Promoting Health Among Young People

描述(由申请者提供)：这个指导临床科学家发展奖(K08)将提供我在职业生涯中实现两个重要转变所需的教育和技能：(1)从研究成人性少数群体(即男同性恋、双性恋、女同性恋、变性人)到研究青少年性少数群体，以及(2)从研究健康问题的风险因素到制定和评估预防干预措施的有效性。 与异性恋同龄人相比，性少数群体青少年使用药物、自杀以及在男性感染艾滋病毒的风险更高。尽管有这些事实，但几乎没有关于性少数青少年预防的研究。尽管为异性恋青少年设计的现有预防干预措施可能对性少数群体有效，但研究表明，性少数群体青少年经历了独特的压力来源(例如，反同性恋骚扰、受害或家庭拒绝)，这些压力可能会促进危险行为。这些问题没有在标准的预防方案编制中得到解决。因此，需要针对性少数青少年独特经历的干预模式。 我的长期职业目标是开发和测试旨在防止这一弱势群体使用药物、性危险行为和自杀的干预措施的有效性。这将需要在以下几个领域进行额外的培训和指导：(1)青少年发展，(2)青少年危险行为模式和预防，(3)干预发展，以及(4)评估研究和先进的量化方法。 除了培训计划，这份提案还概述了一项研究计划，该计划将进一步支持我转变为一名独立的、由NIH资助的研究员。这项研究将包括三个阶段：(1)评估服务于性少数群体青少年的社区组织的当前做法和能力；(2)收集旨在测试性少数群体特定压力(例如，受害和家庭拒绝)如何导致这些青少年的性危险行为、药物使用和自杀行为的量化数据；以及(3)利用这些知识制定干预措施，并在社区环境中试行其可行性和可接受性。在每个阶段收集的数据将直接支持随后的RO1应用程序，在该应用程序中，我的目标是测试旨在防止性少数族裔青少年的性危险行为、药物使用和自杀的干预措施的有效性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08) will provide the education and skills that I need to make two important transitions in my career: (1) from researching adult sexual minorities (i.e., gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender) to researching adolescent sexual minorities, and (2) from researching risk factors for health problems to developing and evaluating the efficacy of prevention interventions. Relative to their heterosexual counterparts, sexual minority adolescents are at increased risk for substance use, suicidality, and in males, HIV-infection. Despite these facts, virtually no research exists on prevention with sexual minority adolescents. Although existing prevention interventions designed for heterosexual adolescents may be effective for sexual minorities, research suggests that sexual minority adolescents experience unique stressors (e.g., anti-gay harassment, victimization, or family rejection) that may facilitate the r risk behaviors. These issues are not addressed in standard prevention programming. Thus, intervention models that address the unique experiences of sexual minority adolescents are needed. My long-term career goal is to develop and test the efficacy of interventions that aim to prevent substance use, sexual risk behavior, and suicidality in this vulnerable population. This will require additional training and mentorship in several areas: (1) adolescent development, (2) models of adolescent risk behavior and prevention, (3) intervention development, and (4) evaluation research and advanced quantitative methods. In addition to the training plan, this proposal also outlines a research plan that will further support my transition into an independent, NIH-funded investigator. This research will comprise 3 phases: (1) assessing the current practices and capacities of community-based organizations that serve sexual minority adolescents, (2) gathering quantitative data designed to test how sexual-minority-specific stress (e.g., victimization and family rejection) contributes to these adolescents' sexual risk behaviors, substance use, and suicidality, and (3) using this knowledge to develop an intervention and pilot its feasibility and acceptability in a community setting. Data gathered in each of these phases will directly support a subsequent RO1 application in which I aim to test the efficacy of an intervention designed to prevent sexual risk behavior, substance use, and suicidality in sexual minority adolescents.