Etiology of Alcohol Use and Consequences Among Multi-Ethnic Urban Youth

描述(由申请者提供)：拟议的项目将研究城市贫困青少年饮酒的轨迹、后果和多个水平的影响，明确比较不同种族和性别亚群的影响模式。拟议项目的长期成果是改进预防干预措施，在不同的美国青年群体中有效地实现更大的有益效果。目前的综合理论模型认为，行为受到一系列宏观/远端/微观/近端的个人、社会和环境因素的影响，但迄今为止很少有研究像本文所建议的那样，从多个层面和多个领域纳入变量，从而能够全面研究青少年多种族群体饮酒的起病原因和发展轨迹。研究的目的包括：(1)提高对种族和性别亚组饮酒轨迹的多水平因素的了解，(2)比较不同种族和性别亚组18岁时饮酒开始年龄和首次醉酒年龄对饮酒的影响，(3)找出不同种族和性别亚组饮酒后果的相似或差异，以及(4)评估北国芝加哥项目(PNC)干预措施的长期有效性及其在不同亚组之间的不同效果。实现研究目标的方法包括：(1)成本效益地利用现有的纵向学生、家长、学校和邻里层面的数据，包括研究人员在先前的一项重大酒精预防试验中收集的11至14岁的多数少数民族队列的重复年度调查；(2)对年龄在17至18岁的研究队列进行邮寄和网络跟踪调查；以及(3)先进的、多层次的纵向统计分析。队列包括在6年级开始和结束、7年级结束和8年级结束(n=5,812)时完成至少一次PNC调查的青少年。研究队列中就读于芝加哥公立学校的学生大多是低社会地位者(72%)，主要是黑人(43%)、西班牙裔(28%)和白人(13%)。公共卫生相关性：研究结果将显著提高对黑人和西班牙裔青年饮酒轨迹的了解，并将指导适用于族裔和性别亚群的理论的发展。最重要的是，结果将直接指导制定进一步改进的干预措施，以提高效力和效力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project will examine trajectories, consequences, and multiple levels of influences on alcohol use among urban poor adolescents, explicitly comparing patterns of effects across ethnic and gender subgroups. The long-term outcome of the proposed project is improved preventive interventions with larger beneficial effects efficiently achieved across the diverse population of U.S. youth. Current integrative theoretical models propose that behavior is influenced by a wide array of macro/distal to micro/proximal personal, social and environmental factors, yet few studies to date have included variables at multiple levels and from multiple domains, as proposed here, permitting a comprehensive study of the etiology of onset and trajectories of alcohol use among multi-ethnic groups of adolescents. Study aims include: (1) improve understanding of multilevel factors on trajectories of alcohol use by ethnic and gender subgroups, (2) compare effects of age of onset of alcohol use and age of initial intoxication on alcohol use at age 18 across ethnic and gender subgroups, (3) identify similarities or differences in consequences of alcohol use across ethnic and gender subgroups, and (4) assess the long-term effectiveness of the Project Northland Chicago (PNC) intervention and its differential effectiveness across subgroups. Methods to achieve the study aims include: (1) cost- effective utilization of existing longitudinal student, parent, school, and neighborhood-level data, including repeated annual surveys from a large majority-minority cohort ages 11 to 14 that have already been collected by the investigators in a previous major alcohol prevention trial; (2) implementation of a mail and web-based follow-up survey of the study cohort when they are age 17-18; and (3) advanced, multilevel, longitudinal statistical analyses. The cohort includes adolescents who completed at least one previous PNC survey when they were in the beginning and end of 6th grade, end of 7th grade, and end of 8th grade (n = 5,812). The study cohort attend public schools in the city of Chicago, are mostly low SES (72 percent), and primarily Black (43 percent), Hispanic (28 percent), and White (13 percent). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Results will significantly improve understanding of alcohol use trajectories among Black and Hispanic youth, and will guide development of theory applicable to ethnic and gender subgroups. Most importantly, results will directly guide the development of further refined interventions of increased efficacy and effectiveness.