Zach Walsh
Dr. Walsh is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan and Core Faculty of the Centre for the Study of Psychology and Law. Dr. Walsh completed his undergraduate training at the University of Winnipeg, and received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Rosalind Franklin University/ Chicago Medical School. Dr. Walsh completed a clinical internship and a research fellowship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Dr. Walsh’s research investigates the ways in which personality, addictions and social factors influence risk for violent and antisocial behaviour. His primary line of research investigates how personality disorders (i.e. psychopathy), substance use, and sociodemographic factors (i.e. socioeconomic status and neighbourhood factors) combine to predict violence. Dr. Walsh is particularly interested in how such research might ultimately serve to improve interventions to reduce violent behaviour.
Dr. Walsh’s research has been supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, American Psychology and Law Society, American Association of Forensic Psychology and the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Walsh will consider applications from students interested in pursuing research in the following areas:
1) Personality disorders and violence. Dr. Walsh’s research in this area has focused primarily on moderators of the relationship between psychopathy and violence, and on interrelationships among subcomponents of the psychopathic personality and specific classes of violent behaviour. Related areas of research interest include the examination of associations between violence and borderline personality disorder as well as broader investigations of violence and normal personality (i.e. the big five). The ultimate goal of this area of research is to increase the specificity of our understanding of the relationship between personality and violence.
2) Intimate partner violence. Dr. Walsh is engaged in ongoing explorations of relationships between personality disorders, substance use and intimate partner (domestic) violence. Within this line of research Dr. Walsh is particularly interested in how brief motivational interventions for alcohol and drug use may reduce domestic violence and in how personality disorders impact the outcomes of such interventions. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop tailored treatments to reduce partner violence among high-risk personality disordered and substance using populations.
3) Substance use and misuse. Dr. Walsh is expanding a line of research that explores of how normal and abnormal personality influence substance use with an emphasis on examining risk and protective factors for various substance use-related outcomes. The ultimate goal of this research is to increase understanding of factors that lead to problematic substance use.
How to Get Involved
Dr. Walsh will be accepting graduate students for 2010/11. Opportunities also exist for directed studies, honours projects, and volunteering. If you are interested in getting involved with any of the above projects, or would like to speak with Dr. Walsh about upcoming projects in the lab, please contact him at zachary.walsh@ubc.ca .
Representative Publications
Swogger, M.T., Walsh, Z., Houston, R.J., Cashman-Brown, S., & Conner, K.R. (in press). Psychopathy and Axis I psychiatric disorders among criminal offenders: Relationships to impulsive and proactive aggression. Aggressive Behavior.
Walsh, Z., Swogger, M.T., & Kosson, D.S. (2009). Psychopathy and instrumental violence: Facet level relationships. Journal of Personality Disorders, 23, 416-424.
Stuart, G.L., O’Farrell, T.J., Leonard, K., Moore, T.M., Temple, J.R., Ramsey, S.E., Stout, R., Kahler, C., Bucossi, M., Andersen, S., Recupero, P., Walsh, Z., Chatav Schonbrun, Y., Strong, D., Rothman, E., Rhatigan, D., & Monti, P. (2009). Examining the interface between substance misuse and intimate partner violence. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 3, 25-29.
Swogger, M.T., Walsh, Z., & Kosson, D.S. (2008). Psychopathy subtypes among African American county jail inmates. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 1484-1499.
Walsh, Z., & Kosson, D.S. (2008). Psychopathy and violence: The importance of factor level interactions. Psychological Assessment, 20, 114-120.
Walsh, Z., Epstein, A.M., Munisamy, G., & King, A.C. (2008). The impact of depressive symptoms on the efficacy of naltrexone in smoking cessation. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 27, 65-72.
Swogger, M.T., Walsh, Z., & Kosson, D.S. (2007) Domestic violence and psychopathic traits: Distinguishing the antisocial batterer from other antisocial offenders. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 253-260.
Walsh, Z., Allen, L.C., & Kosson, D.S. (2007) Beyond social deviance: Substance-specific relationships with PCL-R facets. Journal of Personality Disorders, 21, 273-288.
Walsh, Z., Swogger, M.T., Walsh, T., & Kosson, D.S. (2007). Psychopathy and violence: Increasing specificity. Netherlands Journal of Psychology, 63, 136-143.
Walsh, Z., & Kosson, D.S. (2007) Psychopathy and violence: A prospective study of the influence of socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Law and Human Behavior, 31, 209 –229.
Walsh, Z., & Walsh, T. (2006) The evidentiary introduction of PCL-R assessed psychopathy in U.S. courts: Extent and appropriateness. Law and Human Behavior, 30, 493-507.
Walsh, Z., Swogger, M.T., & Kosson, D.S. (2004) Psychopathy, IQ and violence in European American and African American county jail inmates. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 1165-1169.
Walsh, Z., & Stuart, G.L. (2009). Experimental substance use. In G.L. Fisher & N.A. Roget (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery (pp. 389-391). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Walsh, T., Walsh, Z., & Stuart, G.L. (2009). Decriminalization. In G.L. Fisher & N.A. Roget (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery (pp. 263-266). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Walsh, T., Walsh, Z., & Stuart, G.L. (2009). History of drug use laws. In G.L. Fisher & N.A. Roget (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery (pp. 327-330). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Last reviewed 
3/30/2010 5:22:38 PM
