Mark van der Maas

Mark  van der Maas  is an assistant professor at School of Social Work. He received his Masters and PhD in Sociology from the University of Toronto in 2009 and 2015 respectively. His dissertation focused on demonstrating that the relationships between problem gambling and common mental health correlates were in part dependent on the social and financial resources that respondents possessed.

Dr. van der Maas also held a postdoctoral fellowship from 2015-2019 at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research in Toronto.  His postdoctoral research focused on how trends in gambling provision expose marginalized or vulnerable populations to increased risk of harm as a result of gambling.  This research has included studies of generational differences in gambling behaviors and attitudes among older adult cohorts, the development of a province-wide online environment for treating problem gambling, and a demonstration of an association between an increased risk of problem gambling and promotional tactics of gambling vendors. 

In addition to his interests in gambling, he is also interested in topics related to the medicalization of deviant behaviours, alcohol and cannabis use, the stigmatization of mental health and substance use problems, and problem mobile device use. 

HBSE II

HBSE: ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS