Jennifer Bailey

Dr. Bailey has worked on multiple research projects at SDRG since 2002 and is PI of the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), the SSDP intergenerational project (SSDP-TIP), and the U.S. arm of the International Youth Development Study (IYDS). She leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers working together to understand factors that contribute to positive youth development and to develop, test, and scale prevention and health promotion interventions. She is trained in Developmental Psychology and Program Evaluation. Her research focuses on understanding risk and protective factors for substance use, problem behavior, housing instability, and poor mental health across adolescence and adulthood and on understanding how drug policy environments shape substance use and wellbeing across the life span. She is exploring ways to use machine learning, AI, and data science methods to enhance prevention science.

Education:

• PhD in developmental psychology, University of Arizona

Professional Interests:

• Prevention of addiction and suicide
• Effects of drug and alcohol policy
• Intergenerational research
• Early risk factors for housing insecurity
• Statistical methods for longitudinal data and causal inference
• Machine learning

Key Publications:

• Le, V., Bailey, J. A., Epstein, M., Dunbar, M. D., Satchell, A. K., & Pandika, D. (2026). Local availability of cannabis retail outlets on parents’ cannabis use, acceptability, and perceived addictiveness: A longitudinal study in Washington State. Plos One, 21(5), e0348182.
• Hill, K. G., Steeger, C. M., Epstein, M., Bailey, J. A., & Hawkins, J. D. (2025). Addressing suicide and mental health through universal childhood intervention: Results from the Seattle Social Development Project. Prevention Science, 26(7), 1033-1044.
• Merrin, G. J., Bailey, J. A., Kelly, A. B., Le, V. T., Heerde, J. A., Doery, E., Batmaz, E. A., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2025). Continuity and change in substance use patterns during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood: Examining changes in social roles. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 23(6), 4155-4177.
• Bailey, J. A., Le, V. T., McMorris, B. J., Merrin, G. J., Heerde, J. A., Batmaz, E. A., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2024). Longitudinal associations between adult-supervised drinking during adolescence and alcohol misuse from ages 25-31 years: A comparison of Australia and the United States. Addictive Behaviors, 153, 107984.
• Kerr, D. C. R., Tiberio, S. S., Bailey, J. A., Epstein, M., Henry, K. L., & Capaldi, D. M. (2024). Youth exposure to recreational cannabis legalization: Moderation of effects by sex and parental cannabis use during adolescence. Substance Use and Misuse, 59(6), 947-952.
• Bailey, J. A., Pandika, D., Le, V. T., Epstein, M., Steeger, C. M., & Hawkins, J. D. (2023). Testing cross-generational effects of the Raising Healthy Children intervention on young adult offspring of intervention participants. Prevention Science, 24(7), 1376-1385.
• Heerde, J. A., Bailey, J. A., Kelly, A. B., McMorris, B. J., Patton, G. C., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2021). Life-course predictors of homelessness from adolescence into adulthood: A population-based cohort study. Journal of Adolescence, 91, 15-24.
• Hill, K. G., Bailey, J. A., Steeger, C. M., Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., Kosterman, R., Epstein, M., & Abbott, R. D. (2020). Outcomes of childhood preventive intervention across 2 generations: A nonrandomized controlled trial. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(8), 764-
• Bailey, J. A., Hill, K. G., Oesterle, S., & Hawkins, J. D. (2009). Parenting practices and problem behavior across three generations: Monitoring, harsh discipline and drug use in the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 45(5), 1214-1226.

Favorite Quote or Mantra:

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin