Kinesiology and Health Education

Jessica Duncan Cance, M.P.H., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Cance received her Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Health Education from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Master's in Public Health in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She also received a predoctoral Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) fellowship from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Cance was a public health researcher at RTI International in North Carolina. Dr. Cance's interests are in adolescent health promotion. Specifically, she conducts research focused on how the longitudinal interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors impacts adolescent and young adult health risk behaviors such as substance use and aggression. She currently has funding from NIDA to examine the patterns of cigarette smoking and alcohol use throughout emerging adulthood. Another line of research is understanding how pubertal development influences adolescent health and well-being.

2010: Ph.D. Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Health Behavior and Health Education.

Cance, J. D., & Ennett, S. T. (2012). Demographic differences in self-report pubertal status among rural adolescents in the USA. Annals of Human Biology, 39, 84-87. DOI: 10.3109/03014460.2011.632647

Cance, J. D., Ennett, S. T., Morgan-Lopez, A., & Foshee, V. A. (2012). The stability of perceived pubertal timing across adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41, 764-775. DOI: 10.1007/s10964-011-9720-0

Fisher, H., Eke, A. N., Cance, J. D., Hawkins, S. R., Lam, W. K. K. (2008). Correlates of HIV risk behaviors in at-risk African American adolescents from substance-using families: Patterns of adolescent-level factors associated with sexual experience and substance use, Journal of Adolescent Health, 42, 161-169.

Lam, W.K.K., Cance, J. D., Williams, J. C., Hawkins, S. R., & Eke, A. N. (2007). Children of African-American mothers who use crack cocaine: Family influences on youth substance use, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32, 877-887.

Cance, J. D., Ashley, O. S., & Penne, M. A. (2005). Unhealthy weight control behaviors and Ecstasy use among females aged 12 to 17, Journal of Adolescent Health, 34, 409.e19--409.e25.

NIH/NIDA R03 DA033413, 07/2012 – 07/2013

Examining the relations of cigarette and alcohol use across emerging adulthood The purpose is to develop a better understanding of the individual co-occurring patterns of cigarette smoking and alcohol use throughout emerging adulthood. Growth mixture modeling and latent transition analysis will be conducted using existing data from a 6-year sample. Role: PI

Adolescent risk behavior etiology and prevention - specifically, exploring how the longitudinal interactions between biological, psychological and social factors affect adolescent substance use, sexual risk taking and aggression.

• American Public Health Association
• Society for Research in Child Development
• Society for Prevention Research
• Society for Research on Adolescence