Professor Andrew Lac joined the UCCS Psychology Department in 2015.  Previously, he was affiliated with Claremont Graduate University as Research Professor and Loyola Marymount University as Visiting Professor.

Dr. Lac’s research focuses on the psychology of substance use and addictive behaviors. His research interests include alcohol, marijuana, caffeine, inhalants, psychedelics, other substances (almost anything that could be ingested or inhaled), sexual activity, internet compulsions, and other addictive behaviors. These topics are examined from various perspectives:  attitudes and beliefs, motivations and expectations, feelings and emotions, risk factors, protective factors, prevention, brief interventions, social and peer norms, family practices and history, attachment security and interpersonal relationships (e.g., best friends, parent-child, siblings, twins), racial and cultural disparities, behavioral genetics, and the role of social media.  Furthermore, he publishes on scale development and validation (EFA, CFA, and IRT) and the evaluation of the psychometric properties (factor structures, reliabilities, and validities) of measurement questionnaires as applied to these areas. Dr. Lac serves as the Director of the MA in Psychological Science Program.

*The Director of Psychological Science Training is responsible for all aspects of the Psychological Science MA track including recruitment and admissions, curriculum, professional development, and assessment.

Substance Use, Addictive Behaviors, Sexual Behaviors, Health Psychology, Psychometrics, Scale Development and Validation

Professor Lac is seeking to recruit new graduate students interested in conducting research in any of these areas to join his research lab. 

Ph.D. Psychology, Claremont Graduate University
M.A. Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles
B.S. Cognitive Science, with Computing Specialization, University of California, Los Angeles

PSY 5810 - Research Statistics and Methods I
PSY 5820 - Research Statistics and Methods II 
PSY 5830 - Applied Multivariate Techniques I 
PSY 6813 - Meta-Analysis

*Current/former student coauthor

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D. (in press). Sensation seeking versus alcohol use: Evaluating temporal precedence with cross-lagged panel models. Drug & Alcohol Dependence.

*Christodoulou, J. & Lac, A. (in press). Examining the communication of gender roles to parents: A quantitative content analysis of online birth congratulations cards. Psychology & Sexuality.

Lac, A. & *Donaldson, C. D.  (2022).  Development and validation of the Drama Triangle Scale: Are you a victim, rescuer, or perpetrator? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37, 4057-4081.

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D. (2021). Experimental priming of peer injunctive and descriptive norms on self-reported alcohol attitudes, behaviors, and motivations. Addiction Research & Theory, 29, 338-346.

*Correll, D., *Engle, K., *Lin, S., Lac, A., Samuelson, K. W. (2021).  The effects of military status and gender on public stigma toward post-traumatic stress disorder.  Stigma & Health, 2, 134-142.

Lac, A., & Luk, J. W. (2019). Pathways from positive, negative, and specific alcohol expectancies to weekday and weekend drinking to alcohol problems. Prevention Science, 20, 800-809.

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D.  (2019).  Personality traits moderate connections from drinking attitudes to alcohol use and myopic relief, self-inflation, and excess. Substance Use & Misuse, 54, 818-830.

Lac, A., & Luk, J. W. (2019). Development and validation of the Adult Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Scale. Psychological Assessment, 31, 340-351.

*Harvey, A. M., *Thompson, S., Lac, A., & Coolidge, F. L. (2019). Fear and derision: A quantitative content analysis of provaccine and antivaccine internet memes. Health Education & Behavior, 46, 1012-1023.

Lac, A., & Luk, J. (2018) Testing the amotivational syndrome: Marijuana use longitudinally predicts lower self-efficacy even after controlling for demographics, personality, and alcohol and cigarette use. Prevention Science, 19, 117-126

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D. (2018). Validation and psychometric properties of the Alcohol Positive and Negative Affect Scale: Are drinking emotions distinct from general emotions? Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 32, 40-51.

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D. (2018).  Testing competing models of injunctive and descriptive norms for proximal and distal reference groups on alcohol attitudes and behavior. Addictive Behaviors, 78, 153-159.

Lac, A., & *Brack, N.  (2018). Alcohol expectancies longitudinally predict drinking and the alcohol myopic effects of relief, self-inflation, and excess. Addictive Behaviors, 77, 172-179.

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D. (2017). Comparing the predictive validity of the four-factor and five-factor (bifactor) measurement structures of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire, Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 181, 108-115.

*Christodoulou, J., Lac, A., & Moore, D. (2017). Babies and math: A meta-analysis of infants’ simple arithmetic competence. Developmental Psychology, 58, 1405-1417.

Lac, A., & *Donaldson, C. D. (2017). Higher-order and bifactor models of the drinking motives questionnaire: Examining competing structures using confirmatory factor analysis. Assessment, 24, 222-231.

*Donaldson, C. D., *Handren, L. M., & Lac, A. (2017). Applying multilevel modeling to understand individual and cross-cultural variations in attitudes toward homosexual people across 28 European countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48, 93-112.

Lac, A., *Handren, L., & Crano, W. D. (2016). Conceptualizing and measuring weekend versus weekday alcohol use: Item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis. Prevention Science, 17, 872-881.

Lac, A. & *Donaldson, C. D. (2016). Alcohol attitudes, norms, behavior, and personality traits longitudinally classify nondrinkers, moderate drinkers, and binge drinkers using discriminant function analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 61, 91-98.

Lac, A., & Crano, W. D. (2016). Marijuana use. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of adolescence (2nd ed., pp. 1-8). Springer International.

Lac, A. (2016). Measurement validity. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of adolescence (2nd ed., pp. 1-4). Springer International.

Lac, A. (2016). Content analysis. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of adolescence (2^nd ed., pp. 1-5). Springer International.

Crano, W. D., Brewer, M. & Lac, A. (2015).  Principles and Methods of Social Research (3^rd ed.). Routledge.

Kenney, S. R., Lac, A., Hummer, J., & LaBrie, J. W. (2014). Development and validation of the Hookup Motives Questionnaire. Psychological Assessment, 26, 1127-1137.

Lac, A. (2014). A primer for using meta-analysis to consolidate research.  Substance Use & Misuse. 49, 1064-1068.

Napper, L. E., Hummer, J. F. Lac, A., & LaBrie, J. W.  (2014). What are other parents saying? Perceived parental communication norms and the relationship between alcohol specific parental communication and college student drinking. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 28, 31-41.

Lac, A., Crano, W. D., Berger, D., & Alvaro, E. M. (2013). Attachment theory and theory of planned behavior: An integrative model predicting underage drinking.  Developmental Psychology, 49, 1579-1590.

Lac, A., & Berger, D. (2013). Development and validation of the Alcohol Myopia Scale. Psychological Assessment, 25, 738-747.

Selected from over 80 scholarly publications. The comprehensive list of publications could be downloaded from either site:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dtU-9VMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Lac2

LAS Research Award

Alan Marlatt “Early Career Award” (American Psychological Association, Division 50: Addiction Psychology)

“Early Career Research Award” (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)

Peter M. Bentler “Multivariate Award” (Western Psychological Association)

Robert L. Solso “Research Award” (Western Psychological Association)

UCCS Psychology Director of Psychological Science, 2023-Present
UCCS Psychology Interim Director of Psychological Science, 2020 - 2021