Social Media and Substance Use Risk and Resilience Among Gender Minority Emerging Adults
Project Number5K01DA054357-04
Contact PI/Project LeaderGORDON, ALLEGRA RABOFF
Awardee OrganizationBOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
Description
Abstract Text
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Gender minority populations, who have a gender identity that differs from their assigned sex at birth, including
transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people, face 2-4 times greater risk of substance use and
adverse mental health outcomes (e.g., eating disorder symptoms) than cisgender (that is, non-gender minority)
populations. To mitigate these severe but understudied disparities, it is critical to identify effective preventive
interventions for genderminorities, particularly in emerging adulthood, a critical developmental period offering
unique risks as well as opportunities for substance use prevention. Research suggests several relevant targets
for preventive interventions in this age group. This includes the role of social stressors (e.g., anti-transgender
stigma, including online), targeted marketing, and sociocultural appearance ideals (e.g., pressure for men to
look “masculine,” women to look “feminine”), both of which can exacerbate body dissatisfaction, which has
been linked to substance use and adverse mental health outcomes in genderminorities. Online environments,
especially social media (e.g., Instagram), offer unprecedented access to supportive resources for gender
minority emerging adults, but also provide new channels for harmful exposure to stigmatizing messages,
targeted marketing by alcohol and tobacco industries, and sociocultural appearance ideals. It is not known how
social media should be leveraged to prevent substance use among gender minority emerging adults. To date,
no intervention has been developed to address the unique impact of online stressors (e.g., stigma) and
resilience factors (e.g., social support) on body dissatisfaction and substance use for GM emerging adults. In
response to these research gaps, my long-term goal is to develop, test, and disseminate effective interventions
for substance use prevention among gender minority young people. My objective for this proposal is to obtain
training in (1) theory and methods for research on social media and health behaviors, (2) technology-based
behavioral intervention development and testing, and (3) community-engaged research, which I will apply to
the proposed research. Responding to the NIH FY 2021-2025 Strategic Plan to Advance Research on the
Health and Well-being of Sexual and GenderMinorities and informed by the Minority Stress Theory, Gender
Affirmation Framework, and Transactional Model of social media effects, the specific aims of this research are
to: 1) investigate gender minority emerging adult (18-25 years) experiences and intervention needs related to
social media, body dissatisfaction and substance use; and 2) engage a community advisory board (CAB) to
develop a brief, online-administered social media intervention to reduce body dissatisfaction and substance
use risk in gender minority emerging adults and test the intervention for feasibility and acceptability. The
intensive career development training and the research findings from this study will lay the groundwork for
future testing and dissemination of intervention materials tailored to the needs of this underserved population.
Public Health Relevance Statement
PROJECT NARRATIVE
Transgender and other gender minority emerging adults are at greater risk for substance use and adverse
mental health outcomes than their non-transgender peers, driven in part by social stressors (e.g., stigma) and
sociocultural appearance pressures. Online, interactive media (e.g., social media) may be a significant source
of social stressors and harmful appearance pressures, while also offering unprecedented access to support for
gender minority emerging adults and novel opportunities for interventions to reduce body dissatisfaction and
substance use. This research will increase knowledge about (a) the influence of social media environments on
body dissatisfaction and other substance use risk factors and (b) the feasibility and acceptability of an
innovative intervention to increase critical social media literacy and reduce substance use risk factors with the
goal of improving the health and wellbeing of gender minority young people and advancing health equity.
NIH Spending Category
No NIH Spending Category available.
Project Terms
Access to InformationAddressAdultAgeAlcoholsAppearanceAwardBehaviorBehavior TherapyBehavioralBirthBostonDevelopmentDisparityEating DisordersEnvironmentExposure toFaceFamilyFeasibility StudiesFeeling suicidalFemaleFeminineFutureGender IdentityGoalsHealthHealth behaviorIndividualInstagramInterventionIntervention StudiesInterviewKnowledgeLinkMarketingMasculineMedia InterventionMediatingMental HealthModelingOutcomeParticipantPersonal SatisfactionPersonsPhasePhysiologicalPoliciesPopulationPreventionQuasi-experimentResearchResearch MethodologyResistanceResourcesRiskRisk FactorsRoleSamplingSchoolsScientistSexual and GenderMinoritiesSocial EnvironmentSocial supportSourceStigmatizationStrategic PlanningSurveysSymptomsTechnologyTestingTobacco IndustryTrainingTransactUnderserved PopulationUnited States National Institutes of HealthWomanWorkacceptability and feasibilityage grouparmbiological adaptation to stressbody dissatisfactionbrief interventioncareer developmentcigarette smokingcisgendercohortcommunity advisory boardcommunity engaged researchcommunity engagement processcritical developmental perioddesigndiarieseffective interventionemerging adultemerging adulthoodexperiencefeasibility testingfollow up assessmentgender affirmationgender minoritygender minority groupgender nonconformingharassmenthealth equityhealth inequalitieshigh risk drinkingillicit drug useimprovedinnovationliteracymalemedia usemenminority childrenminority stressnonbinarynovelpeerpost interventionpressurepreventpreventive interventionprimary outcomeprogramsprotective factorspsychologicpsychological distressreduced substance useresilienceresilience factorresponsesecondary outcomesex assignedskillssocial culturesocial influencesocial mediasocial stigmasocial stressorstressorsubstance usesubstance use preventiontheoriestherapy developmenttransgenderusabilityweb-based interventionyoung adult
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