I joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Limerick as a Lecturer in September 2013, following my training at NUI Galway, and a year applying my research skills to several policy-relevant projects at the Educational Research Centre in Drumcondra. At UL, I am a member of the Centre for Social Issues Research cluster and director of the SASHLab research group (sashlab.com), involved in several strands of research in relationships, stress and health. For example, one strand explores the importance of social support for quality of life in individuals with chronic illness. I currently supervise four PhD students conducting research on loneliness, attachment, emotion regulation, and families affected by imprisonment.  I am a member of the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in Social Sciences (BITSS) Catalyst network, committed to advancing the practice and teaching of transparent social science research.

Publications

Brown, E.G., Gallagher, S., & Creaven, A-M.  (2017). Loneliness and acute stress reactivity: A systematic review of psychophysiological studies. Psychophysiology. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13031. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/psyp.13031

Msetfi, R.M., Jay, S., O’Donnell, A-M., Kearns, M., Kinsella, E.L., McMahon, J., Muldoon, O.T., Naughton, C., & Creaven, A-M. (2017). Restricted reproductive rights and risky sexual behaviour: How political disenfranchisement relates to women’s sense of control, well-being and sexual health. Journal of Health Psychology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1359105317736784

Creaven, A-M., Healy, A., & Howard, S. Social connectedness and depression: Is there added value in volunteering? (2017). Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407517716786

Howard, S., Creaven, A-M., Hughes, B.M., O’Leary, E.D., & James, J.E. (2017). Perceived social support predicts lower cardiovascular reactivity to stress in older adults. Biological Psychology, 125, 70-75. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.02.006. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28237417

Brown, E.G., & Creaven, A.-M. (2017). Performance feedback, self-esteem and cardiovascular adaption to recurring stressors. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 30(3), 290-303. DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2016.1269324. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10615806.2016.1269324