Collaboration Request Form

Thank you for your interest in submitting a collaboration request to Dr. Gregory Phillips’ YRBS project. We look forward to working with you on your submission!

R01 AA024409, “Role of Alcohol Disparities in HIV Risk among Sexual Minority Youth” focuses on the use of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to assess the impact of alcohol use on the sexual, mental, and physical health of sexual minority youth (SMY) living in the US. Specific aims of the grant are as follows: 1) to explain trends over time in alcohol use disparities between SMY and their heterosexual peers using multi-year, multisite data, 2) report determinants of event-level association between sexual risk behavior among young men who have sex with men compared to heterosexual men, and 3) to identify the impact of state policies and social climates on alcohol use behavior and negative health outcomes.

Continuing our first grants work, R01 AA029044, “Intersectional Approaches to Population-Level Health Research: Role of HIV Risk and Mental Health in Alcohol Use Disparities among Diverse Sexual Minority Youth" focuses on the experiences of SMY at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities like sex and race/ethnicity. Specific aims of the grant are as follows: 1) Determine the magnitude of alcohol use disparities between SMY and heterosexual youth, both cross-sectionally and over time, using an intersectional lens, 2) Apply complex statistical methodologies to investigate associations between alcohol use classes and HIV vulnerability at the intersections of sex, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity, and 3) Identify the impact of regional, school-based, and structural-level factors on alcohol use and HIV vulnerability between SMY and their heterosexual peers, employing an intersectional lens.

The YRBS is a biennial national survey conducted by the CDC since 1991 to collect US representative health data on students in grades 9-12. There are 2 versions of the YRBS: local and national. The national YRBS is nationally representative. Local YRBS administrations are representative of the high school enrolled youth in a defined geographic area (e.g., state, county, city). Pooled datasets of local YRBS administrations are thus not nationally representative, but unlike national YRBS data, can be geographically linked to state, county, and local policies.

With support from both R01s, our team curates and maintains a state and local YRBS data warehouse from YRBS jurisdictions that include questions about sexual identity and/or sexual behavior in the state and local YRBS survey. Our team follows a standardized protocol to obtain and pool the state and local data. In brief, our team identifies the list of jurisdictions that have asked sexual orientation questions for that survey administration period. Following the generation of this list, the team’s Research Assistant/Data Manager contacts these jurisdictions and completes the necessary paperwork (IRB applications, data use agreements) to obtain the datasets. Of note, the data warehouse that our team compiles is more extensive than the publicly available data on the CDC’s YRBS web page, as a variety of jurisdictions do not authorize the CDC to distribute their data. Our team has signed data use agreements with a variety of jurisdictions stating that 1) we cannot share data with external partners and 2) requires that the Northwestern team is able to view and work with the data.

Once the data and questionnaires from each jurisdiction are acquired, our team conducts wording checks across the different jurisdictions to update our codebook. The YRBS analyst then builds the data file for that year in SAS/SUDAAN.

There are two ways to utilize the data warehouse. If your team would like to utilize the limited data set only, we request that you cite the grant, include at least the principal investigator from our team and data analyst as authors, and write at least one sexual and gender minority (SGM) focused paper. If your team would like to utilize our full dataset, all study analyses must be run by our team as per our data use agreements and rules as stated above and in our YRBS style guide must be followed. Budgeting for % effort is needed for our primary investigators, data analyst, and research assistants.

When collaborating with our team we require at least one initial meeting. If you are unable to meet at this time, we will coordinate with your team to find a compatible time to meet. Our team meets weekly on Wednesdays from 2-3 pm. In this meeting requirements and expectations should be discussed, including the frequency of contact and specific relationship that would be needed as collaborators.

As our project grows, there is the possibility of an overlap between manuscripts.

If there is an overlap with another study that predates your request, the YRBS team will review your proposal with the following considerations:

1. Timing of your submission relative to prior submissions on a related topic
2. The outcome of previous studies if it already exists
3. Relevance of the new proposal to our YRBS project goals

Manuscripts may include overlapping variables, but each manuscript will be reviewed for minimal scientific overlap in the overall aims and goals. If the aims are unequivocally unique, the proposal will move forward, and our team will contact the submitting investigator.

Prior to submitting your request form, please read our YRBS style guide (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vxSDZp3VFlgs7GNc1Wrd5kG5nk6Hfzg7u6CpVUtTEr8/edit?usp=sharing) and the above text in its entirety. Requirements and additional details on collaboration with our team are in this document.

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