Research Project
10440596
Abstract This application is being submitted in response to NOT-DA-21-044, Administrative Supplements to Support Research on Health Equity in NIDA-Funded Grant Awards. We are requesting a supplement to R01 DA044184 (N. Ialongo, PI), which is currently in Year 4 and is supporting a long-term follow-up study of former participants in a randomized, universal, elementary school-based preventive intervention trial that was originally fielded in the fall of 1993. Racism is a driving force of inequities in substance use experienced by Black individuals. However, critical gaps constrain our understanding of racism?s effects on substance use. Of concern, most prior research linking racism with substance use risks and with substance use has focused on interpersonal racism (i.e., racial discrimination) to the relative neglect of other types of racism. In addition, much prior research has focused on risks, with less attention to the strengths, resources, and resilience of Black individuals. Thus, we know little about how different types of racism are linked with substance use risk and behaviors, for whom these links are the strongest, and processes that support positive adjustment in the context of racism exposures. Consistent with the areas for research identified in NOT-DA-21-044, in particular, research to discover new individual-level or systemic resilience or risk factors that contribute to equity or inequity, we propose to address these gaps via research that will integrate multiple levels of racism experience (i.e., institutional, interpersonal, internalized) to understand the links between racism and substance use (Aim 1); and to explore how individual, social and culturally-specific resources protect against racism effects on substance use (Aim 2). More specifically, we will add measures of internalized and institutional racism, and individual, social, and cultural resources relevant for substance use to the parent RO1 which features a community epidemiologically-defined sample of African American participants followed from age 6 through age 34. These additional measures will provide novel information regarding intra- and interpersonal factors that underpin resilience and mitigate the negative effects of systemic racism on substance use amongst African American adults. An enhanced understanding of individual, social, and cultural resources relevant to substance use and protective against racism could identify malleable targets needed to inform the development of culturally relevant preventive interventions, increase engagement and retention in programs, and thereby help reduce inequities in substance use.
