The Brain, Behavior, and Cancer Seminar Series welcomes Jaime Booth, MSW, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, on July 6, 2022 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM.

While Black youth typically use substances at lower rates than their white counterparts, marijuana use is the exception with Black youth reporting higher rates of marijuana use, which is related to subsequent tobacco use. Due to concentrated disadvantage in segregated neighborhoods Black youth are also disproportionately exposed to ambient stressors which, according to the social stress process model, may contribute to disparities in marijuana use. Within neighborhoods, however, youth interact with a variety of activity spaces therefore generalizing to an entire neighborhood is potentially inaccurate. While a few studies have captured youth interactions with activity spaces relying on recall, mobile technology allows us to understand youths’ experiences of activity spaces and its relation to substance use in real time. The purpose of the SPIN Project was to partner with Black youth and leverage new technology to understand their level of stress in activity spaces, its relations to marijuana use and if that relationship is impacted by features of the activity space where they spend time such as social support and/or racism. In this presentation I will discuss 1) the role of the studies Youth’s Research Advisory Board and its contribution to the research, 2) the potential of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture dynamic interactions between youth and all the ecological systems they interact with and 3) some of the studies key findings.

Zoom Link: Click here to join the lecture and enter Meeting ID: 920 7845 4726.

For More Information. Please contact Jessica Harrison at harrisonj7@upmc.edu.