Lucia O'Sullivan

Research

Dr. O’Sullivan’s research addresses the interface of sexuality and intimate relationships, including the impact of new digital technologies on close relationships, with a primary focus on adolescents and young adults. Another line of research focuses on barriers and facilitators to access sexual health care and services.

Her research program frequently incorporates international studies and collaborations (e.g., South Africa, the UK, Guatemala, India and the US). She has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles and chapters, co-edited a book on sexual coercion in dating relationships and serves on a wide range of research journal editorial boards.

Education

• B.A. (Hons.) University of New Brunswick
• M.A. (Clinical Psychology) University of New Brunswick
• Ph.D. (Experimental Psychology) Bowling Green State University
• Postdoctoral Research Training (HIV) Columbia University

Selected publications

Belu, C. F., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2018). Why find my own when I can take yours?: The quality of relationships that arise from successful mate poaching. Journal of Relationship Research, 9, e6, 1-10.

Cormier, L. A., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2018). Anti-climactic: Investigating how adolescents perceive and deal with orgasm difficulty. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 27, 111-122.

Fifield, J., O’Sullivan, L., Kelvin, E. A., Mantell, J. E., Exner, T., Ramjee, G., Blanchard, K., & Hoffman, S. (2018). Social support and violence-prone relationships as predictors of disclosure of HIV status among newly diagnosed HIV-positive South Africans. AIDS and Behavior, 22, 3287-3295.

Lee, B. H., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2018). Ain’t misbehavin?: Monogamy maintenance strategies in heterosexual romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 25, 205-232.

Manzer, D., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Doucet, S. (2018). Myths, misunderstandings, and missing information: Experiences of nurse practitioners in delivery primary care to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 27, 157-170.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Byers, E. S., & Mitra, K. (2018). Sexual and reproductive health education attitudes and experience in India: How much support is there for comprehensive sex education? Findings from an Internet Survey. Sex Education, 19, 145-161.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Wuest, J., & Byers, E. S. (2018). Figuring it out: How late adolescent and young adult men and women perceive and address problems in sexual functioning. Journal of Sex Research, 56, 327-336.

Vogels, E. A., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2018). Porn, peers, and performing oral sex: The mediating role of peer norms on pornography’s influence regarding oral sex. Media Psychology, 21, 669-699.

Belu, C. F., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2019). Roving eyes: Predictors of crushes in ongoing romantic relationships and implications for relationship quality. Journal of Relationship Research, 10, e2.

Byers, E. S., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Hughes, K. (2019). Sexual functioning of late adolescents and young adults in relationships: Association with individual characteristics and relationship factors. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 36(2-3), 178-197.

Foshay, J. E., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2019). Coping and unwanted pursuit behaviors following break-ups in young adulthood. Journal of Relationships Research, 10, e3.

Hoffman, S., Cheng-Shiun, L., Ramjee, G., Blanchard, K., Gandhi, A. D., O’Sullivan, L., Kelvin, E. A., Exner, T. M., Mantell, J. E., & Lince-Deroche, N. (2019). Linkage to care following an HIV diagnosis in three public sector clinics in eThekwini (Durban), South Africa: Findings from a prospective cohort study. AIDS and Behavior, 24, 1181-1196.

Lee, B. H., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2019). Walk the line: How successful are efforts to maintain monogamy in intimate relationships? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48, 1735-1748.

Manzer, D., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Doucet, S. (2019). Culturally competent care of LGBT patients: The NP experience. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Education and Research, 4, 55-70.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Hughes, K., Talbot, F., & Fuller, R. (2019). Plenty of fish in the ocean: How do traits reflecting resiliency moderate adjustment after experiencing a romantic breakup in emerging adulthood? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48, 949-962.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Majerovich, J. A., & Milliken, M. (2019). A national survey of the provision of sexual health clinical services by public health in Canada. International Journal of Sexual Health, 31, 17-25.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Majerovich, J., & Wuest, J. (2019). From promoting healthy sexual functioning to managing biomedical sexual dysfunction: Health professional views of youth sexual health. SAGE Open Nursing, 5, 1-11.

Sprecher, S., O’Sullivan, L. F., Drouin, M., Verette Lindenbaum, J., & Willetts, M. (2019). The significance of sexual debut in women’s lives. Current Sexual Health Reports, 11, 265-273.

Vogels, E. A., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2019). The relationship among online sexually explicit material exposure to, desire for, and participation in rough sex. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48, 653-655.

Belu, C. F., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2019). Once a poacher always a poacher? Mate poaching history and its association with relationship quality. Journal of Sex Research, 57, 508-521.

Byers, E. S., O’Sullivan, L. F., Mitra, K., & Sears, H. (2020). Parent-adolescent sexual communication in India: Responses of middle-class parents. Journal of Family Issues, 42, 762-784.

