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April 24, 2007
For immediate release

Sara Walker won 2nd place in the American Psychological Association (APA), Division 50 (Addictions) student poster competition, and will present her poster and receive an award at the APA national conference in August 17-20 in San Francisco. Sara Walker is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School. The poster, co-authored with her advisor Dr. Merith Cosden, is titled “Reliability of Self-Reported Drinking Behavior before and During Mandated Treatment.”

Walker’s study examined the reliability of college students’ self-reported alcohol consumption for the month prior to entering a treatment program at two points in time. Students required to attend a drug and alcohol educational program tended to under-report their history of use when asked about it at intake, compared to their self-report of use for the same historical timeframe after attending the program for two weeks. Furthermore, students later described these reporting discrepancies as a function of feeling more or less concerned about the impact of their disclosure on other aspects of their lives.

"This award is an honor in itself – it also includes a year student membership to Division 50, and a year subscription to Division 50’s journal The Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,” says Walker. “It’s a great opportunity for me to become further involved in this division.”

Walker’s research and clinical work has involved substance abuse treatments among college students as well as other adults in the community.

[Sara Walker is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]

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