Want to see if you can participate in a paid research study?
Interested in one of our studies? Contact Kenzie Whitener directly at whitener@iu.edu to learn more.
Current Research
Brief DBT-A in a School-based Setting (aka “Going 4 Goals” and “G4G”)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) has been shown to be an effective program for a variety of adolescent problem behaviors. However, no study to date has examined the use of DBT-A as a substance abuse prevention program among youth, moreover in a school setting. The objective of this study is to test preliminary effectiveness of DBT-A in a school-based setting in 1) increasing emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills and 2) reducing the likelihood or actual engagement in risky behavior, including substance use, among youth.
As of 2024, Going for Goals has advanced to Phase II. We are currently assessing how school guidance counselors and teachers can apply the program on their own after participating in training sessions led by Dr. Zapolski and Kenzie Whitener. All program objectives, lesson topics and content remain the same and all groups are now held exclusively in-person by the school. This fall, the pilot for Phase II is being held in our first rural school in southern Indiana. If you would like to bring G4G into your high school, please complete the form on our Contact Us page or directly email Kenzie at whitener@iu.edu.
IU School of Medicine Youth Coalition (“YOCO”)
Dr. Tamika Zapolski founded the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Youth Coalition (YOCO) in 2023. YOCO’s aim is to engage youth of diverse backgrounds in shaping mental health research and interventions. Our members share unique insights, ideas, and perspectives to shape adolescent mental health research projects that impact the world. In addition to collaborating with renowned researchers, YOCO members also enhance their critical-thinking and leadership skills, connect with other likeminded peers, and have the opportunity to create their own research projects and community service initiatives to create positive change. Youths aged 13-18 are eligible to join. Membership for the 2025-2026 cohort will open in summer 2025.
Visit www.iusmyoco.com for more information.
ADAPT
ADAPT aims to address gaps in identification of need and access to care. The study is implementing a Learning Health System to improve collaboration between juvenile justice agencies and community mental health centers, using interagency data sharing to help identify specific local gaps and opportunities to implement evidence-based interventions.
The goal of this study is to identify mechanisms to improve interagency collaboration; enhance prevention and treatment service delivery along the opioid care cascade; and improve outcomes for justice-involved youth at high risk of developing a substance use disorder.
Our team is also interested in understanding racial and ethnic disparities within the SUD care cascade among Black and Lantix youth. With a diversity supplement, we aim to build off of the work conducted within the parent project by examining whether there are racial/ethnic disparities within each point of contact within the cascade of care for youth involved in juvenile justice. We will examine data across the department of juvenile justice and community mental health centers (CMHCs) who provide SUD treatment for YJJ within three rural Indiana counties and compare differences between Black and Latinx youth and non-Hispanic White youth on five defined contact points with the SUD care cascade: screening, needs assessment and identification, referral, initiation, and utilization.
Previous Research
CBPR Teacher Mental Health
Burnout and turnover rates among teachers has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. According to a 2023 study conducted by RAND, 23% of American teachers said that they were likely to leave their job at their school by the end of the year due to stress and burnout, and teachers of color are significantly more likely to intend to leave than their peers. Through qualitative interviews and surveys, we aim to understand why this is, how to best support teachers and their mental health, and create new resources for school districts to offer.
Racial Discrimination and Drug Use: Examining the Mediating Role of Inflammation among African American Youth
Drug use among youth in the US has high public health relevance, as it is associated with negative social, mental, and physical health outcome; however current risk models have largely failed to explain risk for African American youth. The current project will contribute to our understanding of the risk processes for drug use among African American youth by (a) illuminating the indirect effect of inflammatory functioning within the risk process between racial discrimination and drug use, (b) identify culturally-relevant protective factors within the risk process, and (c) variations in the magnitude of the effect based on the type of discrimination experienced. Findings are significant as they will directly impact intervention programming by identifying specific targets within the risk process and important cultural factors to include that can buffer risk.
Daily Experiences of Microaggressions and Health Outcomes among Black Adolescents: A Daily Diary Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the interactions between daily experiences of racial microaggressions and health outcomes (e.g., symptoms of depression and anxiety, aggression, and cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco use) among Black adolescents using daily diary surveys. We are also interested in exploring the moderating role of racial identity profiles in the relationship between daily experiences of microaggressions and health outcomes among Black adolescents. (Co-PI: Richelle Clifton)
Survey of Stress, Trauma, and Health
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between stress, trauma, and health. We would like to examine how race, gender, sexual identity, and experiences of discrimination and trauma as a result of these identities are related to health outcomes (depression, anxiety, healthy eating), behavioral outcomes (alcohol, cannabis, and drug use), and academic outcomes (academic motivation) among college-aged individuals.
