Youth who engage in heavy substance use during adolescence are at high risk for continued use, addiction, and mental health problems throughout their lives. The growth in prescription drug misuse and the related trend in heroin use has exacerbated this problem in Indiana and surrounding states. Understanding adolescent substance use in Indiana and the needs of Indiana residents to ameliorate adolescent substance use is important to more effectively educate Indiana residents, especially parents, and prevent adolescent substance use problems. This AgSEED proposal by Dr. Kristine Marceau, a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Human Development and Family Studies department, and a team of faculty with quantitative, qualitative, and community-based research expertise from several departments in the Colleges of Health and Human Sciences, Liberal Arts, and Extension, will address the major contemporary problem of adolescent substance use in Indiana. Our overarching goal is to facilitate informed decision-making to improve the well-being of Indiana youth and their families. We propose a three-arm Applied Research study, including 1) information gathering, 2) an outreach component: education through Extension, and 3) qualitative community-based participatory research aimed at understanding the prevalence of adolescence substance use and needs of Indiana residents surrounding adolescent substance use prevention and resources. At the culmination of this project, we will have the following products: publications and white papers disseminating our findings, pilot data for a planned R21 or R34 to be submitted to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and a deliverable informational session for families that can be continued by Extension. This project is funded by the Purdue University Agricultural Science and Extension for Economic Development (AgSEED) Grant.
Publications related to this research:
Nair, Nayantara, Alishia Elliott, Sarah Arnold, Andrew Flachs, Barbara Beaulieu & Kristine Marceau. 2022. “Adolescent substance use: Findings from a state-wide pilot parent education program.” BMC Public Health, 22(1):557. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12899-2