an M.A. (1975) and Ph.D (1977) in Clinical Psychology from
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
. At Vanderbilt, Tucker worked with Mark B. Sobell in conducting research on alcohol and its effects on behavior, relapse, and help seeking/recovery from alcohol misuse. In 1998, she completed a M.P.H. in Health Care Organization and Policy at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...
. Tucker holds the position of professor in the Department of Health Education and Behavior at the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. She is also the director of the Center for Behavioral Economic Health Research at the University of Florida. Tucker's former teaching positions includes the
University of Florida, Gainesville The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its Ga ...
(1980-1986),
Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
(1986-1989),
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
(1989-1999), and University of Alabama at Birmingham (2000-2014). She was a visiting scholar of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center and Department of Psychology at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
in 1994. Tucker lectures on topics such as stress reduction being a determinant of alcohol usage, historical and contemporary trends of alcohol usage, and alcohol use as a self handicapping strategy. Tucker has received numerous grants for projects including the CITY Health II Project, Time Horizons and the Behavioral Economics of Recovery from Drinking Problems, and the Recovery and Health Seeking Processes in Problem Drinkers.


Research

Tucker and her colleagues have studied the effect of the environment on recovery from alcohol misuse and relapse. In one study, she compared individuals who had abstained from alcohol for an average of six years with those who were still active drinkers; in both groups, none of the individuals had received any treatment for substance use. Through interviews, Tucker concluded that individuals who recovered from alcohol misuse had not experienced as many negative events as their peers who had relapsed. In another study examining the relationship between social circumstances and substance abuse, Tucker and colleagues recruited 344 adolescent and young adult residents of low-income neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama. They examined the influence of
peer pressure Peer pressure is the direct or indirect influence on peers, i.e., members of social groups with similar interests, experiences, or social statuses. Members of a peer group are more likely to influence a person's beliefs, values, and behavior. A g ...
by assessing impact of the social network on participants' substance use. The findings confirmed that people who were encouraged by friends and family to use substances had a higher usage rate than those who were discouraged. This is significant because it confirms the importance of social and environmental factors on a person's decisions, especially for individuals transitioning into adulthood. Tucker's research implies that low-income communities are in need of more prevention programs. She also seeks out further research regarding young adults and their substance use in these areas. Tucker's work has drawn attention to the positive and negative influences that society can have on a person's substance use. By concluding that society's messages can either help or harm a person, Tucker introduces the need for societal discouragement and better prevention programs to lead people in the right direction. Her work on alcoholic recovery and relapse prevention culminated into a book co-edited with Dennis M. Donovan and G. Alan Marlatt titled ''Changing Addictive Behavior''. In this work, the authors present alternative therapeutic treatments for those with mild or moderate alcoholism, suggesting that the clinical approach does not work for all people. They proposed that individualized treatments are necessary for recovery, as mild to moderate cases of addiction may not warrant the extensive, and usually more costly, treatment that more severe cases do. This suggestion was also made in her co-authored book with Diane Grimley, ''Public Health Tools for Practicing Psychologists'''','' which proposed techniques to heighten the effectiveness of clinical care. The authors suggest that psychological care must be improved upon to become more individualized to each patient's needs.


Representative Publications

* George, A. A., & Tucker, J. A. (1996). Help-seeking for alcohol-related problems: social contexts surrounding entry into alcoholism treatment or Alcoholics Anonymous. ''Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 57''(4), 449-457. * Humphreys, K., & Tucker, J. A. (2002). Toward more responsive and effective intervention systems for alcohol‐related problems. ''Addiction, 97''(2), 126-132. * Tucker, J. A. (1995). Predictors of help‐seeking and the temporal relationship of help to recovery among treated and untreated recovered problem drinkers. ''Addiction, 90''(6), 805-809. * Tucker, J. A., Cheong, J., James, T. G., Jung, S., & Chandler, S. D. (2020). Preresolution drinking problem severity profiles associated with stable moderation outcomes of natural recovery attempts. ''Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 44''(3), 738-745. * Tucker, J. A., Vuchinich, R. E., & Sobell, M. B. (1981). Alcohol consumption as a self-handicapping strategy. ''Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90''(3), 220-230.


References


External links


College of Health and Human Performance Faculty Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Jalie American women psychologists Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni Vanderbilt University alumni University of Florida faculty Living people 1954 births American women academics American clinical psychologists