Drug Involvement in Context: Quantitative Perspectives

描述(由申请人提供)： 这项关于指导研究科学家奖的提议旨在为候选人提供行为、环境和神经生物学机制方面的培训，这些机制是向药物使用和依赖过渡的基础。拟议的职业发展计划将增加对药物参与的几个生物行为研究分支的概念、原则和方法的新掌握。长期目标是将候选人确立为一名独立的研究员，他将开发和定制新的生物统计学方法，导致对从药物参与的最早阶段到依赖的转变有新的理解，将这些转变与其他先前或同时发生的生活环境、社会环境和生物行为脆弱性特征联系起来。 在求职者的职业发展过程中，会有几位技能相辅相成的导师为她提供建议。主要赞助人詹姆斯·安东尼博士将为候选人在药物使用流行病学领域的培训提供建议。共同发起人迈克尔·纳德博士和顾问凯瑟琳·格兰特博士将为候选人在神经生物学和药物滥用生物行为研究领域的培训提供建议。共同赞助人马克·沃尔夫森博士和顾问尼古拉斯·伊隆戈博士将分别为候选人在社区和课堂干预领域的培训提供建议。David Altman博士将在药物滥用政策方面提供帮助。肯·道奇博士和罗伯特·杜兰特博士将就毒品使用中的攻击性和暴力行为提供帮助。 候选人的研究计划将侧重于解决与年轻人从早期接触机会过渡到后来吸毒的过程相关的知识空白。与候选人以前的方法论工作一致，重点将放在应用和开发与作为潜在和其他不可测量条件的指标的行为曲目研究有关的方法上。候选人将使用可用的数据来解决研究问题，这些问题将作为一个独立研究计划的基础，该计划将检查药物行为的演变及其与个人和背景因素的联系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal for a Mentored Research Scientist Award is designed to provide the candidate with training in the behavioral, environmental and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the transitions to drug use and dependence. The proposed career development plan will add new masteries of concepts, principles and methods from several branches of biobehavioral research on drug involvement. The long term goal is to establish the candidate as an independent investigator who will develop and tailor new biostatistical methods that lead to new understandings of transitions from the earliest stages of drug involvement onward to dependence, placing these transitions into context with other antecedent or co-occurring life circumstances, social contexts, and biobehavioral vulnerability traits. Several mentors with complimentary skills will advise the candidate during her career development. Primary sponsor Dr. James Anthony will advise the candidate's training in the area of drug use epidemiology. Cosponsor Dr. Michael Nader and consultant Dr. Kathleen Grant will advise the candidate's training in the area of neurobiology and biobehavioral research on drug abuse. Co-sponsor Dr. Mark Wolfson and consultant Dr. Nikolas Ialongo will advise the candidate's training in the area of community and classroom interventions, respectively. Dr. David Altman will provide assistance on drug abuse policy. Drs. Ken Dodge and Robert DuRant will provide assistance on aggressive and violent behaviors in the context of drug use. The candidate's research plan will focus on addressing gaps in knowledge related to the process by which youths make transitions from early exposure opportunities to later drug use. Consistent with the candidate's prior methodological work, the focus will be on the application and development of methods related to the study of behavior repertoires that are indicators of underlying and otherwise unmeasureable conditions. The candidate will use available data to address research questions that will serve as groundwork for an independent research program that will examine the evolution of drug behaviors and their links with both individual and contextual factors.