# Leveraging Social Media for Substance Use Behavioral Insight

> **NIH NIH K02** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $118,137

## Abstract

Project Summary
Substance misuse places a tremendous burden on individuals and society and remains high because so many
youth initiate substance use at an early age and progress to dependence. In one of my NIDA sponsored R01s,
I am funded to examine the effects of school and state-level penalties on youth substance use behaviors while
accounting for anti-tobacco/drug media campaigns (R01 DA032843). My research signals a health issue of
increasing importance that is youth exposure to the promotion of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug-related
content via advertisements, online social networking, and other normalizing and pro-use messages. There is
potential for leveraging social media as a tool to understand, inform, and potentially dissuade harmful
substance use behaviors. However, a critical and necessary first step is to better understand displayed
substance use references on key social media sites and how these displays are associated with use. In my
second NIDA-sponsored R01, I am funded to investigate the implications of social media content and
engagement for alcohol and marijuana use (R01 DA039456). I am a newly tenured investigator who has
already made important contributions to the study of substance use policy and social media research. I will
investigate social media posts for novel insight into drug use, especially newly emerging drugs that are
increasing in popularity. I also aim to generate a strong scientific base about social media as a potential
medium for delivering anti-/pro- substance use messages to young people. At this juncture, it is critical for me
to receive support from this Independent Scientist Award so that I can devote all of my efforts towards
continuing to build my research program and to enhance my scientific skills and advance me to the next level
of achievement. I will collaborate with investigators at Washington University and nationally in order to gain
further experience in sophisticated and efficient data mining analysis. I will additionally achieve an improved
ability to synthesize results across multiple studies into strategic and actionable recommendations for tailored
prevention messages to deliver on social media. This award will also enable me to devote a substantial
amount of time to mentorship and the development of the next generation of researchers. In summary, this
Independent Scientist Award will enable me to expand my knowledge base in targeted areas to significantly
enhance my research trajectory in ways that would not be otherwise feasible.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10241374
- **Project number:** 5K02DA043657-05
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Patricia A Cavazos-Rehg
- **Activity code:** K02 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $118,137
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10241374

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10241374, Leveraging Social Media for Substance Use Behavioral Insight (5K02DA043657-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10241374. Licensed CC0.

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