Drug Abuse Among Community Samples

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We were pleased to know that the reviewers identified many positive aspects of the Community Project and found it to be "excellent" overall. Further, the project was found to be "highly significant and addresses key developmental, psychosocial, and environmental issues in drug .use at the community level." Our plan is to utilize highly relevant datasets that can address major research priorities for NIDA, so that we can further our understanding of important drug- and health-related problems. We look forward to continuing our existing collaborative relationships, developing new ones, and exploring publicly-available datasets. One example of the fluid nature of our collaborative relationships is that since the first submission, we have re-established our continuing collaboration with the Seattle Social Development Research Group. Further, there are a number of additional collaborators (e.g., Latimer, Pandina) with whom this project plans to work. Finally, we want to again emphasize that we welcome NIDA's input during the next years on possible collaborators and data bases to pursue. The reviewers identified a few areas that could be strengthened in our application, and we have integrated the feedback provided in the resubmission. Overall, the application has been strengthened and improved as a result. The main critiques related to an omission of some literature, the lack of specific detailed plans for future analysis, and several lesser issues. One concern that was highlighted across the different projects had to do with data security. Our detailed data security plans are presented in the revised Core, and Section E below also provides expanded data management information. All changes are presented in Georgia italic type throughout the document. In addition to the specific concerns noted by the reviewers which are addressed below and integrated within this revised application, there are several other modifications. ¿ The D-section has been re-ordered so that the description of the collaborators now precedes the exemplar studies. This allows the reader to be informed of the collaborations before the specific studies are described. ¿ In addition to expanding the literature review consistent with the reviewers' comments, the B-section has been modified to become more integrated with the Specific Aims. Critique 1: Michael Newcomb's health and project staff: At the time of the first submission, we reported that Newcomb had been experiencing serious medical problems. While he is still being treated and has had recent surgeries, he has significantly improved in the last few months. We are quite optimistic about his return to the project and his input has been included in this resubmission. It should be noted, though, that due to severe budget cuts, his time commitment to the project is not large. Further, reviewers identified that Elisha Galaif's biosketch was missing; it is now included. In press and under review articles: Articles that are in-press are now included. Further, due to numerous weaknesses and budget cuts, the "Latino Project" has been dropped from this resubmission. Consequently, manuscripts previously listed under that subproject that include community samples and represent products of the Center as a whole are now attributed to the Community subproject. The number of published articles listed is 37, plus 16 completed dissertations, 2 inpress articles, and 11 papers under editorial review. While the submitted articles have been completed with our collaborators and are under editorial review, as per PHS 398 instructions, these are not included in the text of the resubmission. However, the critique was concerned about the omission of papers that are currently under editorial review; hence, we list some representative papers below. McCreary, D. R., Locke, T. F., &Sadava, S. W. (under review). Gender differences in the relationship between alcohol use and alcohol problems in young adults. Castro, F. G., Stein, J. A., & Bentler, P. M. (under review). The role of ethnic pride, traditional family values, and acculturation in early cigarette and alcohol use among middle school Hispanic youth. Galaif, E.R., Vega, WA., Krell, R.D., &Newcomb, M.D (under review). Reciprocal and prospective influences of drug use among United States- and foreign-born Latinos and White adolescent boys. Exploration of qualitative data: It was noted that a "lack of qualitative data weakens the contextual aims of this project." A major and central strength of our program project lies in bringing and developing cutting-edge quantitative statistical methods to maximize the utility of existing datasets. Nevertheless, qualitative data yield important results that can further expand the context in which behavior occurs and help avoid mis-specification (omission of third- or confounding-variables). Qualitative data have significant merit on their own, and also inform quantitative analysis. Some of our datasets have qualitative components, such as Goodyear's East Valley dataset. At the present time, we are pursuing integrating qualitative components into our analyses of this dataset. To reinforce this, we have integrated a qualitative framework within sections of this revised application. Omission of some literature: The reviewer noted that the literature review did not adequately address certain areas. Consequently, it has been expanded to include studies involving drug- and sex-related HIV risk community samples who are not in treatment, as well as some qualitative studies. Syndemic theory has also been added to sections involving HIV risk and co-morbidity, as well as to our analytic plans, since it provides a useful framework for understanding the complex processes we are studying. Lack of specific detailed plans for future analyses: Specific, detailed plans for future analyses have been developed in this revised application. The exemplar analyses section has been re-written to include specific plans, analytic strategies, and specific research questions. Due to space limitations, detailed plans are provided for components on theory development, etiology, and HIV risk. Certainly we have plans developed for each of our projects and databases, as evidenced in our prior research and collaborative efforts. Critique 2: Literature section was not integrative: The literature review has been edited with an eye toward integration. Further, additional literature has been added as noted in our above response. Michael Newcomb's health and project staff: Please see our response above. Lack of specific detailed plans for future analysis: Please see our response above. Contribution to the field in terms of furthering science: We have clarified our contributions to the field, and flushed-out specific detailed plans for future analysis. The overall contribution lies in the continuing development of theory and empirical findings that can support and inform public policy, treatment, prevention, and future research efforts. Our prior work has demonstrated these contributions and we anticipate continuing this. Another specific contribution lies in our goal of summarizing project results into summary articles. Specifically, toward the end of the proposed research cycle, we plan to integrate findings into summary articles for each of our specific aims. The goal will be to synthesize what is known, provide integrated summary messages, and suggest prevention strategies based on what we have discovered. Not only will this be a significant step in furthering the knowledge base in the field, but it will drive future analyses by identifying additional gaps in the literature. Changes in budget: Our proposed budget in the first submission was deemed "appropriate" by the first reviewer and "appropriate for the planned scope of work" by the second reviewer. Nevertheless, we were asked to cut our budget by about 30 percent. Since the majority of our budget was used for personnel and there was not much excess in it to begin with, therefore, serious cuts had to be made to project staff. This is unfortunate and will likely slow down our collaborations. We will strive to accomplish as many undertakings as possible, and hope to request supplemental funds for Michael Newcomb when we are clear about the extent of his availability. In sum, we believe that our revised application addresses the concerns raised. Overall, the application has been improved, detailed plans for future analyses are spelled out, and the literature review is stronger, clearer, and more integrative. Understanding the dynamics of drug abuse and HIV risk in community samples is central to addressing and preventing these significant problems from an epidemiological and public health perspective. This proposal is an elaboration and continuation of our current project entitled Drug Use Among Community Samples. There have been two fundamental changes in the present proposal that expand upon our currently funded project. First, our Specific Aims have adapted to NIH and NIDA research priorities as guided by our substantive findings in our prior project and those of other relevant researchers. Second, Thomas Locke will be taking a larger role in this project; Michael Newcomb is still significantly involved, Judith Stein and Peter Bentler are taking a greater role. This project will analyze data from many different existing and recently obtained community databases provided by our collaborators as well as our UCLA 20-year database.