Jeffrey Wardell

Dr. Wardell is an Independent Scientist with the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Dr. Wardell received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is a licensed Clinical Psychologist. He completed his clinical residency in the outpatient addiction service at CAMH, where he focused on the assessment and treatment of clients with alcohol use disorders. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at CAMH, for which he received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study behavioural risk factors for alcohol use disorder using novel human laboratory methods.

Research Synopsis

Dr. Wardell’s research broadly focuses on personality and psychosocial determinants of addictive behaviour, with a particular focus on the developmental context of young adulthood. His research applies methods such as laboratory alcohol administration and real-time assessment using mobile devices to study biopsychosocial processes that occur during substance use episodes. Dr. Wardell also has expertise in longitudinal survey data analysis, and has published several analyses examining prospective associations among risk factors and substance use outcomes in both young adults  and clinical populations (e.g., people living with HIV). In addition, Dr. Wardell is interested in the determinants and consequences of cannabis and alcohol co-use, and is currently studying the relationship between cannabis use and alcohol use among heavy drinking young adults. His work seeks to apply the knowledge gained from these studies to inform interventions that target risk factors for substance use.

Recent Publications

Wardell, J.D., Dermody, S.S., Lindgren, K.P., Medina, A.M., Hendershot, C.S. (in press). Implicit alcohol and smoking associations among young adult heavy drinkers: Associations with smoking status and alcohol-cigarette co-use. Motivation and Emotion.

Wardell, J.D., Shuper, P.A., Rourke, S.B., & Hendershot, C.S. (in press). Stigma, coping, and alcohol use severity among people living with HIV: A prospective analysis of bidirectional and mediated associations. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. doi: 10.1093/abm/kax050

Wardell, J.D., LeFoll, B., & Hendershot, C.S. (2018). Preliminary evaluation of a human laboratory model of impaired control over alcohol using intravenous alcohol self-administration. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 32, 105-115. doi: 10.1177/0269881117723000

Wardell, J. D., Ramchandani, V. A., & Hendershot, C. S. (2016). Drinking motives predict subjective effects of alcohol and alcohol wanting and liking during laboratory alcohol administration: A mediated pathway analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 40, 2190-2198. doi: 10.1111/acer.13174

Wardell, J.D., Quilty, L.C., & Hendershot, C.S. (2016). Impulsivity, working memory, and impaired control over alcohol: A latent variable analysis. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30, 544-554. doi: 10.1037/adb0000186

Wardell, J. D., Strang, N. M., & Hendershot, C. S. (2016). Negative urgency mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and problems with alcohol and cannabis in late adolescence. Addictive Behaviors, 56, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.01.003

Wardell, J. D., Ramchandani, V., & Hendershot, C. S. (2015). A multilevel structural equation model of within- and between-person associations among subjective responses to alcohol, craving, and laboratory alcohol self-administration. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 124, 1050-1063. doi: 10.1037/abn0000121.

Appointments