How adolescent racism and discrimination affect later substance use and mental health
Official title: Measuring the impact of structural racism and discrimination during adolescence on substance use, psychological distress
Funded at Research Triangle Institute · NIH-11035106 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether experiences of racism and discrimination during youth are linked to later substance use, psychological distress, criminal-legal involvement, and treatment-seeking for people who grew up in racially diverse rural communities.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Research Triangle Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Research Triangle Park, United States) |
| Project start | May 15, 2022 |
| Project end | February 28, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $509,787 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA056264-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11035106 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults who were in 6th–8th grade in the three participating North Carolina public-school counties in 2002 and who are willing to complete a survey and allow linkage to records.
✕Less likely to help
People who were not part of the original cohort or who cannot provide linkable records are unlikely to be eligible or to directly benefit from participating.
What this research studies
You would be joining a long-term group of people who were in 6th–8th grade in three North Carolina counties in 2002 and have been followed into adulthood. Researchers will collect one more survey and link your responses to school, peer network, neighborhood, and administrative records to capture experiences of structural racism and discrimination during adolescence. They will examine how those adolescent experiences relate to adult substance use, mental health distress, interactions with the criminal legal system, and whether people sought treatment. The team will also look for community resilience factors that might protect people and suggest possible places to intervene.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to community- and school-level actions that reduce long-term harms from adolescent racism and improve prevention and treatment connections.
How similar studies have gone: Longitudinal studies have linked childhood adversity to adult substance use and mental health, but combining detailed peer, school, and neighborhood measures to capture structural racism across adolescence is a newer approach.
Where this research is happening
-
Research Triangle Institute
Research Triangle Park, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gottfredson O'shea, Nisha — Research Triangle Institute
- Study coordinator: Gottfredson O'shea, Nisha
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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.