Rachel Cassidy

About

Rachel Cassidy is an Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University. She is an experimental psychologist with a focus on tobacco regulatory science, particularly in young adult and adolescent populations. Her research aims to reduce youth and young adult smoking through understanding the effects of tobacco control policies, including the FDA's potential nicotine reduction standard. Over the past decade, she has studied how such policies impact tobacco use behaviors, conducting clinical trials and field studies on very low nicotine content cigarettes among youth and young adults. Cassidy employs a behavioral economic framework to analyze substance use and has developed measures to assess the reinforcing efficacy of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Her work also explores co-use of cannabis and tobacco, aiming to inform strategies that can effectively reduce tobacco use in youth.

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Toxicology
• Biology
• Organic chemistry
• Pathology
• Environmental health
• Food science
• Demography
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• The impact of menthol flavoring in combusted tobacco on alternative product purchasing: A pilot study using the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2020 · 29 citations

  DOI

• Exclusive E-Cigarette Users Report Lower Levels of Respiratory Symptoms Relative to Dual E-Cigarette and Cigarette Users

  Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2020 · 23 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: Exclusive e-cigarette use has been shown to be associated with reduced levels of respiratory symptoms relative to smoking combustible cigarettes; this association has been less frequently studied in smokers using advanced-generation e-cigarette devices. Advanced-generation devices generate denser vapor than either early generation or pod-style devices, and engender longer inhalations; these vaping topography patterns may contribute to respiratory symptoms. METHODS: In a single-sess…

  DOI

• Disruption of circadian rhythms promotes alcohol use: a systematic review

  Alcohol and Alcoholism · 2023-12-19 · 12 citations

  reviewOpen access

  This systematic review investigates the bidirectional relationship between alcohol consumption and disrupted circadian rhythms. The goal of this study was to identify (i) the types of circadian rhythm disruptors (i.e. social jet lag, extreme chronotypes, and night shift work) associated with altered alcohol use and (ii) whether sex differences in the consequences of circadian disruption exist. We conducted a search of PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO exclusively on human research. We identified 177…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effects of mint, menthol, and tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes on tobacco withdrawal symptoms in adults who smoke menthol cigarettes: A laboratory pilot study

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2024-01-25 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Qualitative reactions to a low nicotine product standard for cigarettes from adolescents and young adults living in the United States who smoke

  Preventive Medicine Reports · 2023-02-23 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The Biden Administration is considering a low nicotine product standard for cigarettes. This qualitative study examined reactions to a nicotine reduction policy among adolescents and young adults (AYA) who smoke cigarettes. After completing a lab study involving masked exposure either to low nicotine or normal nicotine research cigarettes and unmasked exposure to e-cigarettes varying in nicotine concentration and flavor, we conducted follow-up semi-structured interviews (N = 25) to explore parti…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Psychometric Validation of an E-Cigarette Purchase Task in Users of Advanced Generation Devices

  NIH · $244k · 2016–2019

• Impact of nicotine reduction on adolescent cigarette use, alternative tobacco use, and harm from tobacco

  NIH · $1.5M · 2018–2022

• Evaluation of Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarettes in Adolescent Smokers

  NIH · $897k · 2014–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Jennifer W. Tidey

  Brown University

  154 shared

• Suzanne M. Colby

  Providence College

  102 shared

• Rachel Denlinger-Apte

  Wake Forest University

  40 shared

• Eric C. Donny

  Wake Forest University

  36 shared

• Dorothy K. Hatsukami

  33 shared

• Patricia A. Cioe

  25 shared

• Teresa DeAtley

  University of Pennsylvania

  24 shared

• Joseph S. Koopmeiners

  University of Minnesota

  17 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology

  University of Florida

Similar researchers at Brown University

• Peter Montih-106
• Kate Careyh-100
• Christopher Kahlerh-96