Gender Assessment and Drinking
The purpose of this study was to examine alcohol consumption among undergraduates to contribute to our understanding of how individuals' descriptions of themselves is related to alcohol consumption.
Exploring Concurrent Substance Use among Adolescents (aka “Teen Cell Study”)
This study examined patterns of single and concurrent marijuana use and their association with substance-related consequences among adolescent substance users by race. The study used online daily diary surveys to quantitatively compare current patterns of marijuana, alcohol and tobacco use, and consequences associated with specific patterns of use. The study also involved qualitative interviews among a sub-sample of youth to identify potential mechanisms that differentiate users of marijuana only from concurrent users of marijuana and other substances. The goal of this research is to better understand how marijuana use contributes to racial disparities in substance-related consequences and to identify African American youth at greatest risk for such consequences. (Co-PI: Devin Banks)
Racial Identity and Health Outcomes among Black Young Adults
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between racial identity and various health and academic outcomes among African American/Black college students. We also hope to understand whether racial identity can protect against some of the negative effects of racial discrimination. (Co-PI: Richelle Clifton)
Recent Publications
To see all of our publications, go to our publications page here!
Fox, L.; Whitener, M.P.; Cyders, M.; Zapolski, T.C.B. Urgency as a Predictor of Change in Emotion Dysregulation in Adolescents. (in press)
Whitener, M.P., Khazvand, S., Carson, I., Zapolski, T.C.B., Aalsma, M. Examining Student Perspectives of a School-Based DBT-A Group Intervention. (in press)
Fisher, S., Hsu, W.-W., Zapolski, T. C. B., Malone, C., Caldwell, B., & Barnes-Najor, J. (2024). The Role of Parents in Early Adolescent Substance Use: A Longitudinal Investigation. The Journal of Early Adolescence.
McBrayer, C; Turner, A.; Whitener, M.P.; Adams, Z.W.; Hulvershorn, L.; Zapolski, T.C.B.; Aalsma, M. (2024) Barriers and Perceptions of Treatment in Justice- Involved Youth. Health and Justice.
Brown, K. L., Banks, D. E., & Zapolski, T. C. B. (2024). The impact of cultural and institutional race-related stress on mental health outcomes among ethnic/racially minoritized young adults: Ethnic identity as a protective factor. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.
Carson, I., Wu, W., Knopf, A., Crawford, C., Zapolski, T.C.B. (2024).On the Relationship Between Online Heterosexist Discrimination and Mental Health and Substance Use Among LGBTQ+ Young Adults. Archives Sex Behavior.
Clifton R.L. & Zapolski TCB (2023) Racial identity profiles among Black adolescents: impact on the relationship between daily racial microaggressions and health outcomes. Frontier of Adolescent Medicine.
Zapolski, T.C.B., & Deppermann, V. (2023). Examining promotive and protective effects of ethnic identity on alcohol and cannabis use among Black young adults. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment.
McBrayer, K., Whitener, M.P., Keys, J., Aalsma, M. (2022). “Just as Expensive as Sending Him to College:” Barriers and Perceptions of Treatment in Justice-Involved Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health.
Crichlow, Q., Banks, D.E., Carson, I., Sycarah, F., Barnes-Najor, J., & Zapolski, T.C.B. (2022). Racial discrimination and substance use among African American youth: Personal and collective self-esteem as mechanisms. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse.
Polanka, B. M., Gupta, S. K., So-Armah, K. A., Freiberg, M. S., Zapolski, T. C.B., Hirsh, A. T., & Stewart, J. C. (2022). Examining Depression as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease in People with HIV: A Systematic Review. Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Khazvand, S., Zapolski, T. C.B., Cyders, M. A., & Pietri, E. S. (2022). The relationship between racial discrimination and substance use: Does locus of control help explain risk?. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 100429.
Mulia, N., Witbrodt, J., Karriker-Jaffe, K. J., Li, L., Lui, C. K., & Zapolski, T. C.B. (2022). Education matters: longitudinal pathways to mid-life heavy drinking in a national cohort of black Americans. Addiction.
Whitt, Z. T., Sturgeon, T., Rattermann, M. J., Salyers, M., Zapolski, T. C.B., & Cyders, M. A. (2022). Mapping recovery: A qualitative node map approach to understanding factors proximal to relapse among adolescents in a recovery high school. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 108750.
