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?

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.