The study of people of color in the U.S. is important as they tend to underutilize formal mental health services and their psychological needs often go unmet. Moreover, we know very little about the way culture and related social factors affect symptom expression, help-seeking behavior, and the developmental course of psychological distress among ethnically diverse communities. While it is clear that the examination of culture must be a key variable in all research, if it is to be informative we must better ensure that it is operationalized and measured appropriately. This issue is at the center of the research currently being done in my lab.

Recently, I have been focused on uncovering factors that predict and protect against substance use in African Americans. My research shows that (1) many of the factors that have been shown to be predictive of substance use for European American adolescents are not predictive in the same way for African American adolescents, and (2) reliance on cross-race comparisons prevents us from learning about other, more powerful predictive and protective factors for African Americans. Building on this foundation, my current research is aimed at understanding the role of culture in the psychological functioning of African Americans and disentangling extant methodological concerns in the study of African Americans. In particular, my current research, and that of my graduate students, focuses on understanding how ethnic identity, collectivism, acculturation, and religiousness/spirituality are related to mental health and substance use for African Americans. Specific questions we are currently exploring include:

1. Do currently available measures of ethnic identity overlap with acculturation measures and if so, how can we separate these constructs at the measurement level so that their independent and multiplicative effects on health can be understood?
2. Which dimensions of collectivism are associated with African American culture and what is the best way to measure them?
3. What are the mechanisms through which ethnic identity relates to mental health outcomes (e.g., substance use, psychological functioning, risk behaviors) among African Americans?
4. What is the mechanism whereby religiousness and spirituality promote health and protect against distress among African Americans, and are there conditions under which their effects are less salutary?
5. How can the Internet be used to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in psychological research?

Spirituality and Psychology Research Interest Group:
I also do research on spirituality and religiousness and its relationship to health among college students as part of the Spirituality and Psychology Research Interest Group (SPRIG). Please click here for information on SPRIG.

• Brown, T.L., Acevedo, I. D.*, & Smith, A. M.* (2006). Cross-cultural issues affecting the supervisory relationship in counseling children and families (pp. 73-88). In T. K, Neill (Ed.), Helping others help children: Clinical supervision of child psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
• Acevedo-Polakovich, I. D.*, Reynaga-Abiko, G., Garriott, P. O.*, Derefinko, K. J.*, Wimsatt, M. K.*, Gudonis, L. C.*, & Brown, T.L. (in press). Beyond instrument selection: Cultural considerations in the psychological assessment of US Latinas/os. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
• Flory, K.*, Brown, T.L., Lynam, D., Miller, J. D.*, Leukefeld, C., & Clayton, R. R. (2006). A comparison of African American and Caucasian adolescents' developmental trajectories of alcohol use. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 12(4), 640-746.
• Brown, T.L., Flory, K.*, Lynam, D., Leukefeld, C., & Clayton, R. R. (2004). Comparing the developmental trajectories of marijuana use of African American and Caucasian adolescents: Patterns, antecedents, and consequences. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 47-56.
• Brown, T.L., Miller, J.*, & Clayton, R. R. (2004). The generalizability of substance use predictors across racial groups. Journal of Early Adolescence, 24(3), 274-302.
• Lambert, S., & Brown, T.L., Phillips, C. M., & Ialongo, N. F. (2004). The relationship between perceptions of neighborhood characteristics and substance use among urban African American adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 34(3/4), 205-218.
• Salsman, J. M.*, Brown, T.L., Brechting, E.*, & Carlson, C. (2005). The link between religion and spirituality and psychological adjustment: The mediating role of optimism and social support. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 522-535.
• Brown, T.L., Parks, G. S.*, Zimmerman, R. S., & Phillips, C. M. (2001). The role of religion in predicting adolescent alcohol use and problem drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 62(5), 696-705.
• Brown, T.L., (2003). Internet-based research: Is it a viable strategy for increasing the representation of ethnic minorities in psychological research. Individual Differences Research, 1(3), 218-229.