Antecedents and Consequences of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems in Underrepresented Youth

项目总结/文摘

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This urgent competitive revision application in response to NIMHD’s COVID-19-related NOSI (NOT-MD-20-019) proposes supplemental data collection within our ongoing longitudinal study focused on teen vaping/e-cigarette use entitled Antecedents and Consequences of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) among Underrepresented Youth (the ACE project, U54MD012393 [subproject-5378], project period: 09/20/17 – 06/30/22). The ACE project’s primary goals are to delineate risk and protective factors linked with ENDS use initiation, escalation, and the potential shift to other drugs (e.g., cannabis) in the context of the developing brain with a focus on Hispanic youth. The overall objective of the proposed work is to leverage the ACE project’s research infrastructure to identify COVID-19 experiences that influence individual, social, and neurobiological risk/protective factors for substance use (SU), mental health (MH), and neurobiological outcomes among participants from a NIH-designated health disparity population. Evidence indicates that disasters, including health-related ones, affect SU and MH outcomes among youth and adults, and that post-disaster outcomes are dependent on a combination of risk and protective factors related to the disaster experience, preexisting individual characteristics, social influences, and underlying neurobiology. Research elucidating such risk and protective factors is important for identifying modifiable intervention targets to mitigate adverse outcomes, but such insight is contingent on having access to pre-disaster participant characterization. Through the ACE project we hold pre-pandemic data collected from adolescents and their caregivers (N=264, age: 13-17 years, 85% Hispanic) characterizing personality traits, social contexts, and fMRI measures (in a subset of n=165). The ACE project will also assess these measures at a post-pandemic time point. The current work will supplement the ACE project’s pre/post-pandemic longitudinal dataset with a series of interim online assessments providing detailed characterization of COVID-19 experiences, as well as SU and MH trajectories. The differentiating aspects of this proposed work include: the ability to leverage a pre/post-pandemic longitudinal dataset being collected, our emphasis on vaping, ENDS, and cannabis use (relevant to COVID-19 issues such as transmission and pulmonary consequences), a theoretically-informed focus on specific neurobiological mechanisms (striatum, amygdala, insula), our participant cohort (predominately Hispanic/Latinx, with appreciable pre-pandemic levels of lifetime SU), and our previous disaster-related research in the context of an ongoing longitudinal study. This project will provide insight into COVID-19 manifestations on health outcomes related to SU and MH, as well as insight into behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms that may confer resilience/vulnerability to such changes. We focus on individuals from lower income and minority households where COVID-19-related financial, work, school, and health worries are likely elevated. By leveraging existing data and infrastructure, we can compile a rich COVID-19-related dataset with a modest budget and low burden to families.