Project Summary
Black college students who attend Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) in the United States (US) are
disproportionately exposed to both explicit and subtle racial discrimination, which is associated with substance
use, misuse, and substance use-related consequences. However, much of the existing research on racial
discrimination and substance use in Black college students has focused on alcohol, using retrospective self-
report and cross-sectional surveys. The lack of in vivo prospective data prevents us from understanding how
Black college students’ substance use behaviors fluctuate in near real-time subsequent to racial discrimination
experienced in near real-time. Examining racial discrimination and substance use at the momentary level is
especially important for Black college students at PWIs who report facing unique race-related stressors
compounded by stressors generally associated with the college environment (e.g., increased responsibilities,
academic pressures) that are also known risk factors for substance use. In addition, US colleges are
witnessing national increases in nicotine, marijuana, and other drug use. Therefore, examining racial
discrimination as a risk factor for the use of multiple substances warrants greater empirical attention. The
proposed study aims to fill these knowledge gaps by leveraging ecological momentary assessment, a repeated
collection of real-time data, and advanced statistical analyses (e.g., multilevel modeling) to investigate how
racial discrimination “gets under the skin” to increase Black college students’ substance use risk. Aim 1
addresses concurrent and lagged effects at the between-person and within-person levels: (1) Do Black college
students who report higher experiences of racial discrimination on average (i.e., across time) report higher
levels of substance use (between-person effects)? (2) Do Black college students report substance use more
on days when they report more racial discrimination than usual (i.e., higher than their personal mean) (within-
person effects)? In response to national priorities that call for empirical investigations of mechanisms linking
racism to substance use and misuse in marginalized groups, this study draws on the Psychological Mediation
Framework to generate knowledge about the indirect effect of racial discrimination on substance use through
affective, social, and cognitive processes (Aim 2). This study represents an unprecedented opportunity to
collect repeated real-time data on racial discrimination, substance use (alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, other
drugs), and substance use patterns (e.g., types of use, quantity of use, co-use) among a subgroup of Black
Americans in a developmental period known to be associated with high-risk substance use. In line with NIDA’s
Racial Equity Initiative and 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, findings from this study will help identify specific
mechanisms as intervention targets to address substance use disparities related to racism in the US.
