Lynsay Ayer

Associate Behavioral & Social Scientist
Washington Office

Education

Ph.D. in clinical psychology, University of Vermont; B.A. in psychology, Cornell University

Overview

Biography

Lynsay Ayer is an associate behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. Her research is focused on stress reactivity, trauma, and related psychopathology (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders). Her work at RAND includes research in areas such as youth violence exposure and military mental health and substance use.

Lynsay received her B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Vermont. She completed her clinical internship at the Medical University of South Carolina/Department of Veterans Affairs Consortium and her postdoctoral fellowship in the Psychiatry Departments of the University of Vermont in Burlington, VT, and Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

  • An evaluation of a military suicide prevention program
  • A national evaluation of interventions designed to prevent negative outcomes in youth exposed to violence
  • Examination of the association between soldiers' behavioral health and deployment length and dwell time
  • An evaluation of a primary care based program designed to identify and treat PTSD and depression
  • A study to determine the effectiveness of a program to train clinicians in the treatment of co-occurring disorders

Selected Publications

Ayer, L.A., Rettew, D.C., Althoff, R.R., Willemsen, G., Ligthart, L., Hudziak, J.J., & Boomsma, D., "Adolescent personality profiles, neighborhood income, and young adult drinking: A longitudinal study," Addictive Behaviors, 36:1301-1304, 2011

Ayer, L.A., Harder, V.S., Rose, G.L., & Helzer, J.E., "Drinking and stress: An examination of sex and stressor differences using IVR-based daily data," Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 115:205-212, 2011

Ayer, L., Kmett Danielson, C., Amstadter, A.B., Ruggiero, K., Saunders, B., & Kilpatrick, D., "Latent classes of adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder predict functioning and disorder after one year," Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 50:364-375, 2011

Ayer, L.A., Althoff, R.R., Ivanova, M.Y., Rettew, D.C., Sulman, J., Waxler, E., & Hudziak, J.J., "Child behavior checklist-juvenile bipolar disorder (CBCL-JBD) and CBCL-posttraumatic stress problems (CBCL-PTSP) scales are measures of a single dysregulatory syndrome," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50:1291-1300, 2009