Health Behaviors among Young Black Adults: Risk and Resilience

描述(由)：一般来说，物质使用倾向于在成年初期达到顶峰，然后在那之后减少，到成年期早期(20多岁)变得更像成年人，这一过程被称为“成熟”。因此，30岁时的这些使用习惯是未来许多年使用和滥用的非常好的预测指标；然而，到目前为止，它们几乎没有得到经验上的关注。这些使用轨迹也因种族而不同。黑人青少年比白人青少年使用的更少，但这种差异在25岁左右缩小，在25岁后期出现逆转，特别是在大麻和烟草的使用方面。此外，在用户中，黑人的虐待报告比白人更高(被称为“种族交叉”效应)。这种差异导致了美国的健康差距--例如，黑人患某些癌症的比例更高。在性危险行为中也存在类似的模式，因为年轻的黑人成年人不太可能参与一段稳定的关系，而更有可能有多个伴侣-这是黑人艾滋病毒感染率高的原因之一。一个普遍的假设是，这些危险行为的种族差异反映了黑人压力的增加，包括与感知到的种族歧视相关的压力。然而，对这一假设的支持也相对较少，因为关于从青春期到成年早期物质使用方面的种族和性别差异的研究非常罕见。这项拟议的研究的目的是通过收集来自家庭和社区健康研究(FACHS)参与者的第七波数据来探索这些问题，FACHS是一项为期15年的前瞻性研究，涉及居住在爱荷华州和佐治亚州的约900个非裔美国家庭。我们将重点关注“目标”的物质使用情况，他们在W7将是28/29岁；他们的浪漫伴侣；以及他们的父母(平均年龄55岁)；我们将检查目标及其伴侣的危险性行为(艾滋病毒风险)。这些数据将使我们能够识别在30多岁的黑人中导致维持和滥用与成熟/停止药物使用和危险性行为的风险和保护性因素。我们将侧重于先前确定的心理社会因素作为这一过程的中介因素(例如，社会认知、负面情感)和调节因素(种族认同、应对、性别、遗传)。增加第7波还可以比较早期压力和近期压力以及累积压力对健康行为的影响。这些数据将通过FACHS项目的三个重要补充得到补充：a)从目标及其父母那里收集生物标记物；b)将FACHS样本与年龄相似的白人样本和具有非常相似的测量和相似理论基础的SES样本进行比较；以及c)从目标的恋人伴侣那里获得关于他们自己和目标的行为的更详细的信息。与过去一样，我们的FACHS项目是基于社会认知理论，特别是我们的健康行为双加工模型，该模型是随着FACHS项目而演变的。我们还将依靠康格尔的社会压力理论的更新版本，该理论构成了最初FACHS研究的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by): Generally speaking, substance use tends to peak in emerging adulthood and then diminish after that, becoming more "adult-like" by early adulthood (the late 20s) a process referred to as "maturing out." As a result, these use habits at age 30 are very good predictors of future use and abuse for many years to come; and yet, they have received very little empirical attention to date. These use trajectories also differ by race. Black adolescents use less than white adolescents, but the difference diminish by the mid-20s, and reverses in the late 20s, especially for marijuana and tobacco use. In addition, reports of abuse, among users, are higher for blacks than whites (referred to as a "racial crossover" effect). This difference contributes to health disparities in the US-e.g., higher rates of certain cancers in blacks. A similar pattern exists in sexual risk behavior, as young black adults are less likely to be involved in a steady relationship and more likely to have multiple partners- one reason why HIV infection rates are high in blacks. A general assumption is that these racial differences in risky behavior reflect increased stress among blacks, including the stress associated with perceived racial discrimination. There is also relatively little support for this hypothesis, howevr, because studies of racial and gender differences in substance use from adolescence into early adulthood are very rare. The purpose of the proposed research is to explore these issues by collecting a 7th wave of data from participants in the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS), a 15-year long prospective study of ~900 African American families living in Iowa and Georgia. We will focus on the substance use of the "targets," who will be 28/29 at W7; and their romantic partners; and their parents (average age of 55); and we will examine the risky sexual behavior (HIV risk) of the targets and their partners. These data will allow us to identify risk an protective factors that contribute to maintenance and abuse vs. maturing out / cessation of substance use and risky sex among blacks in their late 20s. We will focus on previously-identified psychosocial factors as mediators (e.g., social cognitions, negative affect), and moderators (racial identity, coping, gender, genetics) of this process. Adding a 7th wave will also allow a comparison of the effects of early vs. recent and cumulative stress on health behaviors. These data will be augmented by three significant additions to the FACHS project: a) the collection of biomarkers (from blood) from the targets and their parents; b) comparison of the FACHS sample with a mostly-white sample of similar age and SES with very similar measures and a similar theoretical base; and c) more detailed information from the targets' romantic partners about their own and the target's behaviors. As in the past, our FACHS project is based on social cognitive theory, and in particular, our dual-processing model of health behavior, which has evolved along with the FACHS project. We will also rely on an updated version of Conger's social stress theory that formed the foundation for the original FACHS study.