ORCID

0000-0001-8814-0259 (Patev)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1007/s13187-025-02811-y

Publication Title

Journal of Cancer Education

Pages

12 pp.

Abstract

In the United States, Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the third leading cause of death among non-Hispanic African American/Black (henceforth Black) men. Inadequate CRC knowledge leads to missing early warning signs, delaying prevention and increasing risk. Emerging adulthood (18-25) is a key period for building healthy behaviors and addressing barriers to CRC knowledge in addition to understanding attitudes and practices to CRC screening. Psychosocial barriers - including social support, medical mistrust, and perceived racial discrimination - contribute to the lack of CRC knowledge among older Black men, yet emerging adult Black men remain understudied. The present study examined psychosocial barriers to CRC knowledge among emerging adult Black men. Additionally, although not screening eligible, a secondary aim was to examine how these psychosocial barriers play a role CRC attitudes and preventive practices. One hundred sixty-eight men (Mage = 20.4, SD = 1.73) were recruited in Petersburg, Virginia. Participants completed a survey assessing social support, medical mistrust, and perceived racial discrimination, CRC knowledge, and CRC practice items. Data was analyzed using SPSS v.29. A hierarchical regression, controlling for age, public assistance status, and masculinity, examined social support, medical mistrust, and perceived racial discrimination. Contrary to hypothesis, higher medical mistrust predicted greater CRC knowledge, p = 0.003, while increased social support also predicted greater CRC knowledge, p <  .001. Perceived racial discrimination did not significantly predict CRC knowledge. Logistic regressions showed that higher masculinity health problem minimization and perceived racial discrimination predicted significantly lower odds of considering early CRC screening. No variables significantly predicted early detection. Findings provide critical understanding of barriers and facilitators of CRC knowledge among emerging adult Black men. Addressing barriers during emerging adulthood may encourage healthier behaviors and foster motivation to seek CRC knowledge, ultimately supporting prevention in this high-risk population. Results are critical for informing culturally age-tailored prevention strategies.

Rights

© 2026 The Authors.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original authors and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Original Publication Citation

McGill, C., Thomson, M. D., Kuno, C., Taylor, E., Lawrence, K., Patev, A. J., Sutton, A. L., Nyagaka, R., Palesh, O., & Keen, L. D., 2nd. (2026). Understanding the impact of psychosocial barriers on colorectal cancer knowledge in emerging adult Black men. Journal of Cancer Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-025-02811-y

Download

Share

COinS