# Pittsburgh Girls Study:  Substance Use and HIV Risk Behaviors/STI in Young Adulthood

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL/HEALTH SCIENCES-RBHS · 2020 · $132,008

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
This 1-year supplement to the Pittsburgh Girls Study (PGS), a large longitudinal community study of young
adult women, will capture urgently needed data on factors at individual (e.g., smoke or vape tobacco/nicotine,
cannabis), social (family, peer), and neighborhood (e.g., perception of neighborhood disorganization) levels
associated with increased risk for COVID-19 infection and illness progression, particularly among young adult
women who smoke or vape tobacco or cannabis. Data to be collected with supplemental funds will add new
COVID-19 items to the PGS’s 20th annual wave (web survey) in the two youngest cohorts (ages 24-25;
N=1,048; 56% Black, 37% White), to be fielded in early June 2020, after the estimated peak in COVID-19-
related mortality in Pennsylvania. New COVID-19 items will assess symptoms and related testing and health
care (e.g., barriers to care, insurance), beliefs regarding transmission and personal infection risk, infection
prevention behaviors, and the broad impacts of COVID-19 on quality of life (e.g., job loss, food insecurity). New
COVID-19 items to be included in wave 20 will add to 19 annual waves of PGS data collected since childhood
on substance use/disorder (SUD), physical health (e.g., diabetes, asthma, obesity, cardiovascular disease)
and healthcare, mental health, personal (e.g., employment, resilience), and environmental (e.g., geocoded
data) risk and protective factors associated with risk for sexually transmitted infection/HIV (parent R01). This
supplement aims to: (1) investigate differences by race among Black and White young women in pathways of
risk and protection for COVID-19 infection and progression at individual (e.g., smoking and vaping behavior;
perceived risk for and behaviors to prevent COVID-19 infection), social (e.g., extent and duration of social
distancing), and neighborhood levels (e.g., perceived community cohesion, census tract population density);
and (2) examine impacts of COVID-19 on women’s substance use/SUD, access to and use of COVID-19-
related health care, physical and mental health (e.g., response to stress/traumatic event), employment and
financial status, and interpersonal relations (e.g., effects of social distancing). Results from this 1-year
supplement have implications for addressing racial disparities in risk for COVID-19 infection and its broad
impacts, in the context of COVID-19’s intersection with substance use/SUD (particularly smoking/ vaping
tobacco, cannabis), among women, an understudied population, to guide effective and equitable public policy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10170477
- **Project number:** 3R01DA012237-20S1
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL/HEALTH SCIENCES-RBHS
- **Principal Investigator:** Tammy Chung
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $132,008
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2000-02-15 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10170477

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10170477, Pittsburgh Girls Study:  Substance Use and HIV Risk Behaviors/STI in Young Adulthood (3R01DA012237-20S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10170477. Licensed CC0.

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