Genes, Environment, and Youth Development (Su)
Keywords: gene-environment interplay, substance use, family relationships, adolescence, young adulthood, ethnic/racial minority, health disparities
Lab Area:
Developmental Psychology
Actively Recruiting Undergraduate Researchers: Yes
Actively Recruiting Graduate Students: Yes
Overview
Integrating developmental psychopathology and statistical/molecular genetics, we seek to understand how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of alcohol use disorders and related behavioral and emotional health outcomes in diverse populations.
We are interested in:
1) understanding how family processes and sociocultural factors may buffer or exacerbate genetic risk for the development of risky substance use patterns across development, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood,
2) disentangling the genetic and psychosocial pathways underlying the intergenerational transmission of risk and resilience related to substance use disorders and related outcomes, and
3) examining potential differences in pathways of risk and resilience across racial/ethnic groups.
Our goal is to understand how genetic and psychosocial factors predict substance misuse to better inform effective, personalized prevention and intervention for individuals who are at risk.
Research Projects
The Pathways to College Health Study
The Pathways to College Health Study is a longitudinal study aimed at understanding pathways of risk and resilience to substance use and related mental health outcomes among college students. We focus on understanding how family, peer, school, and cultural processes in conjunction with genetic factors contribute to alcohol use and related outcomes throughout college years, and examining racial-ethnic differences and similarities in pathways of risk and resilience. This study was launched in Fall 2020 and enrolled two cohorts of first-year college students at ASU (Cohort 1 Fall 2020, n = 425; Cohort 2 Fall 2021, n = 335).
This study is supported by the Institute of Mental Health Research (PI: Su), and faculty startup funds from Arizona State University.
Experiencias: Latinx Student Daily Lives Study
The overarching goal of this study is to examine how does genetic risk unfold in daily lives and how do sociocultural factors (e.g., discrimination, cultural values, family and peer relationship) interact with genetic factors to influence alcohol use and related mental health outcomes among Latinx college students. This study was launched in Fall 2022 and enrolled ~400 students who have completed a baseline online survey via Qualtrics (Fall 2022), daily diary survey for 30 days (Spring 2023), and a follow-up survey in Fall 2023.
This study is supported by faculty startup funds from Arizona State University, and seed grant from the Institute for Social Sciences Research.
A Developmentally and Culturally Informed Approach to Study Gene-Environment Interplay and Alcohol Use Related Outcomes Among Racially-Ethnically Diverse Youth
Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, we conduct research aimed at 1) understanding how do genetic risk for alcohol use disorders and related psychiatric traits (e.g., depression, externalizing problems) unfold earlier in development, and 2) examining developmental and socioenvironmental mechanisms linking genetic risk to substance use and related outcomes, and 3) identifying sociocultural risk and protective factors that can exacerbate or buffer genetic risk for substance use and related outcomes among racially-ethnically diverse youth.
This study is supported by funding from the Institute for Social Science Research, (PI: Su; Fall 2019), funding from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (U54MD002316), through the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center Pilot Project Program (PI: Su; 07/01/2022-06/30/2023), and funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (PI: Su; R01AA0312813, 09/18/2023-05/31/2028).
Graduate Recruiting
Dr. Su is accepting new graduate students in the Developmental Psychology PhD program. If interested, please email Dr. Su at jinnisu1@asu.edu with a copy of your CV.