Ronald L. Simons - US grants

We posit that the negative developmental outcomes associated with single-parent families are a consequence of a double disadvantage where single-parents and their children experience high stress coupled with reduced access to social support. The elevated stress is hypothesized to be a consequence of the intense economic strain that characterizes many single parent households, while the diminished social support is considered to be a product of the social circumstances of single-parent families in contemporary society. Economic strain is seen as affecting single and two-parent families in a similar fashion (e.g., disrupted parenting, parental conflicts). Differences in developmental outcomes between the two types of families are viewed as a consequence of single- parent families being more likely to experience economic strain while having less access to social support when such stress is encountered. The proposed research involves a 2-wave prospective study of 200 female- headed families residing in North Central Iowa. Presently the investigators are in the early stages of a panel study of 450 two-parent families in this region. This sample will serve as a comparison group for the proposed study, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing costs. This study site was selected for two reasons: First, the limited economic and social opportunities that characterize rural communities suggest that rural single-parent families may be particularly vulnerable with regard to the central constructs in our model, viz., economic strain and social support. Secondly, research on single-parent families has largely ignored rural families. A multiple measurement methodology involving self, other, and trained observer reports will be used to assess study constructs. Structural equation modeling procedures (LISREL, EQS), as well as other appropriate multivariate techniques, will be used to determine relationships between constructs across the two waves of data collection.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While poverty and disadvantage increase a child's risk for emotional or behavioral problems, most African American youth grow up to be competent, well-adjusted individuals. Past research has devoted little attention to the community, family, or personal characteristics that create this resilience. The proposed longitudinal study is concerned with addressing these issues. We will test models based upon a life-course perspective that views children's developmental trajectories as a sequence of causal factors in which dependent variables become independent variables over time. The models will be concerned with explaining discontinuity, as well as continuity, in behavior across the life course. We will strive to specify the manner in which life events, social transitions, and community contextual factors combine to either accentuate or redirect behavioral tendencies. The data for the proposed research will be collected from an existing sample of 897 African American children and their families living in Iowa and Georgia. Data were collected from these families when the target children were in 5th grade. A second wave of information is currently being collected on these children who are now in 7th grade. We seek funding to collect two additional waves of data as the target children move through the adolescent years. The information collected as part of the prior project will provide important baseline information for investigating the cumulative successes and disadvantages, as well as turning points, of the target children as they move through the adolescent years. Combining the previously collected data with two additional waves of information will enable us to examine causal priorities and conditional influences at work among family, peer, school, and community factors as they combine to influence the psychosocial development of African American children.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks 5 years of continued funding for a study of approximately 710 African American children and their families. Our research to date has documented the ways in which ecological contexts such as family processes, peer influences, and community context combine with racial socialization and discrimination to serve as risk factors for depression and antisocial behavior among the target children. The children in the study are now 18-20 years of age and the next few years might be viewed as the most crucial period for our project. This is the peek age period for residential mobility, completing education, marriage, and unemployment. These role transitions represent important discontinuities that can serve as turning points in people's lives. For some, these transitions provide an opportunity to escape childhood risk factors and achieve improved mental health. For others, failure and frustration regarding these transitions may lead to an escalation of internalizing and externalizing problems. We propose to collect two more waves of data in order to investigate hypotheses pertaining to three issues. First, we will evaluate predictions regarding the manner in which ecological contexts combine with personal traits and schemas to influence adult role transitions. Most of our focus will be upon five role transitions: getting married/cohabitating, obtaining satisfactory employment, pursuing higher education, joining the military, and being incarcerated. Second, we will test hypotheses concerning the mechanisms whereby these role transitions reduce or amplify symptoms of depression and antisocial behavior. Finally, we will test explanations for the high incidence of antisocial behavior but lower than expected rates of depression seen among African Americans. [unreadable] [unreadable] This project should provide valuable information regarding the manner in which adult role transitions influence the incidence of antisocial behavior and depression. We have used past project findings to formulate preventative interventions. We hope that that the results obtained from this stage of the project will also serve this purpose. