African American Men’s Project (AMP)

Project Summary

Principal Investigator: Steve Kogan
Funding Agencies: NIAAA
Year Project Began: 2018

What factors influence the successes and challenges of young adult, African American men?

 

playing ball

This is a continuation of the African American Men’s Health Project (AMP) which followed a cohort of young adult men (n
= 505, ages 19-22 at baseline) participating in a study of risky
behavior. Three waves of data (mean ages 20.3, 21.9, 23.6) on men’s
substance use, and risk and protective processes associated with risky
behavior. During this project period, many AMP participants will be
exposed to social and economic barriers that are hypothesized to
increase their vulnerability to alcohol use onset and escalation and to
heightened alcohol use consequences. Two more waves of data will be
collected from AMP participants when men are, on average, ages 26 and
29. Additional data points are particularly salient for (a)
investigating a delayed onset of heavy drinking, (b) assessing
transitions to heavy use, (c) examining changes in proximal stressors
associated with barriers to labor force participation and attainment of
adult milestones, and (d) documenting the proximal resilience mechanisms
associated with alcohol use cessation and abstinence. Leveraging
existing and proposed data collection will yield a ~10-year,
5-time-point, prospective study of rural Black men across a critical
developmental inflection point for alcohol use research.