Orange Alert

Aesoon Park

Aesoon Park

Aesoon Park

Professor, and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology

CONTACT

Psychology
511 Huntington Hall
Email: aepark@syr.edu

Degrees

  • Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (minor in Psychological Statistics), University of Missouri-Columbia
  • Predoctoral Clinical Internship, Yale University School of Medicine
  • M.A. in Clinical Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
CV

Social/Academic Links

Courses Taught

  • PSY252, Statistical Methods II, Undergraduate Course
  • PSY431, Alcohol Use and Misuse, Undergraduate Course
  • PSY780, Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling, Graduate Course
Licensure

Licensed Psychologist (Class II) in South Korea

Graduate Mentees

Jueun Kim, Ph.D. in 2017, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) of Psychology at Chungnam National University, South Korea

Michelle J. Zaso, Ph.D. in 2019, Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Buffalo, Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions

Jessica M. Desalu, Ph.D. in 2019, Staff Clinician at the University Counseling Service, Howard University

Patricia A. Goodhines, Ph.D. in 2022, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) of Psychology at the University of Maine

Jin C. Zhao, M.S., 2017–Present

Amelia V. Wedel, M.S., 2019–Present

Fatima Dobani, M.S., 2019–Present

Elizabeth P. Cabot, M.A., 2020–Present

Emma S. Schillinger, B.A., 2021–Present

Research Interests

My programmatic research focuses on high-risk health behavior (with a focus on alcohol use/misuse) as a developmental phenomenon. Applying dynamic interactionism to alcohol use/misuse, my research seeks to characterize mechanisms by which individual factors and environmental factors influence each other and determine the course of alcohol use/misuse across the lifespan. The ultimate goal of my research program is to promote a greater understanding of these risk pathways in order to inform the development of targeted prevention strategies that reduce problematic alcohol use among high-risk populations.

My research is based on a multidisciplinary approach and rigorous analytic techniques. My multidisciplinary research meets the growing need to account for not only psychological but also genetic and other biological factors to advance our understanding of psychopathology. My also research involves the application of advanced statistical methods (e.g., structural equation modeling, path analyses, multilevel modeling) to longitudinal studies of diverse populations across wide-ranging developmental stages to characterize the complex person-environment interplay that occurs over time.

Taking the multidisciplinary developmental approach, my research program has characterized risk pathways of the development and escalation of alcohol use/misuse involving (1) Risk Pathways Underlying Adolescent Alcohol Use/Misuse and Co-Occurring Health Behaviors, and (2) Health Disparities. See representative publications for each area below.

Current Research Projects

Project Teen II, Role = Principal Investigator (co-investigators = Drs. Les Gellis, Stephen Maisto, and Lisa Fucito), funded by NIAAA R01 AA027677, NIAAA, 8/15/2019 – 07/30/2024. This project aims to test both developmental and proximal sleep-alcohol associations across diverse racial groups of youth and examine risk pathways involving social adversity exposures and stress-dysregulation in these associations over time. This project is in the data collection phase.

Project Teen I, Role = Principal Investigator (co-investigator = Dr. Stephen Maisto, Scientific advisors = Drs. Peter Vanable, Craig Ewart, John Belote, and Stephen Glatt), funded by NIAAA R15 AA022496, 09/04/2014 – 08/31/2019NCE. This project aims to identify the risk pathways involving genetic and psychosocial-environmental risk factors of escalations in alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences and other high-risk health behaviors among high school students in a racially diverse urban school district. A total of 414 participant data were collected for two time points, and we are currently doing data analyses for publications/presentations.

Representative Publications

Student co-authors are underlined; please see my CV, SU experts page, Google Scholar page or ResearchGate page for a complete list of publications.

Risk Pathways Underlying Adolescent Alcohol Use/Misuse and Co-Occurring Health Behaviors:

Goodhines, P. A., Gellis, L. A., Ansell, E. B., & Park, A. (2019). Cannabis and alcohol use for sleep aid: A daily diary investigation. Health Psychology, 38(11), 1036-1047. PMID: 31169378 PMCID: PMC6800769 DOI: 10.1037/hea0000765

Zaso, M. J., Park, A., Kim, J., Gellis, L. A., Kwon, H., & Maisto, S. A. (2016). The associations among prior drinking consequences, subjective evaluations, and subsequent alcohol outcomes. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30, 367-376. PMID: 27214171 PMCID: PMC4880416 DOI: 10.1037/adb0000166

Park, A., Kim, J., Gellis, L. A., Zaso, M. J., & Maisto, S. A. (2014). Short-term prospective effects of impulsivity traits on college heavy drinking: Mediation by positive and negative drinking consequences. Journal of American College Health, 62, 517–525. PMID: 24901736 DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2014.929579

Park, A., Sher, K. J., Wood, P. K., & Krull, J. L. (2009). Dual mechanisms underlying accentuation of risky drinking via fraternity/sorority affiliation: The role of personality, peer norms, and alcohol availability. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 241–255. PMID: 19413401 PMCID: PMC2742489 DOI: 10.1037/a0015126

Racial Disparities in Alcohol Use/Misuse:

Goodhines, P. A., Desalu, J. M., Zaso, M. J., Gellis, L. A., & Park, A. (2020). Sleep problems and drinking frequency among urban multiracial and monoracial adolescents: role of discrimination experiences and negative mood. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 49(10), 2109-2123. PMID: 32860577 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-020-01310-1 NIHMSID:1624913

Desalu, J. M., Goodhines, P. A., & Park, A. (2019). Racial discrimination and alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences among black individuals: A meta-analytic review. Addiction, 114(6), 957-967. PMID: 30714661 PMCID: PMC6510626 DOI: 10.1111/add.14578

Desalu, J. M., Kim, J., Zaso, M. J., Corriders, S. R., Loury, J. A., Minter, M. L., & Park, A. (2019). Racial discrimination, binge drinking, and negative drinking consequences among black college students: Serial mediation by depressive symptoms and coping motives. Ethnicity & Health, 24(8), 874-888. PMID: 28931304 PMCID: PMC5862766 DOI: 10.1080/13557858.2017.1380170

Zaso, M. J., Goodhines, P. A., Wall, T. L., & Park, A. (2019). Meta-analysis on associations of alcohol metabolism genes with alcohol use disorder in East Asians. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 54(3), 216-224. PMID: 30834931 PMCID: PMC6516434 DOI: 10.1093/alcalc/agz011