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Clayton Neighbors, Ph.D.

Clayton Neighbors, Ph.D

Moores Professor
Director of Social, Personality, & Health Psychology
Director of the Social Influences and
Health Behaviors Lab

Ph.D., University of Houston
B.A., Lamar University

Heyne Building, Room 220
713-743-2616
cneighbors@uh.edu
Website: https://www.sihblab.com/

View CV

Biographical Summary

Dr. Neighbors' work focuses on social and motivational influences in etiology, prevention, and treatment of health and risk behaviors. Outcomes of interest include alcohol and substance abuse, problem gambling, body image and eating disorders, intimate partner violence and aggressive driving. Support for this research has been provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Mental Health, the Department of Defense, and the National Center for Responsible Gaming..

Research Interests

  • Alcohol and substance use
  • Social norms and their application to prevention and brief intervention
  • Self-determination and susceptibility to social influences
  • Models of intimate partner violence and aggressive driving and applications to intervention
  • Spiritual and religious influences on behavior and mental health
  • Event specific prevention
  • Social comparison and social identity

Prospective social psychology graduate students:

My goal in working with graduate students is to prepare them for jobs in academic or applied research settings. I typically meet individually with graduate students on a biweekly basis or more often when needed. Graduate students are encouraged to become involved in ongoing lab projects and typically have publication opportunities from existing data sets and ongoing projects. Students are also encouraged to initiate independent studies in addition to thesis and dissertation requirements. Students receive training in grant writing and are encouraged to apply for an NIH NRSA (F31) grant application at the end of their second year. My expectation is that when students graduate they will be competitive on the job market, with multiple publications and all the skills necessary to be successful and productive scholars.

Teaching

  • Grantsmanship
  • Psychology of Addictive Behaviors
  • Social Psychology and Health Behavior

Selected Publications

  • Neighbors, C., Walker, D., *Rodriguez, L. M., Walton, T., Mbilinyi, L., Kaysen, D., & Roffman, R. (2014). Normative misperceptions of alcohol use among substance abusing military personnel. Military Behavioral Health, 2, 203-209.
  • Rinker, D., & Neighbors, C. (2014). Do different types of social identity moderate the association between perceived descriptive norms and drinking among college students? Addictive Behaviors, 39(9), 1297-1303. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.03.018
  • *Rodriguez, L. M., Neighbors, C., & *Foster, D. W. (2014). Priming effects of self-reported drinking and religiosity. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 28, 1-9. PMID: 23528191
  • Neighbors, C.,Brown, G., *Dibello, A., *Rodriguez, L. M., & *Foster, D. W. (2013). Reliance on God, prayer, and religion reduces peer influences on drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2013,74, 361-368. PMID: 23490564
  • Neighbors, C., *Foster, D. W., Walker, D. D., Kilmer, J. R., & Lee, C. M. (2013). Social identity as a moderator of the association between perceived norms and marijuana use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 74(3), 479-483. PMID: 23490578
  • *Nguyen, Mai-Ly, & Neighbors, C. (2013). Self-determination, perceived approval, and drinking: Differences between Asian Americans and Caucasians. Addictive Behaviors, 38, 1656-1662. PMCID: 23254214
  • *Rodriguez, L. M., *Overup, C. S., & Neighbors, C. (2013). Perceptions of partners' drinking problem affect relationship outcomes beyond partner self-reported drinking: Alcohol use in committed relationships. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 627-638. PMID: 23438240
  • *Young, C. M., *Rodriguez, L. M., & Neighbors, C. (2013). Expressive writing as a brief intervention for reducing drinking intentions. Manuscript submitted for publication. Addictive Behaviors, 38, 2913-2917.
  • *Foster, D. W., Neighbors, C., *Rodriguez, L. M., Lazorwitz, B., Gonzales, R. (2012). Self-identification as a moderator of the relationship between gambling-related perceived norms and gambling behavior. Journal of Gambling Studies.
  • Neighbors, C., Lee, C. M., Atkins, D. C., Lewis, M. A., Kaysen, D., Mittmann, A., Fossos, N., Geisner, I. M., Zheng, C., & Larimer, M.E. (2012). A Randomized Controlled Trial of Event Specific Prevention Strategies for Reducing Problematic Drinking Associated with 21st Birthday Celebrations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(5), 850-862.
  • Neighbors, C., Atkins, D. C., Lewis, M. A., Lee, C. M., Kaysen, D., Mittmann, A., Fossos, N., & Rodriguez, L. M. (2011). Event specific drinking among college students. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25(4), 702-707.
  • Neighbors, C., Jensen, M., *Tidwell, J., Walter, T., Fossos, N., & Lewis, M. A. (2011). Social norms interventions for light and non-drinking students. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 14, 651-669.
  • Neighbors, C., Lindgren, K. P., Knee, C. R., Fossos, N., & *DiBello, A. (2011). The influence of confidence on associations among personal attitudes, perceived injunctive norms and alcohol consumption. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25(4), 714-720.
  • Neighbors, C., Lewis, M. A., Atkins, D. C., Jensen, M. M., Walter, T., Fossos, N., Lee, C. M., & Larimer, M. E. (2010). Efficacy of web-based personalized normative feedback: A two-year randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 898-911.
  • Neighbors, C., Walker, D., Mbilinyi, L., O’Rourke, A., Edleson, J. L., Zegree, J, & Roffman, R. A. (2010). Normative misperceptions of abuse among perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 16(4), 370-386.

*Indicates graduate student author.