Stress and Resilience (BARS)

Black Adult Resilience Study

Alcohol and cannabis are the most misused psychoactive substances in the United States. The proposed research examines how personally relevant stressful experiences may lead to alcohol and cannabis use. The proposed research is also designed to identify possible targets for prevention and treatment efforts to help reduce drug use.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Alcohol Use; Cannabis Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Daily Hassles; Behavioral: Direct Interpersonal Exchange; Behavioral: Vicarious Interpersonal Exchange

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 456
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: P. Priscilla Lui, Ph.D.; Phone Number: 206-685-8391; Email: pplui@uw.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75204
      • Recruiting
      • Southern Methodist University
      • Contact: Ernest N Jouriles, Ph.D.; Phone Number: 214-768-2360; Email: ejourile@smu.edu
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98195
      • Recruiting
      • University of Washington
      • Contact: P. Priscilla Lui, Ph.D.; Phone Number: 206-685-8391; Email: pplui@uw.edu
      • Sub-Investigator: Kevin M King, Ph.D.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Of Afro-descent
• Proficient in English
• Alcohol and/or cannabis use at least 2-3 times in the past month
• Endorse having used alcohol and/or cannabis to cope

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having participated in similar studies by the research team
• Obtain cut-off scores on scale items indicating possible loss of control and needing to cut down or quit alcohol and/or cannabis use
• In or seeking treatment for alcohol and/or cannabis use disorder

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Direct Interpersonal Exchange; Simulated a negative personally relevant interpersonal experience that is received directly from a perpetrator, commonly experienced in everyday lives	Behavioral: Direct Interpersonal Exchange; Simulated a negative personally relevant interpersonal experience that is received directly from a perpetrator, commonly experienced in everyday lives
Experimental: Vicarious Interpersonal Exchange; Hearing or observing a negative personally relevant interpersonal experience that is reported by another person of the same background	Behavioral: Vicarious Interpersonal Exchange; Hearing or observing a negative personally relevant interpersonal experience that is reported by another person of the same background
Placebo Comparator: Daily Hassles; Day-to-day stressors associated with school, work, finances	Behavioral: Daily Hassles; Day-to-day stressors associated with school, work, finances

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Duration of Alcohol and Cannabis Intoxication	Self-reported number of hours of intoxication within 48 hours after the intervention	48 Hours Post-Intervention
Momentary Alcohol and/or Cannabis Craving	Momentary Alcohol and Cannabis Craving Scale will be administered (adapted from the Momentary Cannabis Craving Scale; Davis et al., 2024) immediately after the intervention. Mean scores will range from 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating greater momentary craving.	Immediately after the intervention (i.e., within 1 minute)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: P. Priscilla Lui, Ph.D., University of Washington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 9, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 28, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 7, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): June 13, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 10, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Drinking Behavior; Alcohol Drinking
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00018058; R01DA058626 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No