Max Halvorson

Max’s research examines the development of mental health and substance use problems across adolescence and into adulthood, integrating risk and protective factors across multiple domains (e.g., individual, school, community). Using advanced statistical methods and longitudinal data, his work examines change over time. His research also explores how aspects of identity, such as ethnic identity among Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian American youth, relate to mental health and substance use. The goal of his work is to create new knowledge on the development of psychopathology to inform programs that support positive development, including for youth with marginalized identities.

Max was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed his PhD in Child Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington and his BA and MA in Psychology at Stanford University. He is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the state of Washington and brings a client-centered lens to his research.

Key Publications:

• Halvorson, M. A., Caouette, J D., Briney, J. S., Kuklinski, M. R., Oesterle, S., Hawkins, J. D. (2025). Cumulative risk and cumulative protection: Relative contributions to predicting substance use, antisocial behavior, and mental health across development. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 35(1), 22-30.
• Halvorson, M. A., Kuklinski, M. R., Gause, E., Schleimer, J. P., Terral, H. R., Weybright, E. H., Oesterle, S., Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2025). Changes in young adult handgun carrying from 2019 to 2021: Differences by gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. JAMA Network Open, 8(2), e2458177.
• Halvorson, M. A., Kuklinski, M. R., Bailey, J. A., Caouette, J. D., Guttmannova, K., Rhew, I. C., & Oesterle, S. (2024). Young adults with a history of substance use disorder experienced more negative physical and mental health, social, and economic outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Addiction, 119(9), 1597-1607.
• Halvorson, M. A., Epstein, M., Caouette, J. D., Danzo, S., Satchell, A. K., Oesterle, S., & Kuklinski, M. R. (2024). General and specific risk and protective factors for cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) use. Prevention Science, 25(8), 1298-1309.
• McCabe, C. J., Helm, J. L., Halvorson, M. A., Blaikie, K. J., Lee, C. M., & Rhew, I. C. (2025). Estimating substance use disparities across intersectional social positions using machine learning: An application of group-lasso interaction network. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 39(2), 113-126.
• Seto-Myers, D. K., Mokiao, R., Aaron, S., Camacho, S. G., Huh, D., Halvorson, M. A., Haitsuka, K., Ta, W., Walters, K., Spencer, M. (2024). I ‘Ike ia nā Kānaka Maoli ma nā ʻĀina ʻĒ: Exploring place of residency (continental U.S. vs. Hawaiʻi) as a Native Hawaiian health predictor during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Hawai’i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, 83(8), 208-2015.
• Chang, C. J., Halvorson, M. A., Simpson, T. L., Harned, M. S. & Lehavot, K. (2023). Sexual identity and race/ethnicity as predictors of treatment outcome and retention in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 91(10), 614-621.
• Halvorson, M. A., Lengua, L. J., Smith, G. T., & King, K. M. (2022). Pathways of personality and learning risk for addictive behaviors: A systematic review of mediational research on the acquired preparedness model. Journal of Personality, 91(3), 613-637.
• Halvorson, M. A., McCabe, C. J., Kim, D. S., Cao, X., & King, K. M. (2021). Making sense of some odd ratios: A tutorial and improvements to present practices in reporting and visualizing quantities of interest for binary and count outcome models. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 36(3), 284–295.
• Woods, A. D., Gerasimova, D., Van Dusen, B., Nissen, J., Bainter, S., Uzdavines, A., Davis-Kean, P. E., Halvorson, M. A., King, K. M., Logan, J. A. R., Xu, M., Vasilev, M. R., Clay, J. M., Moreau, D., Joyal-Desmarais, K., Cruz, R. A., Brown, D. M. Y., Schmidt, K., & Elsherif, M. M. (2023). Best practices for addressing missing data through multiple imputation. Infant and Child Development, 33(1), e2407.