ESPRESSO

Vision

ESPRESSO quantitatively and qualitatively investigates and disseminates the mechanisms underlying potential racial/ethnic and sex disparities in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services among justice-involved adolescents, a health disparity population prone to suffer harsher consequences from substance misuse. Adopting a team science approach, the project integrates a sociological theory of health disparities, the juvenile justice behavioral health services cascade of care, mediation analysis with longitudinal structural equation modeling, stress instrumentation, and hybrid thematic analysis with cutting-edge technologies. The project will lead to the development and testing of culturally appropriate, sex-responsive, and trauma-informed SUD risk assessment protocols and disparity reduction interventions in the juvenile justice system.