University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · PsychologyStress and Alcohol Behavior Lab
Catharine Fairbairn · Champaign, Illinois
Research Focus
Dr. Catharine Fairbairn's research focuses on understanding how stress influences people's drinking habits, especially in social situations. Her lab investigates why individuals might turn to alcohol during stressful times and how this might lead to alcohol use disorder. By using innovative methods like brain imaging and real-life assessments, the lab aims to uncover the psychological mechanisms behind alcohol's rewarding effects, which could help improve prevention and treatment strategies for drinking problems.
alcohol use disorderstresssocial drinkingneuroimagingpsychological reinforcementhazardous drinkingreal-life contextsambulatory assessmentmood enhancementharm reduction
Research Aims
5AIM 01Explore how stress affects emotional responses to alcohol in social settings.
AIM 02Examine predictors of hazardous drinking patterns among individuals.
AIM 03Investigate the relationship between social novelty and alcohol reinforcement.
AIM 04Assess changes in drinking behavior over a longitudinal period.
AIM 05Identify mechanisms driving alcohol use in response to social stressors.
Skills the Lab Values
neuroimagingEEG (Electroencephalography)ambulatory assessmenttransdermal alcohol biosensorsexperimental designdata collection in social settingsphoto capturing methodologiesstatistical analysisparticipants recruitmentclinical assessment
Output against the department
Publications78bottom 19% of dept.239th of 296
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations1.9kbottom 16% of dept.249th of 296
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.