Active Grants

Improving causal inference for national adolescent substance use datasets.

R21 DA059778 (PI: Marceau)                                                                                         06/15/2024 – 06/14/2026

NIDA

Preventing or delaying adolescent substance use (SU) is a critical goal because the risk of developing lifelong substance use problems is elevated in individuals who began using as adolescents. The proposed R21 will develop a new analytic model that will improve our ability to make causal inferences between potential intervention targets and SU, and freely provide the code and information on power to maximize its utility for scientists who use large-scale longitudinal data. Our results using this model will also advance understanding of the transactional development of different aspects (i.e., parent- and child-driven) of parental monitoring and adolescent SU, which will be of immediate use to individuals designing and testing adolescent SU prevention and interventions by zeroing in on the specific behaviors most likely to be causally linked to SU and the level at which (individual, family) they influence SU outcomes.

Supporting family resilience in the aftermath of disaster.

USDA\NIFA (PI: Marceau, Elias)                                                                                         09/01/24-08/31/26

The goals of this project are to adapt existing materials from the flexible and accessible 9-week Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT) program and develop an implementation plan that will train Cooperative Extension System (CES) professionals to help families build resilience in the aftermath of disasters. Our specific objectives are to (1) identify the unique needs of families in the aftermath of disasters with respect to building family resilience, (2) tailor existing FT materials to the identified needs, (3) create a manual to facilitate CES professionals’ implementation of FT in response to disasters, and (4) distribute the materials, manual, and program.

Supports: Dr. Marceau, Claire Rosenberger

An adoption study of the development of early substance use: the joint roles of genetic influences, prenatal risk, rearing environment, and pubertal maturation.

R01 DA045108 (PI: Neiderhiser)                                                                                         04/01/18-02/28/25 (No cost extension)

NIDA

The proposed research will clarify how heritable risks and prenatal and postnatal environments work together with hormonal changes to influence the development of risk for early substance use (SU) and related problems in adolescence. My role is to lead the data core, overseeing data management, preparation, and analyses, as well as to assist in retention and recruitment of hard-to-reach families, and research dissemination.

Supported: Dr. Marceau, Olivia Robertson, Li (Hazel) Yu, Nikolina Nonkovic, Sohee Lee