Dr. Andrew Rothenberg Receives NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Award
September 7, 2020
LEND Alumni and current Post-Doc Andrew "Drew" Rothenberg, received the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Award. Use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs (i.e., substance use) is a leading cause of global health burden for 10-to-24-year-olds, according to the World Health Organization. Consequently, leading international health organizations have prioritized the prevention of substance use before it escalates in adolescence and young adulthood.
Dr. Rothenberg won this NIH award for his work identifying how depressive and aggressive behaviors that emerge in childhood serve as precursors to illicit substance use. He described how these depressive and aggressive behaviors vary within and between 10 cultural contexts in 7 nations around the world. Drew also discussed how environmental contexts affect these developmental pathways, and described how these contexts also differ across cultures around the world. Finally, Drew offered his thoughts on how knowledge about these developmental pathways and environmental contexts can be applied to interventions that prevent substance use in cultures around the world.