How childhood hardship and neighborhood features affect adult alcohol and tobacco misuse
Official title: Early Life Adversity and Adult Substance Misuse: The Moderating Role of Residential Characteristics
Funded at University of Nebraska Lincoln · NIH-11525855 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether adults who experienced tough childhoods are more likely to misuse alcohol or tobacco later in life and whether where they live makes that risk higher or lower.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Nebraska Lincoln NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Lincoln, United States) |
| Project start | September 19, 2025 |
| Project end | February 28, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $196,967 |
| NIH project number | 5P20GM130461-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11525855 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults aged 21 and older, especially midlife and older adults who experienced childhood adversity or who currently use alcohol or tobacco, are the best match for this work.
✕Less likely to help
People under 21 or those whose substance problems are driven primarily by immediate medical emergencies or severe untreated psychiatric conditions may not benefit from the neighborhood-focused findings.
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will link information about childhood hardships (like poverty or abuse) with adults' reports of alcohol and tobacco use and with data about the neighborhoods where they live. They will compare people with different backgrounds and residential histories to see which neighborhood features—such as local resources, socioeconomic conditions, or exposures—seem to protect against or increase substance misuse. The team will use large datasets and area-level measures (for example, census and community indicators) to study patterns across midlife and older adults. Findings will pay special attention to differences by age, education, and other personal characteristics.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could point to neighborhood changes or community resources that reduce alcohol and tobacco problems for adults who had difficult childhoods.
How similar studies have gone: Prior studies have linked childhood adversity to adult substance misuse, but using residential and neighborhood characteristics as key moderating factors is less common and relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
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University of Nebraska Lincoln
Lincoln, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kemp, Blakelee — University of Nebraska Lincoln
- Study coordinator: Kemp, Blakelee
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.