The overall goal of this proposal is to provide the training, career development, and mentorship that will result in Dr. Hinds’ ability to integrate the bodies of research surrounding adolescent and young adult social development with tobacco use across the lifespan. Specifically, this project aims to determine how the developmental factors and aspects of social group membership impact tobacco use of individuals who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Research has demonstrated that these individuals hold unique group norms, and that varying levels of belonging and shared sense of community or purpose may influence their tobacco use. Dr. Hinds is an Assistant Professor at The University of Houston, whose research portfolio has so far focused on describing and explaining the tobacco use disparities in youth and young adults. Dr. Hinds completed graduate training in Tobacco Regulatory Science and received her PhD in Health Behavior and Health Education. From there, Dr. Hinds completed postdoctoral training funded through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), focused on promoting health equity in cardiovascular disease (T32HL140290). In the current proposal, Dr. Hinds outlines three training goals that are critical to expanding her skill set as a tobacco researcher, to be addressed through coursework, seminars, directed readings, and mentored meetings: 1) content training in human development and tobacco use across the lifespan, 2) methodological training in psychometrics and survey instrument development, and 3) data analysis training in order to test and refine a comprehensive model of tobacco use that includes elements of social development, measured multidimensionally. Dr. Hinds has assembled a strong mentoring team of highly successful, multidisciplinary experts who can each advise on multiple training goals and research aims, where Dr. Hinds will comprehensively examine the social and developmental factors and experiences that are linked to both increased and decreased risk for tobacco use and yield the following three primary outcomes: Aim 1) novel findings into the association between social and developmental factors related to social group membership and tobacco use; Aim 2) a novel survey instrument assessing the phenomenon of social management behaviors, and Aim 3) an updated and comprehensive conceptual model of tobacco use that integrates the developmental elements of dimensions, milestones, and social management behaviors as explanatory mechanisms in models explaining unique determinants of tobacco use. Ultimately, findings from this project will improve our understanding of the etiology of tobacco use disparities and inform an R01 proposal that will identify avenues for socially-affirming initiatives designed to reduce tobacco use among gay, lesbian, and bisexual people.