Alcohol use, mental health, and HIV-related risk in U.S. high school teens
Official title: Novel Approaches to Population-Level Health Research: Role of HIV Risk and Mental Health in Alcohol Use among High School-Aged Youth
Funded at Northwestern University · NIH-11369224 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how drinking and mental health relate to behaviors that raise HIV risk among U.S. high school students.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Northwestern University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chicago, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2021 |
| Project end | December 18, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $539,851 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AA029044-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11369224 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
The focus is on U.S. high school–aged teens, especially those who drink alcohol or report mental health struggles.
✕Less likely to help
Adults outside the high school age range or people whose concerns are unrelated to alcohol use or teen mental health are unlikely to see direct benefits from this project.
What this research studies
Younger people like you who took the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey are part of the data being used. The team is combining survey answers from hundreds of thousands of U.S. high school students (2005–2025) to see how drinking and mental health relate to sexual behaviors that raise HIV risk. They use advanced statistical methods to find which groups of teens face higher risks and which mental health issues make drinking-related risks worse. Because this uses existing anonymous survey data, teens won't be contacted for new tests or visits.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help schools and public health programs better target prevention for teens at higher risk of alcohol-related HIV behaviors.
How similar studies have gone: Previous large survey analyses have linked teen drinking, mental health, and risky sexual behavior and have informed prevention efforts, and this project builds on those methods with a much larger pooled dataset.
Where this research is happening
-
Northwestern University
Chicago, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Phillips, Gregory L. — Northwestern University
- Study coordinator: Phillips, Gregory L.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.