# The effects of exposure to violence on risk for substance abuse:  neural mechanisms and community level moderators

> **NIH NIH R01** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $154,959

## Abstract

Project Summary
It is well known that stressful events, such as those occurring as a result of COVID-19 prevention efforts, are a
potent trigger for the initiation and escalation of illicit substance use. However, it is not well known how stress
triggers increased substance use, which could help improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of
substance use disorders. Therefore, our ongoing longitudinal study of adolescents was designed to test the
hypothesis that stress during development recalibrates the neural processes underlying threat and reward
reactivity as well as working memory capacity, which leads to increased risk for the initiation and escalation of
substance use. Because COVID-19 related social distancing is a profound stressor, measuring it’s effects
provides an opportunity to better understand these hypothesized pathways by which stress increases
substance use. Therefore, we propose to recontact adolescents (n=309) and caregivers (n=246) in our
ongoing longitudinal study to assess changes in stress, cognitive function, and substance use due to the
COVID-19 pandemic at two time points. At both time points, youths will also complete a working memory
capacity task and delay discounting assessment and have their locations tracked with GPS for a week while
they receive 35 ecological momentary assessment (EMA) prompts to assess their momentary stress, social
interactions, substance use, and feelings at particular locations as was done in prior waves. In Aim 1, we focus
on 3 particular categories of stress to understand their relative contribution to increased substance use: (1)
Social distancing experiences: the GPS and questionnaire assessments of activity patterns provide a
quantitative, state-of-the-art measure of the magnitude of change in individual mobility elicited by COVID-19
social distancing; (2) Economic hardship: Because our sample is socioeconomically diverse (37.4% have
annual household incomes under $30,000), we will have the opportunity to clarify the effects of increased
economic challenges on substance use; (3) Social isolation and conflict: The questionnaire and EMA data on
frequency of interpersonal interaction and conflict provide the opportunity to determine if these are also triggers
of increased substance use. In Aim 2, potential cognitive mediators of these effects will be assessed using the
measurement of working memory capacity and delay discounting. These youths have already completed a
neuroimaging session that assessed neural structure (anatomy and connectivity), resting state activity, and
activity during tasks probing working memory capacity (Emotional N-Back), reward reactivity (viewing images
of marijuana, e-cigs, and alcohol), reward anticipation (Monetary Incentive Delay), and threat reactivity
(emotional faces). Because these same procedures will be repeated as soon as research activity can resume
after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, Aim 3 will be to determine how COVID-19 related stress moder...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10147398
- **Project number:** 3R01DA042080-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Baldwin M Way
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $154,959
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10147398

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10147398, The effects of exposure to violence on risk for substance abuse:  neural mechanisms and community level moderators (3R01DA042080-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10147398. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*