Jennifer O’Brien, PhD, LCSW

Affiliation: University of New Hampshire

Jennifer O'Brien is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work and affiliated with the Crimes against Children Research Center (CCRC) at the University of New Hampshire. Her areas of research include the commercialized sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and Internet victimization. Dr. O’Brien received her PhD in Social Work in 2017 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her MSW from Smith College School of Social Work in 2010. A licensed clinician, Dr. O’Brien’s research interests stem from her practice experiences both domestically and abroad with survivors of sexual abuse and trauma. Currently, Dr. O’Brien is working on several projects including: the role of technology in the lives of youth who trade sex, law enforcement’s response to victims (and survivors) of CSEC, CSEC survivor’s treatment needs and preferences, and evaluations of CSEC prevention programming. Her work is published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences world-wide.

Research Interests:

• Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)

• Technology-facilitated exploitation/Internet Victimization

• CSEC Prevention Program Evaluation

• Polyvictimization

• Victim Identification

• Community-Based Participatory Research

• Mixed Methods