Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Protective Effects of Familism on Risk Taking among Latino Youth

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of heightened vulnerability for risk taking behavior and poor decision making that give rise to substance use and experimentation. Latino adolescents have higher rates of substance use and begin using drugs at an earlier age than other U.S. youth. Familism is a specific type of family connection important to Latino families that implies children?s role in the support and assistance of their family. Recent research suggests that familism is a culturally relevant protective factor against drug use among Latinos, but the mechanisms by which it functions are not well understood. Evidence from developmental neuroscience suggests that risk-taking behavior increases during adolescence partly due to changes in the brain?s neural circuitry. The cognitive control system, which is involved in self-regulation, develops more slowly relative to the socio-emotional system, which is involved in reward evaluation and sensitivity. This neural imbalance may hinder appropriate evaluation of risk and bias youth towards risky decisions. Familism may function by influencing these neural systems and their correlates to real-life risk taking. This research will utilize a multi-method, longitudinal design, including daily diaries and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to examine neural correlates by which familism may buffer Latino youth from risk taking and drug initiation. No previous studies have examined the role of culture on the neural correlates of risky behavior. This study advances our understanding of risk taking among Latinos and the culturally relevant protective factors that can reduce risk for drug initiation among this growing population. These findings will enable us to tease apart how the cognitive control and reward systems relate to familism and real-life risk behaviors, which has the potential to inform the design of successful interventions that can efficiently target these systems to help youth make better, less risky decisions. For instance, if lower levels of familism are associated with deficits in cognitive control, interventions can target the improvement of cognitive control processes by training individuals to make more deliberative decisions. If higher levels of familism are associated with reduced reward sensitivity to risk taking, interventions can promote the maintenance of traditional cultural values in addition to the acquisition of other types of reward in youths' lives, such as positive friendships. In addition to informing policy and intervention, findings from this study are useful to guide future research to identify other culturally relevant factors that may protect diverse youth from engaging in drug use and risky behavior.