Determining the causal pathways of social and environmental predictors of high-risk alcohol drinking among college students

项目摘要 此R15应用程序的目的是描述更广泛的环境和社会背景， 受害的经历导致大学人群中的高风险饮酒。拟议 这项研究将有助于更好地了解背景环境和社会之间的因果关系 暴露和高风险酒精使用的大学生。 高风险酒精消费是大学生中一个严重的健康问题， 身体、情感、社会和认知后果，包括死亡。最近，38%的大学生 报告在过去的一个月里酗酒，11.4%的人报告酗酒。酒精的使用 与暴力受害，欺凌和歧视有关，所有这些都是社会背景 暴露。然而，大多数研究使用的研究设计和方法更容易受到偏见的影响， 很少有人研究过饮酒的特定环境或“活动空间”。因为很可能 背景环境和社会暴露与高风险饮酒之间的关联 在某些人口统计群体中存在差异，我们将评估这些关系是否因性别和 种族/民族。将进行分析，以更好地了解上下文之间的因果关系 更具体地说，环境和社会预测因素以及大学生中的高风险酒精使用 社会心理因素的调解。为了解决以前的知识差距，拟议的研究将使用一个 社会生态方法，使用创新方法收集更准确的时间和空间 上下文信息与现有的和新的因果推理技术相结合。 我们提出了以下具体目标：1）大学生活动空间的特征化， 研究它们如何与背景环境和社会暴露以及酒精使用相关 行为; 2）检查（a）环境（即，基于地点的暴露 包括身体障碍、犯罪/暴力、酒精出口、社会障碍）和（B）社会背景（即，暴力 受害，欺凌和歧视）和高风险饮酒的大学生;和3） 评估性别和种族/民族的适度性，以及潜在心理社会变量的中介作用， 背景（a）环境和（B）社会暴露与高风险饮酒之间的关系。 这项研究将有助于理解情境环境之间的因果路径 和社会预测因素和高风险饮酒的大学生，将有助于阐明差异 按性别和种族/族裔分列。这些新知识将提供必要的信息， 有效的干预措施，旨在减少大学生中的高危饮酒。

Project Summary The purpose of this R15 application is to characterize the broader environmental and social context in which the experience of victimization leads to high-risk alcohol drinking in college populations. The proposed study will allow for a better understanding of the causal pathways between contextual environmental and social exposures and high-risk alcohol use among college students. High-risk alcohol consumption is a serious health problem among college students that leads to many physical, emotional, social, and cognitive consequences, including death. Recently, 38% of college students reported engaging in binge drinking in the last month and 11.4% reporting heavy alcohol use. Alcohol use has been associated with violent victimization, bullying, and discrimination, all of which are contextual social exposures. However, most studies have used study designs and methods that are more vulnerable to bias and few have examined the specific environment or “activity space” in which alcohol use occurs. Since it is likely that the association between the contextual environmental and social exposures and high-risk alcohol drinking varies within certain demographic groups, we will assess whether these relationships differ by gender and by race/ethnicity. Analyses will be performed to better understand the causal pathways between contextual environmental and social predictors and high-risk alcohol use among college students, more specifically mediation by psychosocial factors. To address previous gaps in knowledge the proposed study will use a social-ecological approach that uses innovative methods to collect more accurate temporal and spatial contextual information combined with existing and novel causal inference techniques. We propose the following specific aims: 1) Characterize the activity spaces of college students and examine how they are correlated with contextual environmental and social exposures, and alcohol use behaviors; 2) Examine the direct associations between (a) environmental (i.e., place-based exposures including physical disorder, crime/violence, alcohol outlets, social disorder) and (b) social contexts (i.e., violent victimization, bullying, and discrimination) and high-risk alcohol drinking among college students; and 3) Assess moderation by gender and race/ethnicity and mediation by potential psychosocial variables in the relationship between contextual (a) environmental and (b) social exposures and high-risk alcohol drinking. This research will add to the understanding of the causal pathways between contextual environmental and social predictors and high-risk alcohol drinking among college students and will help elucidate differences by gender and race/ethnicity. This new knowledge will provide information needed to develop appropriate and effective interventions aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol drinking among college students.