Ecological Momentary Assessment of Mechanisms Linking Racial Discrimination and Substance Use in Black College Students

Black college students experience elevated rates of racial discrimination, which has been linked to higher rates of substance use. However, most existing studies focus exclusively on alcohol and rely on retrospective, cross-sectional designs, which limits our ability to gauge the magnitude of racial discrimination and obscures its influence on other substances prevalent on U.S. college campuses. To address these gaps, this study employs ecological momentary assessment (EMA), a repeated collection of real-time data, to pursue two primary aims among a sample of Black college students (N=97) attending Predominantly White Institutions in Missouri. Aim 1 characterizes both same-day (concurrent) and next-day (lagged) effects of racial discrimination on alcohol, nicotine/tobacco, marijuana, and other drug use while examining between-person and within-person differences. Grounded in the Psychological Mediation Framework, Aim 2 investigates whether affective, cognitive, and social processes mediate the same-day relationship between racial discrimination and substance use, and explores differential mediation to test whether specific psychosocial responses serve as unique pathways. Over 14 days, a mobile app, Expiwell, randomly prompted participants 5x/day to report on all variables. In addition, waking surveys were delivered once every morning to capture overnight racial discrimination and substance use. Accounting for the complex EMA survey design, multilevel models were used for analysis. For both aims, a generalized linear model with a Poisson distribution was implemented for alcohol quantity (count), while a generalized linear model with a binomial distribution was applied to all other substances (dichotomous). Causal mediation analysis was conducted for Aim 2. All models controlled for age, gender, financial stress, and sexual orientation. Significant associations emerged for alcohol and marijuana use in Aim 1 and for alcohol as a count variable in Aim 2. Qualitative insights from a follow-up survey further illuminate Black college students’ lived experiences with racial discrimination, daily coping strategies, and the feasibility and acceptability of phone-based digital assessment tools in this research. Leveraging EMA and multilevel modeling, this study provides temporally sensitive evidence that daily racial discrimination significantly influences alcohol and marijuana use among Black college students, with same-day and next-day effects observed at between-person and within-person levels. The results indicate that substance use serves as both an immediate and delayed coping mechanism, with negative affect and rumination playing pivotal mediating roles. Extrapolating these two-week trends suggests that these students may experience substantial cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and associated substance use over a year, likely contributing to disproportionate substance use and mental health disparities. This dissertation serves as a methodological blueprint for more nuanced research on racial discrimination and substance use. In the context of a 2025 national climate marked by rolling back racial equity and neglecting systemic health disparities, these findings underscore the urgent need for targeted, real-time interventions to mitigate the adverse effects of racial discrimination and promote health equity on college campuses.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Peoples, JaNiene

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sheretta Butler-Barnes
• Alexis Duncan; Mike Strube; Patricia Cavazos-Rehg; Sheretta Butler-Barnes; Tammy English

• alcohol;Black college students;ecological momentary assessment;marijuana;racial discrimination;substance use
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Social Work

Language dc:language

English (en)

Identifier

https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/brown_etds/52

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:brown_etds-1051