Jalie A Tucker (born 1954) is a professor of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida. 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 (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 from 1971 to 1973. Subsequently, she attended Duke University, where she graduated magna cum laude 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. 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.
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 (1980-1986), Wayne State University (1986-1989), Auburn University (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 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 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.