Zapolski, T.C.B., Whitener, M.P, Khazvand, S., Crichlow, Q., Revilla, R., Salgado, E., Aalsma, M., Cyders, M., Salyers, M., & Wei, W. (2022) Implementation of a brief Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills group in high schools for at-risk youth: Protocol for a mixed-methods study. JMIR Research Protocols. https://doi.org/10.2196/32490
Byer-Tyre, C. A., Clifton, R. L., Faidley, M., Schoeps, K., & Zapolski, T. C. B. (2024). Exploring the promotive pathway between ethnic-racial identity, depression and anxiety symptoms, and substance use among African American emerging adults. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology.
Khazvand, S., Riley, T. N., Whitener, M. P., & Zapolski, T. C. B. (2021). Who am I: Considerations for adolescent development during a pandemic. J Ment Health Soc Behav, 3(2), 143.
Zapolski, T. C., Yu, T., Brody, G. H., Banks, D. E., & Barton, A. W. (2020). Why now? Examining antecedents for substance use initiation among African American adolescents. Development and psychopathology, 32(2), 719-734.
Banks, D. E., Hershberger, A. R., Pemberton, T., Clifton, R. L., Aalsma, M. C., & Zapolski, T. C. (2019). Poly-use of cannabis and other substances among juvenile-justice involved youth: variations in psychological and substance-related problems by typology. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 45(3), 313-322.
Rowe, A. T., Zapolski, T. C., Hensel, D. J., Fisher, S., & Barnes-Najor, J. (2019). Peer victimization, mood symptoms, and alcohol use: examining effects among diverse high school youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(5), 924-934. doi:10.1007/s10964-018-0979-2
Montgomery, L., Zapolski, T. C. B., Banks, D. E., & Floyd, A. (2019). Puff, Puff, Drink: The association between blunt and alcohol use among African American adolescents and young adults. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/ort0000400
Zapolski, T. C. B., Beutlich, M., & Fisher, S. (2019). Collective ethnic identity and health outcomes among African American youth: Examination of promotive and protective effects. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. doi: 10.1037/cdp0000258
Zapolski, T. C. B. & Clifton, R. L. (2019). Cultural socialization and alcohol use: The mediating role of alcohol expectancies among racial/ethnic minority youth. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 9, 100145. doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2018.100145
Zapolski, T. C. B., Clifton, R. L., Banks, D. E., Hershberger, A. R., & Aalsma, M. C. (2019). Family and peer influences on substance use among juvenile justice-involved youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(2), 447-456. doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1268-0
Zapolski, T. C. B., Rowe, A. T., Banks, D. E., & Faidley, M. T. (2019). Perceived discrimination and substance use: Examining the moderating effect of distress tolerance and negative urgency. Substance Use & Misuse, 54(1), 156-165. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2018.1512625
Zapolski, T.C.B., Faidley, M.T., & Beutlich, M. (2019). The experience of racism on behavioral health outcomes: The moderating impact of mindfulness, 10(1), 168-178. Mindfulness. doi:10.1007/s12671-018-0963-7
Banks, D. E., Winningham, R. D., Wu, W., & Zapolski, T. C. B. (2019). Examination of the indirect effect of alcohol expectancies on ethnic identity and adolescent drinking outcomes. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. doi: 10.1037/ort0000390
Banks, D. E., Faidley, M. T., Smith, G. T. & Zapolski, T.C.B. (2018). Racial/ethnic differences in the time-varying association of alcohol expectancies and drinking during the transition from childhood to adolescence. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2018.1520174
Winningham, R. D., Banks, D. E., Beutlich, M., Aalsma, M. C., & Zapolski, T. C. B. (2018). Substance use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomology on behavioral outcomes among juvenile justice youth. American Journal on Addictions. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajad.12831
Banks, D.E. & Zapolski, T.C.B. (2018). The crossover effect: A review of racial/ethnic variations in risk for substance use and abuse across development. Current Addiction Reports, 5(3), 386-395. doi:10.1007/s40429-018-0220-0
Zapolski, T. C., Rowe, A. T., Fisher, S., Hensel, D., & Barnes-Najor, J. (2018). Peer victimization and substance use: Understanding the indirect effect of depressive symptomatology across gender. Addictive Behaviors, 84, 160-166. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.04.010
Zapolski, T.C.B., Banks, D.E., Lau, K.S.L., & Aalsma, M.C. (2018). Perceived police injustice, moral disengagement, and aggression among juvenile offenders: Utilizing the General Strain Theory model. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 49(2), 290-297. doi:10.1007/s10578-017-0750-z