Fitxa persona

María Teresa Cortés Tomás joined the University of Valencia in 1992 with a research fellowship in the Department of Basic Psychology, where she has developed her entire academic and research career. She obtained her PhD from the University of Valencia in 1996 and has served as an Associate Professor since 2001.

In the field of research, she leads the group APPrAd: Psychosocial Aspects of the Addictive Process (GIUV 2021-504). The group has more than fifteen years of research experience devoted to studying the addictive phenomenon, with the aim of deepening its understanding, improving its assessment and detection, and developing effective prevention and intervention strategies. Its work began with the psychosocial analysis of botellón (collective drinking gatherings), which led to a specific research line focused on Binge Drinking. Since then, the group has contributed to the conceptual clarification of this pattern, the development of assessment instruments, and the study of its psychosocial determinants—such as personality, motives for consumption, coping behaviors, social context, family background, and polydrug use—incorporating a gender perspective. It has also designed tools to assess the psychosocial consequences of consumption and guide intervention according to severity.

The group has likewise developed and evaluated preventive programs addressing alcohol, vaping/tobacco, and cannabis use among young people, in collaboration with various public and private institutions. In recent years, it has incorporated a new research line on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), in response to the increase in alcohol consumption among women.

Throughout her career, she has served as principal investigator in numerous national (including those funded by the National Plan on Drugs) and regional projects, as well as in agreements and contracts with various public and private organizations. These projects have fostered knowledge transfer, through the development of applied products and resources, and the publication of findings in high-impact scientific journals. She is also the Executive Editor of the journal Adicciones, indexed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and Vice President of the Spanish Scientific Society for the Study of Alcohol and Alcoholism (Socidrogalcohol).

In the field of university management, she served as Vice Dean for Internships at the Faculty of Psychology from 2007 to 2021.