Research projects.

Dr. Samek has led the Auburn University College Experiences and Beyond Study and data collection efforts starting in 2015 and continuing today.

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The original purpose of this College Experiences Study was to evaluate risk and protective factors for alcohol use disorder onset and course in the first two years of college. Comprehensive survey data was collected from 209 first year Auburn University students (90% white, 62% female) in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. This cohort was subsequently followed up in the 2019-2020 academic year, in effort to identity what factors in the first year of college predicted a stable course of problematic alcohol use that potentially co-occurred with stable depressive symptoms over a period of approximately four years. Results showed personality factors related to negative affect, poor sleep, and stress were most relevant to a course of stable depressive symptoms, whereas antisocial/substance-using peer affiliation, romantic partner alcohol use, and baseline substance use was most relevant to a course of stable alcohol use disorder symptoms. Dr. Samek reported such findings support personality-tailored screening programs in the first year of college to help students learn adaptive stress reduction strategies (such as mindfulness) in effort to reduce persistent depressive symptoms. Reducing alcohol use disorder symptoms may be more difficult if alcohol use is common in the first year and most friend and romantic partner relationships include such use. Dr. Samek later concluded counseling students on the recognition of such patterns might help, as well as emphasizing how relationships can change and mature, and the importance of having friends where you do more than just drink together.

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In 2020, Dr. Samek reflected and interrogated her research program in conjunction with her commitment to advance anti-racism, equity, and inclusion. To extend her research on mostly non-Hispanic White populations, elevate the voices of Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC), and better understand BIPOC student experiences in historically/predominately White universities, Dr. Samek recruited a diverse sample of first year college students in the 2021-2022 academic year (N = 191, 69% BIPOC, 52% female, 16% LGBTQ+). Dr. Samek's goal was to better understand the potential psycho-social risk and protective factors for BIPOC mental health and potentially co-occurring problematic alcohol use based on relevant theory and recent studies. Results showed that experiences of microaggressions and poor campus climate were directly associated with internalizing symptoms (depressive, anxiety, somatic), as well as indirectly through factors related to stress, poor sleep, and academic burnout. Such results underscore the need for predominately (historically) White universities and colleges to take efforts to teach White students, staff, and faculty how to identify, disrupt, and reduce racial microaggressions in effort to promote BIPOC student mental health and improve campus climate for all.

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Dr. Samek was awarded funding for an extension of this project that we are working on now. We aim to further evaluate what is driving the increase in mental health symptoms among diverse emerging adults as they transition through college. We collected data from a second cohort of racially/ethnically diverse (~80% BIPOC) first-year AU students as well as follow-up data from both cohorts in 2024 and 2025.  Central hypotheses include that H1) negative emotions associated with national and global traumatic events (e.g., school and mass shootings, major weather events associated with climate change, police violence, war in Europe and the Middle East, threats to democracy) represent a novel risk factor for increasing mental health symptoms in adolescents and young adults. Further, we expect H2) greater frequency and intensity of social media use may exacerbate this association, given the amount of time young people spend online and the integration of reaction to news and national/international traumatic events into social networking apps. Results from our initial assessment show support for these hypotheses that we want to study further. Notably, results while accounting for other known risk factors such as trait negative affect and experiences of discrimination, which are sensitive risk factors for internalizing symptoms in this population.

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In the years to come, we hope to replicate and extend this study longitudinally. We want to evaluate our hypothesis in relation to different aspects of social media use (e.g., motivations for using, passive vs. active). We also aim to identify potential protective factors and the individual and community levels (e.g., mindfulness practice, engagement in campus clubs) that may help to offset risk associated with national/international traumatic events. We would like to study these hypotheses in relation to other secondary outcomes such as academic stress, performance, sleep, and stress. We also want to study these hypotheses in the wider population of adolescents and young adults in the years that come, and have begun planning for the Age 18 and Beyond Study to do just that. We look forward to partnering with others to explore these ideas and encourage anyone interested to reach out to Dr. Samek.