Nina C. Christie
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About Nina
Christie's research focuses on the interplay between social connection and substance use through the lens of harm reduction. She aims for her research to directly influence drug policies and improve overall health and wellbeing among people who use drugs. Overarching themes in Christie's writings include leveraging social connection to positively influence recovery outcomes, understanding the link between opioid use and internal feelings of social connection, and how to use science to improve policy at the local, state, and federal level. Christie is a regular volunteer at the New Mexico Harm Reduction Collaborative, and is the New Mexico state lead for Stand Up For Science.
Contributions
In the News
Publications
Analyzes how United States opinion news media portrays harm reduction in the context of opioid use. Finds that most articles present pro-harm reduction discourse, but often use stigmatizing language.
Provides institutes of higher education with the evidence-based information they need to make better policy and program choices to protect the health and well-being of students.
Explores how different types of victimization experiences, along with sex and cognitive factors, affect substance use treatment outcomes in adolescents. Finds that adolescents who experienced poly-victimization and trauma showed higher motivation for treatment, but lower self-efficacy and worse posttreatment outcomes.
Discusses the development of Pregaming Awareness in College Environments (PACE), a mobile-based intervention designed to prevent heavy drinking during pregaming for college students. Outlines a planned randomized controlled trial to test the app’s effectiveness in reducing pregaming, overall drinking, and related consequences over several follow-up periods.
Investigates factors that influence relapse into opioid and/or psychostimulant use among adolescents and young adults after substance use disorder treatment. Finds that both individual factors (like age, tobacco use, mental health, and criminal justice involvement) and environmental factors (such as neighborhood poverty, homicide rates, and region) significantly predict relapse risk.
Explores how satisfaction with social life, romantic life, and general life changes during and after substance use. Finds that those who used prescription opioids experienced the greatest drop in satisfaction across life domains during their substance use. However, in recovery, individuals–regardless of their drug of choice–reported similar levels of life satisfaction as those with no history of problematic substance use.
Explores individual factors for each sex that are most strongly associated with opioid use following treatment. Finds that women are more likely to relapse due to withdrawal symptoms, substance use problems, and younger age, while men are more at risk due to younger age, conduct disorder, and multiple substance use disorders.
Explores the connection between social isolation and opioid use disorder (OUD), proposing that the brain's endogenous opioid system may explain the strong link between the two.
Evaluates the impact of social distancing measures during the early period of COVID-19 on substance use behaviors among those in the United States. Provides evidence that social distancing guidelines have impacted both substance use behaviors and feelings of social and physical connection.
Examines how moral beliefs influence public attitudes toward needle exchange programs. Finds that opposition to these programs is most strongly linked to concerns about Purity, while support is associated with Care.