Teaching Youth & Families Self-Regulation Skills to Disrupt the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Preventing Substance Use in Adversity- Impacted Youth
University of California, Irvine
Summary
The goal of this 2-arm randomized control trial is to determine the impact of a community health worker delivered coaching intervention, GRIT, on preventing the early initiation of regular use of alcohol and cannabis among adversity-impacted adolescents ages 11-14 who do not regularly use alcohol or cannabis at baseline. The specific aims include: * Aim 1. Examine the effect of GRIT on preventing the early initiation of regular alcohol and cannabis use over time. * Aim 2. Examine the role of youth and caregiver self-regulation in mediating the effect of GRIT on adolescent rates of alcohol and cannabis use. Researchers will compare participants who are randomized to the GRIT intervention to an active control group, receiving a Digital Citizenship Curriculum, to see if those who participate in GRIT experience greater improvements in self-regulation and lower cardiometabolic risks. Participants will: * Be randomized to either receive the GRIT intervention (experimental group) or the Digital Citizenship Curriculum (active control group) * Complete 3 in-person visits at baseline, post-intervention, and 12-month post intervention * Complete HRV assessments using emWave Pro Plus and survey assessments on REDCap during in-person visits. * Participate in six 60-minute sessions conducted over 8 weeks via Zoom with an assigned community-health worker * Be invited to complete a booster session at 6-months post-intervention * Complete online measures at baseline, post-intervention, 6-month, and 12-month post-intervention
Description
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) constitute a serious public health issue, impacting almost half of adolescents and over 60% of adults in the United States. High ACEs exposure (i.e., four or more ACEs) may result in self-dysregulation (i.e., challenges managing cognitions, emotions, and behaviors) and lead to early initiation of alcohol and substance use (e.g., self-medication hypothesis) and other biopsychosocial responses, such as cardiometabolic risks (e.g., lowered heart rate variability \[HRV\], increased weight and blood pressure, and sleep disturbance), and emotional and/or cognitiv…