Substance use Addiction & Food (SAF)

Research group

Addictive behaviours, including substance use (a.o. nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis use), over-eating, and compulsive Internet use are highly prevalent among youth and associated with significant (mental) health risks. Our mission is to unravel the development of these addictive behaviours among children, adolescents, and young adults in order to prevent adverse health outcomes later in life. Through applying a multidisciplinary perspective and using primarily longitudinal designs, we strive to understand the onset and developmental trajectories of substance use and addictive behaviours.

Research projects

picture of a floating wine bottle pouring a glass of red wine with a yellow background

Alcohol Use in Dutch University Students

Research

This project aims to understand students' drinking motives and investigates (bidirectional) relationships of alcohol use with academic achievement and mental well-being. It uses the longitudinal Healthy Student Life dataset.

Group of friends drinking wine

SOSIAL

Research

In this project, the IkPas intervention (one month of no alcohol) will be adjusted to better fit with the social context of students. This will help lower social drinking norms and reduce excessive alcohol consumption among students

Ongezond eten versus gezond eten

Unhealthy eating in young adults

Research

This project investigates factors affecting eating behaviours, such as stress, physical activity, and BMI. Additionally, this project seeks to design interventions targeting food cravings and unhealthy eating behaviours.

More projects

Research

Our research focuses specifically on genetic and environmental effects (and their interaction), as well as underlying neurobiological mechanisms. The knowledge we derive from our studies, along with internationally published findings, is used to develop prevention and intervention programs that we rigorously test in randomized controlled trials. Overall, we aim to develop theoretical frameworks based on studies using state-of-the-art methodologies with the ultimate goal to stimulate positive behavioral change.

News

Vox interview on scientific research on alcoholfree and alcoholic beverage consumption among students

News item

PhD student Kirsten van Hooijdonk was recently interviewed by Vox about a new publication from the Healthy Student Life study.

Radboud Team Science Award

Publications

We aim to facilitate easy access to our research findings on substance use, addiction, and food. Click on the button below to view our research publications and gain immediate access to the valuable insights we have gathered.

Our publications

RAD blog

On the RAD blog we write monthly articles about our research on substance use and addiction, with a particular focus on smoking, drug and alcohol use, and diet. Do you want to stay up to date on the latest insights in the field?

Follow our blog!

SAF Meetings

We have monthly SAF-meetings in which we discuss theoretical and practical issues related to our projects and recent developments in the field of substance use, addictive behaviours, and food research in an informal way. Would you like to join us? Please contact Jacqueline Vink.

Contact information

RAD blog
Location

Maria Montessori building

Visiting address
Thomas Van Aquinostraat 4
6525GD Nijmegen
024-3611822
Postal address
Postbus 9104
6500HE NIJMEGEN
Contact person
Prof. J.M. Vink (Jacqueline)
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