Update on 'Spit for Science: The VCU Student Survey'

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Nearly 60 percent of the incoming Virginia Commonwealth University freshman class has participated in the Web-based survey for “Spit for Science: The VCU Student Survey.” The study, led by VCU experts in psychiatric and behavioral genetics, launched this fall, providing the students an opportunity to engage in a voluntary and confidential, university-wide research project aimed at understanding how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of problems related to alcohol use and emotional health.

The findings were presented during the monthly educational forum held earlier this week.

“When the project kicked-off, the big question was, ‘How many students would take part?’” said Danielle M. Dick, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry, psychology and human and molecular genetics in the VCU School of Medicine, who is a co-principal investigator for the “Spit for Science” study at VCU, along with Kenneth Kendler, M.D., director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics.

“Having nearly 60 percent of the incoming freshman class participate in the Web-based survey is a huge success, especially compared to an average of 34 percent Web-based survey completion at other universities.” said Dick.

The VCU survey also was unique in that it incorporated a genetic component - and 97 percent of VCU freshman who participated in the survey also completed the DNA component. Dick said that this result may be due in part to the extensive educational efforts surrounding the genetic component of the project.

College age populations are entering a high risk period for the onset of problems related to substance use and emotional health, so the VCU research team wanted to gain further insight into this.

“If you look at the rates of alcohol use and other drug use in the VCU data compared to surveys of college students across the country, they are almost dead on,” Dick said. “Our early findings suggest VCU looks like colleges across the country in terms of alcohol and other drug use of our students. This is important because it means that our study will have relevance not only for improving the health of VCU students, but also for college students more generally.”

Researchers will use the findings to gain insight into how genetic and environmental factors influence the development of psychiatric or substance use disorders.

The results may be used to inform prevention and intervention programming to improve the health of college populations.

Understanding genetics and the environment
The field of psychiatric and behavioral genetics has grown considerably in the last 40 years. Researchers have learned that genes and environment come together to contribute to a person’s risk for developing a particular psychiatric or substance use disorder, however, they are not deterministic.

According to Dick, the research team is starting to work with the DNA samples and those results will be presented at a future forum.

“The goal is to examine the interplay between genetic and environmental risk factors to more clearly understand human development,” said Dick.

The DNA was collected via saliva sample and labeled with a unique random number and is connected to the survey responses only through these random code numbers. The DNA is never connected to individuals’ names or other identifying information. There will be no individual feedback, but the research team will create newsletters with overall findings from the study.

Survey says
Incoming freshman who are 18 years of age and older were invited to participate in the VCU study, which included two parts - an electronic survey and collection of a DNA sample via saliva. Both parts of the study were completely voluntary and confidential. There were no repercussions for students who chose not to participate.

In terms of demographics of the participants, 52 percent were white, 15 percent Asian, 14 percent African American, 6 percent Hispanic, 5 percent more than one race and 3 percent other or unknown. Sixty percent of participants were female and 40 percent were male.

“The demographics are particularly important as we wanted to ensure that the study would be representative of the VCU population,” Dick said. “When we compare these numbers to the overall VCU population, it indicates that we largely achieved that.”

Seventy-two percent of the study respondents indicated they have tried alcohol. Of students who reported having tried alcohol, 14 percent reported they were current abstainers, 60 percent considered themselves infrequent or light drinkers, 23 percent were moderate drinkers and 3 percent considered themselves heavy or problem drinkers.

Approximately 38 percent of participants reported ever having smoked cigarettes – many of those who have tried cigarettes haven’t smoked in the past month. Forty percent of respondents reported having tried marijuana, but the use of other drugs was not common.

The research team is creating a series of newsletters that will provide participants with updates about the study and will highlight the overall findings from the study, which the team hopes will stimulate discussion.

Some students joined an undergraduate research team with “Spit for Science” and were involved in coordinating aspects of the study and analyzing anonymous data. Through this work, they were able to earn research credit by being a part of the research team.

Dick said that more than 50 undergraduate students applied to be on the Spit for Science undergraduate research team in the spring – compared to 14 students who were part of the class during the launch semester.

“I think that’s another indication that students are excited about the project and taking advantage of the educational opportunities it brings,” said Dick.

Next, the team will conduct an in-depth analysis of the collected data and plan a spring follow-up survey to see how the students have changed over their first year at VCU. Students who didn’t participate this fall will also have another chance to be part of the study at that time.

Other educational forums held earlier in the semester focused on topics related to the study – for example, genetics in medicine, genetics in the law and ethical issues surrounding genetic research.

The study is supported by several grants from National Institutes of Health.

For more information on the project, visit http://www.spit4science.vcu.edu.