{"id":154565,"date":"2022-01-24T08:38:48","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T18:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=154565"},"modified":"2022-01-24T12:16:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T22:16:48","slug":"2m-mental-health-tobacco-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/24\/2m-mental-health-tobacco-study\/","title":{"rendered":"$2M<\/abbr> study examines pandemic effects on mental health, tobacco use"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"exterior
UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to significant increases in depression and anxiety among Americans, especially young adults, according to data collected through the U.S.<\/abbr> Census Bureau\u2019s Household Pulse Surveys. However, very little is known about how the pandemic has affected mental health and tobacco and other substance use behavior of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s young adults, especially across different racial\/ethnic groups.<\/p>\n

A research team led by a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Cancer Center<\/a> researcher has received a $2.01 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA<\/abbr>) to conduct this public impact research examining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected mental health and tobacco and other substance use among the state\u2019s young adults.<\/p>\n

\"pallav
Pallav Pohkrel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pallav Pokhrel<\/strong> and his team had collected several waves of data on mental health and tobacco, and other substance use from a cohort of more than 2,000 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> young adults prior to the pandemic, through a previous grant supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI<\/abbr>). The new NIDA<\/abbr> funding will help Pokhrel and his team follow this same cohort during the pandemic, with the purpose of understanding how various aspects of COVID-19, such as loneliness and financial stress, may have affected their mental health and substance use behavior. <\/p>\n

“This study will help us understand the social and psychological mechanisms through which the pandemic may differentially affect the mental health and tobacco use of young adults of different racial\/ethnic backgrounds,” said Pokhrel. <\/p>\n

He added that such information could assist with needs-based development of health promotion—including tobacco use prevention—strategies in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n

“This is an important new project and represents the kind of innovative behavioral cancer prevention research we conduct at the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center,” said Interim Director Joe W. Ramos<\/strong>. “Members of this team are leaders in the field, and I look forward to the outcomes of this work so that we can begin to address any issues they may find here in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

This research is an example of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015\u201325 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The study follows a cohort of 2,000 young adults in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1363,169,9],"class_list":["post-154565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-uh-cancer-center","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t