Dr. Banks’ research aims to prevent disparities
related to substance use and behavioral health that disproportionately affect marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Her research focuses on mitigating race-related stress and dismantling inequitable structural health determinants to promote positive development from youth through adulthood.
Substance use patterns in Black & Latinx youth.
Given that Black and Latinx Americans face disproportionate health and social consequences related to substance use, my work illuminates targets for prevention among Black & Latnix youth and adults. This approach considers the dynamic nature of substance use patterns, including poly-substance use. To date, my research has illuminated substance use patterns among Black youth that may contribute to health disparities during adulthood.
Racism-related stress & resilience.
How does cultural variability in experience change the influence of traditional social, emotional, and cognitive factors on behavioral health? To answer this, I examine how “traditional” risk and resilience factors for substance use and sexual health interact with cultural factors (e.g., racial socialization and identity, race-related stress) and structural determinants of health (e.g., neighborhood disinvestment) to influence health behaviors and their disproportionate consequences among Black youth and adults.
Digital & community-engaged strategies.
Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are needed to improve health equity among marginalized communities. My work suggests that mHealth, and telemedicine may be effective ways to reach people systemically excluded from behavioral health research but it must incorporate and involve community members to be culturally relevant. My current research integrates community-engaged methods with digital mapping to translate research and data tools to people conducting substance use prevention and treatment.
Select Publications
Banks, D. E., Duello, A., Paschke, M. E., Grigsby, S., & Winograd, R. P. (2023). Identifying drivers of increasing opioid overdose deaths among Black individuals: A qualitative model drawing on experience of peers and community health workers. Harm Reduction Journal, 20(5). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00734-9
Banks, D. E., Scroggins, S., Paschke, M. E., Shacham, E., Nance, M., Cavazos-Rehg, P., & Winograd, R. P. (2023). Examining Increasing Racial Inequities in Opioid Overdose Deaths: a Spatiotemporal Analysis of Black and White Decedents in St. Louis, Missouri, 2011–2021. Journal of Urban Health, 100(3), 436-446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-023-00736-9
Banks, D. E., Brown, K., & Saraiya, T. C. (2023). “Culturally responsive” substance use treatment: contemporary definitions and approaches for minoritized racial/ethnic groups. Current Addiction Reports, 10(3), 422-431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-023-00489-0
Banks, D. E., Campbell, K. D., & Ghonasgi, R. (2023). Understanding the role of race, ethnicity, and culture in the development of polysubstance use. In K. D. Federmeier (Ed.), Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 79, pp. 1-40). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2023.06.003
Banks, D. E., Brown, K. & Carpenter, R. W. (2022). Feasibility and acceptability of texting school-aged adolescents to assess daily substance use among community-based Black and White youth. Addictive Behaviors, 135, 107455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107455
Banks, D. E., Riley, T. N., Bernard, D. L., Fisher, S., & Barnes-Najor, J. (2021). Traditional risk and cultural protection: Correlates of alcohol and cannabis co-use among African American adolescents. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 35(6), 671-681. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000756
Banks, D. E., Bello, M. S., Crichlow, Q., Leventhal, A. M., Barnes-Najor, J. V., & Zapolski, T. C. (2020). Differential typologies of current substance use among Black and White high-school adolescents: A latent class analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 106, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106356
Banks, D. E., Hensel, D. J., & Zapolski, T. C. (2020). Integrating individual and contextual factors to explain disparities in HIV/STI among heterosexual African American youth: A contemporary literature review and social ecological model. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49, 1939–1964. doi: 10.1007/s10508-019-01609-6
Banks, D. E., & Zapolski, T. C. (2018). The crossover effect: A review of racial/ethnic variations in risk for substance use and substance use disorder across development. Current Addiction Reports, 5(3), 386-395. doi: 10.1007/s40429-018-0220-0
Banks, D. E., Rowe, A. T., Mpofu, P., & Zapolski, T. C. (2017). Trends in typologies of concurrent alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use among US adolescents: An ecological examination by sex and race/ethnicity. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 179, 71-77. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.06.026