Intersectional Approaches to Population-Level Health Research: Role of HIV Risk and Mental Health in Alcohol Use Disparities among Diverse Sexual Minority Youth

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PROJECT SUMMARY This diversity supplement will provide research support for Dr. Shahin Davoudpour, a first-generation immigrant from a developing country. Dr. Davoudpour is a postdoctoral research fellow within the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University who is in the process of being promoted to a Research Assistant Professor position. His long-term goal is to become an independent investigator focused on research in the fields of alcohol epidemiology, sexual minority health, and youth risk-taking behaviors. Alcohol use and other risk-taking behaviors are common among youth, with notable disparities among sexual and racial/ethnic minority youth; however, current research is limited by the use of single-item measures that ignore the diversity of risk-taking experiences. This project will seek to address this gap in the literature through the use of an existing pooled dataset of youth from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which was compiled as part of two NIAAA-funded grants (R01 AA024409 and R01 AA029044), containing observations from over one million high-school aged youth collected between 2005 and 2019. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) will be used to develop risk-taking profiles from YRBS participants by using a diverse complement of health behaviors assessed within the survey, and the differential magnitude of the association between these factors and alcohol use and HIV risk behaviors will be examined by race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and the intersection of race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. Although Dr. Davoudpour received statistical training in his graduate work, he was never introduced to data reduction methods such as factor analysis, a gap that this supplement will directly address. As part of his training, Dr. Davoudpour will receive dedicated mentorship from leaders in HIV and alcohol epidemiology (Dr. Gregory Phillips II; PI of parent R01), data reduction techniques (Dr. Patrick Janulis), and risk-taking behaviors (Dr. Philip Bromiley). Dr. Davoudpour will also actively disseminate his research at national conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. The mentorship opportunities afforded to Dr. Davoudpour by well-funded NIH researchers will prepare him well for his ultimate goal: a subsequent K01 grant submission to extend his protected time for further career development and towards academic independence.