Ecological Momentary Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Microaggressions and Cannabis Use among Black Adults

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Project Summary/Abstract Despite being one of the largest racial minority groups in the United States (U.S.), Black individuals experience striking health disparities, particularly in terms of cannabis-related outcomes. One possible reason for this is that this Black individuals in the U.S. are disproportionately affected by stressful life conditions, including race- based discrimination, which may lead to higher rates of cannabis use and use-related problems. Racial/ethnic microaggressions (MA) are more commonly experienced than overt discrimination (e.g., hate crimes) among Black individuals, yet almost no research has examined their role in cannabis use, including whether experiencing MAs is temporally proximally related to cannabis use motivation and cannabis use and related problems and whether MAs account for significant and unique variance in these cannabis outcomes. The goal of this R21 project, which is in direct response to PA-20-195, is to elucidate the role of MAs in cannabis use and cannabis use motivation among Black adults using time sampling methodology (over the course of 21 days). Participants (N=100; 50% female) will be Black adults who endorse regular cannabis use. Further, the present proposal will determine whether negative affect (anxiety, depression, anger) in response to MA accounts for the relation between MAs and cannabis use motivations (i.e., greater craving, intention to use, and coping-oriented motives for cannabis use) and use (i.e., greater frequency of cannabis use, and more negative use-related consequences), and test theoretically driven culturally relevant resilience factors, including religiosity, ethnic-racial identity, and positive coping with racial discrimination. This proposal can significantly advance our knowledge of precursors to risky cannabis use and related problems within the Black community and provide critical insight for future prevention and intervention programs. The proposed research project supports the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s strategic plan’s Goal 1: “identify the biological, environmental, behavioral, and social causes and consequences of drug use and addiction across the lifespan.” It is also in line with NIH’s UNITE initiative’s aim to support “new research on health disparities, minority health, and health equity”.