Childhood adversity and substance use: Integrating laboratory and ecological approaches to understand the role of affect - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
By 12th grade, over 50% of adolescents in the United States endorse lifetime substance use. Childhood
adversity is a prevalent and robust risk factor for adolescent substance use. Approximately 54% of adolescents
report adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), making them over 1.5 times more likely to use substances. Yet,
many adolescents with ACEs deny substance use engagement, implying the existence of modifiable risk
factors. Using an integrative model of ecological and laboratory approaches, the proposed study examines the
role of affect in the link between ACEs and adolescent substance use. Candidate: The candidate is a clinical
child psychologist with a long-standing commitment to studying risk and resilience associated with early life
stress. Her prior research has focused on elucidating mechanisms that contribute to substance use in
emerging adults with ACEs. She is applying for a five-year K08 Career Development Award to expand her
expertise and support her training, mentorship, and research in adolescent substance use. Training: The
proposed training plan includes formal workshops, seminars, conferences, directed readings, and mentored
experiences that will advance her trajectory toward research independence by fostering new expertise in: (1)
highly rigorous and cutting edge laboratory-based physiological techniques, including eye tracking, pupil
dilation, galvanic skin response, and heart rate measurement, (2) the collection, management, and analysis of
ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data, (3) advanced analytical approaches to integrate multimethod
research designs, (4) the design and implementation of adolescent substance use research, and (5) enhanced
professional development. The candidate is institutionally supported by The Miriam Hospital and The Warren
Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Mentoring: Five well-established researchers serve as mentors on
this proposal. Each mentor offers complementary expertise consistent with the study’s aims and training
objectives, including advanced data analytic techniques, EMA, childhood traumatic stress, laboratory-based
bio-behavioral assessment, and adolescent substance use research. Research: The proposed study will
recruit adolescent participants (N=100, ages 13-18) from an active longitudinal study (R01HD104187). Using
EMA, eye tracking, behavioral task performance, and traditional self-report data, the aims of the proposal are
to: examine the indirect effects of ACEs on substance use via affect balance (Aim 1), tolerance of affective
distress (Aim 2), and attention/reactivity to affective stimuli (Aim 3).
