# A mixed-method study to investigate the impact of neighborhood-level structural racism on neurocognition and substance use in adolescence

> **NIH NIH R61** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $384,977

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT. While cannabis, nicotine, and alcohol remain the most widely endorsed
substances during adolescence, mechanistic pathways by which the social determinants of health influence
substance use outcomes among youth are unclear. Structural racism and discrimination results in poorer
quality environments in many neighborhoods within the United States, with a greater disproportionate impact
for marginalized populations. Neighborhood-level structural racism (NSR) is the totality of ways by which
structural racism disproportionately disadvantages neighborhoods in areas of socioeconomic conditions,
environmental health, and educational opportunities. NSR features, such as neighborhood inequities in access
to healthy food, green space, housing, and poverty rates, comprise important social determinants of health that
negatively affect neurocognitive skills as well as increase the risk for more negative consequences of
substance use. This project will use a concurrent mixed method approach to investigate the impact of
neighborhood-level structural racism on youth substance use and determine the extent this relationship is
mediated by neurocognitive markers of decision-making and distress tolerance. We will use both qualitative
and quantitative methods throughout the project to study NSR influences on SU in middle school youth (ages
12-14 years) in the R61 phase and in high school youth (14-17 years) in the R33 phase. We will leverage the
availability of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development ® (ABCD) Study dataset (N = 11,880) to
concurrently conduct quantitative analyses to test the neurocognitive pathways on the influence of NSR.
Community engagement research approaches will be implemented throughout both the R61 and R33 phase
and include oversight from a Community Advisory Board and a Youth Advisory Board. During the R61 phase,
interviews with middle school Latino/a/x and Black youth (N = 30) will obtain youth perceived neighborhood-
level risk factors for substance use. The quantitative studies will then investigate whether NSR impact youth
cannabis, nicotine, and alcohol through neurocognitive pathways of decision-making and distress tolerance.
Qualitative and quantitative findings from the R61 phase will be triangulated to inform the precision of the NSR
for high school youth during the R33 phase. In addition, the R33 phase will use photovoice with high school
youth (N=30), a photographic technique to identify and represent neighborhood features youth perceive
contribute to engagement with substance use. Cohort effects will be tested by comparing findings from the high
school cohort (R61) with the middle school cohort (R61). Findings from the project will be disseminated to
community stakeholders and policy makers. In addition, findings may inform community-level interventions on
the neighborhood features that pose risk to adverse substance use trajectories, as well as at the individual-
level for neurocognitive intervention...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10913562
- **Project number:** 5R61DA058976-02
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Marybel Robledo Gonzalez
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $384,977
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10913562

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10913562, A mixed-method study to investigate the impact of neighborhood-level structural racism on neurocognition and substance use in adolescence (5R61DA058976-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10913562. Licensed CC0.

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