# Neighborhood risk and protection for substance use among low income adolescents

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $169,596

## Abstract

Abstract
This K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award will provide the candidate, Jaime Booth, PhD., with
advanced training and structured mentoring to facilitate her transition to research independence. The
candidate’s goal is to become an independent investigator with expertise in neighborhood processes that may
be modified to prevent substance use among low-income adolescents. The proposed scope of work will fill a
marked gap in existing literature by examining the role of neighborhood process on tobacco and marijuana use
(TMU) from a social stress perspective. While TMU among adolescents is declining nationally, use among
samples of low-income adolescents remains high. The lack of decline of TMU within this population may be
partially attributed to the higher rates of stress experienced by low-income adolescents. One key source of
stress is neighborhood disadvantage. Despite some evidence that neighborhood stressors impact adolescent
stress and subsequent TMU, findings have been inconsistent, potentially in part due to methodological
challenges, such as the use of cross-sectional data and census tracts to define neighborhood risk. To gain
substantive expertise in assessing neighborhood processes germane to adolescent development and
methodological expertise in advanced quantitative methods that will allow the candidate to addresses these
challenges, the candidate will pursue training in This award will provide training and mentorship in: 1) the role
of stress in adolescent TMU, 2) knowledge about and measurement of parental monitoring during adolescence
as both a mediator and a potential moderator between neighborhood-related stress and TMU, 3) cross-lagged
and multilevel modeling with longitudinal data, and 4) the use of EMA to understand adolescents' exposure to
neighborhood stress in real time. This training will be achieved by conducting two research studies that
address the following aims: 1) Examine the potential mediating/moderating role of parental monitoring in the
association between neighborhood disadvantage and adolescents' stress and TMU; and 2) Understand the
relation between adolescents’ exposure to activity spaces, and social networks and TMU via adolescents'
perceptions of neighborhood risk and protection and stress. This K01 award will provide the candidate with
protected time to develop expertise in the role of neighborhood stress in adolescent TMU and the use of GSP
and EMA to understand complex stress processes. By the conclusion of the award, this training and research
experience will position the candidate as one of the few researchers in the U.S. with the necessary skills to
design intensive longitudinal studies for investigating factors within disadvantaged neighborhoods that may
place adolescents at risk for substance use. Furthermore, the K01 will provide the candidate with the requisite
knowledge to identify modifiable targets of intervention within neighborhoods and more precisely test the
effects of nei...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9932949
- **Project number:** 5K01DA041468-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Jaime Michelle Booth
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $169,596
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-06-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9932949

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9932949, Neighborhood risk and protection for substance use among low income adolescents (5K01DA041468-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9932949. Licensed CC0.

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