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Continuing Projects

These are previous and on-going projects funded by the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Grant: NIH-NIDA R24DA013937

 

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Drug Resistance Strategies (DRS-4)

This NIDA funded R01 study is a 5-year longitudinal randomized trial of an adapted and enhanced version of keepin’ it REAL involving 7 Phoenix school districts, 32 schools, 96 teachers, and over 2000 students. Study aims are: (1) to describe the development of ecological risk and resiliency factors as Mexican/Mexican American students transition from 5th to 9th grade and undergo acculturation processes; (2) to enhance the existing 7th grade keepin’ it REAL multicultural intervention (a SAMSHA model program) by increasing the dosage adding acculturation related material, and by examining the most efficacious age of intervention, 5th versus 7th grade; and (3) to examine ecological risk and resiliency factors, such as parental monitoring, perceived discrimination and acculturation stress, as moderators of prevention effects. Surveys are conducted at several points in time, including a pre-test and 6 post-tests, with the last occurring in the 9th grade.

Penn State PI: Dr. Michael Hecht
ASU PIs: Dr. Flavio Marsiglia & Dr. Stephen Kulis
Status: Funded NIH/NIDA R-01 with Penn State University
See Research Brief: Drug Resistance Strategies (DRS-4)

 

Next Generation

The SIRC Next Generation investigators examined client, implementer, neighborhood, school and delivery factors that could impact the effectiveness of the keepin’ it REAL intervention, which was assessed in a randomized trial.

PIs: Dr. Flavio Marsiglia & Dr. Stephen Kulis
Status: Completed  
See Research Brief: Next Generation

 

Latino Acculturation & Health Project

The Latino Acculturation and Health Project (LAHP) is a collaborative study between research teams at Arizona State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The study examines how acculturation plays a role in the families’ coping strategies, family dynamics, social networks, and cognitive processes and how these processes are related to aggression, suicidal ideation, and alcohol, tobacco, and substance use. One long term aim is reducing health disparities among this group. The research teams work with 150 Latino-families each. One adult and one adolescent 14-18 years of age participate from each family. 

LAHP is a 3-yr study funded by a grant awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The project is entering the third year of the study and both teams are in the process of gathering Wave 5 data.

 
ASU PI: Dr. Flavio F. Marsiglia, ASU Project Coordinator: Monica Parsai
UNC Chapel Hill PI: Dr. Paul Smokowski
Status: Funded CDC K-award with UNC- Chapel Hill
See Research Brief:  LAHP 

 

keepin' it REAL

keepin' it Real is a culturally grounded substance abuse prevention program which was developed, tested, and evaluated in 35 middle schools in the city of Phoenix.

See Research Brief: Keepin' it REAL

 

The Galicia Project

 Through an international collaboration, the Galicia Project investigates the adaptation experiences of adolescents from immigrant families in Spain, examines their patterns of substance use and anti-drug norms and attitudes, relative to native Spanish youth, and explores the adaptation of a proven efficacious American substance use prevention program, keepin’ it REAL, for youth in Spain.
 
Collaborators:Flavio Francisco Marsiglia, Stephen Kulis, & Tanya Nieri from Arizona State University with Maria Angeles Luengo & Paula Villar from University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.
See Research Brief: The Galicia Project 

 

AZ Mining Towns

Mining Town Isolation and Economy: Influences on Youth Risk Behaviors studies the protective family structures among youth residing in mining town communities in Arizona. This research partners with local school districts. The project successfully completed surveying a total of 844 students in the fifth through twelfth grades of the Miami Unified School District in March 2005, and in the Superior Unified School District in April 2005. The study addresses issues of: economic challenges and stress encountered by students; the extent of support they receive at school, home, and in the community; peer dynamics at school; students' aspirations and goals for the future; and substance use issues. . PI: Dr. Karen Miller-Loessi. Status: R21/R01 study site development.

 

 Monterrey Mexico

Monterrey is a collaboration between SIRC and Mexican researchers conducting culturally-specific drug abuse research in Monterrey, Mexico. The project is focused on adapting and testing the NIDA-funded keepin’ it REAL prevention curriculum for use with youth in Mexico. The curriculum, keepin' it REAL, is a successful Arizona model that specifically integrates Mexican cultural norms in program content and format.

 

Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment for Latinas: Recruitment and Retention

The data compiled from this pilot examines how concordance in consumer's self-assessment and clinician's assessment of substance abuse and mental-health diagnoses affect treatment engagement.
PI: Dr. Layne Stromwall
Community Partner: Chicanos por la Causa
Status: Pilot is complete and no longer active

 

The American Indian Youth Project

The American Indian Youth Pilot Project examines the unique, culturally specific factors that contribute to drug use and resistance of Native American youth. While much of the existing research on the prevention of substance use has identified efficacious interventions to address youth substance abuse (e.g., refusal skills training, life skills training), much of this research has either controlled for cultural diversity in their samples or has not specifically examined cultural factors in their research (e.g., Botvin, Baker, Dusenbury, Botvin, & Diaz, 1995; MacKinnon et al., 1991). Recent research focused on drug use and Native American youth found that more intense feelings of ethnic pride were directly related to adherence to anti-drug norms (Kulis, Napoli, & Marsiglia, 2002). Expanding upon this research, the focus of the Pilot is to identify the culturally specific ecological factors that contribute to drug-related risk and resilience of Native Youth of the Southwest.

 

Ethnic Appearance

Youth Social Acceptance or Rejection Related to Substance Abuse
This study investigates phenotypic differences in the substance use attitudes and behaviors of Mexican-origin high school adolescents to determine if and in what ways cultural orientation (i.e., acculturation) mediates the relationship between phenotype and substance use. PI; Dr. Verna Keith, Status: SIRC pilot, R-21 application in development.
  • Research Brief - Not available

 

Project Corazon

This pilot examines the life trajectories of Hispanic and non-Hispanic males who are heavy users of illicit drugs and are not in treatment. Using a mixed-methods (integrative quantitative-qualitative) approach, Project Corazon examines multiple cultural aspects of the addicted person’s life experiences. Core variables that are examined under this mixed methods approach include: resilience, life stressors, cultural identification and other forms of acculturation, machismo, and other personality and social variables related to the development of drug dependence, and recovery from this addiction.

PI: Dr. Felipe Castro Community partner: Chicano Por la Causa Status: SIRC pilot,
R-01 under development

  • Research Brief - Not available