Objective: Exposure to traumatic events is linked to adverse health outcomes, including substance use. Contemporary models have conceptualized racism, including racial microaggressions, as a form of trauma. However, few studies have been conducted examining the unique and additive effect of racial microaggressions within models that include exposure to traditional forms of trauma on substance use outcomes, as well as whether effects vary by gender. Method: Three hundred and ninety-nine Black young adults between 18 and 29 (61% female, mean age 20.7) completed measures on problem alcohol and cannabis use, and experiences of trauma and racial microaggressions. Results: Controlling for age, gender, income, race (i.e., monoracial vs. multiracial), and recruitment source, regression analyses showed that racial microaggressions predicted problem substance use above the effect of trauma exposure. Moreover, exoticization/assumptions of similarity and workplace/school microaggressions primarily accounted for the effect of racial microaggressions on substance use risk. One gender effect was found, with trauma exposure associated with lower cannabis use for Black males and a nonsignificant effect found for Black females. Conclusions: Racial microaggressions provide unique and additive understanding in risk for substance use outcomes among Black young adults above effects observed from exposure to traditional forms of trauma. This finding highlights the significance of racial microaggression on health outcomes for Black young adults and can inform future research in the area of trauma exposure and substance use risk among this population of young people.

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Adolescence is a developmental period marked by engaging in risk-taking behaviors, with higher risk among youth who are impulsive or emotionally dysregulated. Thus, interventions that teach skills to reduce the risk for negative outcomes as a consequence of dysregulation are needed. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs have been developed to address both adolescent emotion dysregulation and risk-taking behaviors. However, current programs have mostly been implemented among younger youth and have rarely been empirically evaluated for their effectiveness among high school students. This current study outlines the implementation of a SEL intervention titled “Going 4 Goals,” which is a 9 session adaptation of the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) program for schools delivered to at-risk high school students in a school setting. The primary outcomes of the study are to test whether participating in the skills group intervention produces significant increases in the core DBT-A skills of mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness while also producing significant decreases in substance use and risky behaviors. These primary outcomes are based on changes in participant scores between baseline and post-intervention, as well as follow-ups at 1, 3, and 6 months in comparison to a control group of youth who are participating in the school’s health curriculum at the same time points. A secondary objective of this study is to also examine the acceptability, facilitators and barriers of the intervention through qualitative interviews with intervention participants and school staff. The current paper describes the protocol of the 9 session school-based adaptation of the DBT-A intervention and discussion of the strengths and limitations of the study, as well as future directions.

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