Foshay, J. E., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2020). Home-based sex communication, school coverage of sex, and problems in sexual functioning among adolescents. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 29, 25-31.

Richard, M. E., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2020). Sexual harassment of massage therapists by their clients. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 29, 205-211.

Wasson, K. S. J., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Thompson, A. E. (2020). First, best, forbidden and worst: Memorable experiences of intimate kisses. Journal of Relationships Research, 11, e11.

Sprecher, S., O’Sullivan, L. F., Verette Lindenbaum, J., Drouin, M., & Willetts, M. (2021). Perhaps it was too soon: College students’ reflections on the timing of their sexual debut. Journal of Sex Research.

Sy, K. T. L., Shema, T., Ramjee, G., Blanchard, K., Leu, C., Kelvin, E. A., Exner, T. M., Gandhi, A. D., Lince-Deroche, N., Mantell, J. E., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Hoffman, S. (2021). Predictors of antiretroviral therapy initiation in eThekwini (Durban), South Africa: Findings from a prospective cohort study. PLoS One, 16(2), e0246744.

Mitchell, K., Lewis, R., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2021). What is sexual wellbeing, and why does it matter for Public Health? A paradigm shift for public health inquiry and intervention in sexuality. The Lancet Public Health, 6, e608-613.

Muise, M., Belu, C. F., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2021). Unspoken, yet understood: Exploring how couples communicate their monogamy agreements. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 30(2), 196-204.

Cormier, L. A., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2021). Satisfying curiosities through “sextech”: Who is accessing non-traditional sexual education? Computers and Human Behavior, 124.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Byers, E. S., & Dawson, S. (2021). Individual and relationship predictors of trajectories of sexual function across adolescent and young adult relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 59(1), 53-68.

Girouard, A., Dion, J., Bӧthe, B., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Bergeron, S. (2021). Bullying and sexual wellbeing in adolescence: The mediating role of emotion regulation. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(11), 2136-2150.

Hensel, D. J., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2022). What makes them last? Predicting time to relationship dissolution in adolescent women’s intimate relationships with male partners. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(2), 393-412.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Belu, C. F., & Garcia, J. R. (2022). Loving you from afar: Attraction to others (“crushes”) among adults in exclusive relationships, communication, perceived outcomes, and expectations of future intimate involvement. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(2), 413-434.

Ronis, S. T., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Cormier, L. A. (2022). Vulnerability and variability: Associations between various early forms of nonconsensual sexual experiences and later sexual experiences of young adults. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 31(1), 8-17.

Hensel, D. J., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (2022). Sexual concurrency among adolescent women with multiple partners: A daily diary study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 71(1), 70-77.

O’Sullivan, L. F., Belu, C. F., Richard, M. E., & Fuller, R. B. (in press). Did you help? Intervening on behalf of a target during incidents of sexual assault among college student bystanders. Journal of College Student Development.

Bockaj, A., & O’Sullivan, L. F. (in press). Romanticizing the stolen kiss: Men’s and women’s reports of nonconsensual kisses and perceptions of impact on the targets of those kisses. Journal of Sex Research.

Byers, E. S., Olthuis, J. V., O’Sullivan, L. F., & Connell, E. M. (in press). Anxiety sensitivity in the sexual context: Links between sexual anxiety sensitivity and sexual well-being. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.

Teaching

• Undergraduate courses: Close Relationships (PSYC3453) Personality Psychology (PSYC 3053), Foundations of Social Psychology (PSYC 2403), Human Sexuality (PSYC 3043), Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1000)

• Graduate courses: Social Psychology (PSYC 6062); Experimental Psychology Practicum (PSYC 6641)

Professional awards

• 2018-2023 Research Fellow, Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
• 2020-2022 University Research Scholar
• 2020 Fellow, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
• 2017 Faculty of Arts Teaching Award
• 2016 UNB Research Merit Award
• 2015 Fellow, Canadian Psychological Association
• 2009 Allan P. Stuart Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of New Brunswick
• 2006-2016 Canada Research Chair in Adolescents’ Sexual Health Behaviours, Tier II
• 2003 Outstanding Teaching Award, Department of Human Development (Columbia University, New York)
• 2002 Recognition of Excellence in Teaching, Department of Human Development, (Columbia University, New York)
• 1999-2004 Research Scientist Development Award (National Institute of Mental Health)
• 1998 Young Researcher Award, Society for Sex Therapy and Research
• 1996-1998 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Social Science Research Council, Sexuality Research Fellowship (Ford Foundation)
• 1995-1996 Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Research Science Award – Behavioral Sciences Research Training in HIV Infection (Columbia University, New York)