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks 5 years of continued funding for a study of approximately 710 African American children and their families. Our research to date has documented the ways in which ecological contexts such as family processes, peer influences, and community context combine with racial socialization and discrimination to serve as risk factors for depression and antisocial behavior among the target children. The children in the study are now 18-20 years of age and the next few years might be viewed as the most crucial period for our project. This is the peek age period for residential mobility, completing education, marriage, and unemployment. These role transitions represent important discontinuities that can serve as turning points in people's lives. For some, these transitions provide an opportunity to escape childhood risk factors and achieve improved mental health. For others, failure and frustration regarding these transitions may lead to an escalation of internalizing and externalizing problems. We propose to collect two more waves of data in order to investigate hypotheses pertaining to three issues. First, we will evaluate predictions regarding the manner in which ecological contexts combine with personal traits and schemas to influence adult role transitions. Most of our focus will be upon five role transitions: getting married/cohabitating, obtaining satisfactory employment, pursuing higher education, joining the military, and being incarcerated. Second, we will test hypotheses concerning the mechanisms whereby these role transitions reduce or amplify symptoms of depression and antisocial behavior. Finally, we will test explanations for the high incidence of antisocial behavior but lower than expected rates of depression seen among African Americans. This project should provide valuable information regarding the manner in which adult role transitions influence the incidence of antisocial behavior and depression. We have used past project findings to formulate preventative interventions. We hope that that the results obtained from this stage of the project will also serve this purpose.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks 3 years of supplemental funding for a study of approximately 710 African Americans transitioning to adulthood. We are currently in the midst of collecting the 5th wave of data. The targets were 10-11 years of age at wave 1 and are currently 20-21. NIMH has provided primary funding for the study and is funding the project for another 3 years which will include one more wave of data collection (wave 6). Prior to collecting waves 4 and 5, we obtained supplemental funds from the CDC to expand our study in order to examine the effects of community context on youth violence. These data have lead to several important findings and publications. The present proposal requests funds to collect an additional wave of community data that will include a number of new measures. As they transition to adulthood, our participants are spending increasing amounts of time away from home visiting friends or enjoying favorite hangouts. We plan to assess the types of routine social/recreational activities that targets typically display and the risk (e.g., prevalence of street code and crime) and protective factors (e.g., collective efficacy) that characterize the areas in which these activities occur. Further, the transition to adulthood entails a number of role transitions (e.g., marriage, employment, joining the military). These role transitions represent important discontinuities that can serve as turning points in people's lives. For some, these transitions provide an opportunity to escape childhood risk factors and achieve a more conventional life style, whereas for others failure and frustration regarding these transitions may lead to an escalation of violence and antisocial behavior. We have developed several hypotheses regarding the effect of community context on the successful negotiation of these role transitions, as well as the manner in which these transitions serve to temper or amplify violence and antisocial behavior. We propose to use community data to be collected at wave 6, along with data currently being collected in wave 5, in order to test these various hypotheses. The wave 6 data will include information collected from participants'best friends and romantic partners. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Violence is so prevalent in many impoverished African American communities that the Center for Disease Control has labeled it a public health issue. The proposed research investigates the processes whereby various risk and protective factors serve to temper or amplify violent tendencies as African American youth make the transition to early adulthood. These findings will inform the development of policies and programs designed to reduce violence in African American communities.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In recent years, strong evidence has accrued indicating that inflammation (INF) and metabolic syndrome (MS) represent dysregulated biological systems that predict onset of chronic, age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and dementia. Although a wealth of findings has indicated that psychosocial stress is a major determinant of INF and MS, a number of crucial questions remain unanswered. First, we do not know whether sensitive period (early biological programming), stress accumulation, social schematic, or mismatch models best account for the development of INF and MS. Second, we have little information regarding the range of stressors within a developmental period that are most critical. Studies of childhood stress usually simply assess low SES or exposure to harsh parenting, and these measurements typically entail retrospective reports. Research on the effect of adult stress sometimes includes community context but usually fails to consider the way that childhood stress may moderate reactions to adult stressors. And, whether the focus is childhood or adult adversity, there has been limited consideration of the way that race-related stressors such as segregation, perceived racism, discrimination, and internalized racism impact biological dysregulation. Third, we know little about the extent to which factors such as parental support, racial socialization, social support, or religiosity operate to reduce the deleterious impact of childhood, adolescent, or adult stressors on INF and MS. A final limitation of past research is that it has focused, with a few exceptions, on White samples whereas African Americans display significantly higher rates of almost every type of chronic illness and score higher on biomarkers of INF and most indictors of MS. In order to address these unanswered questions and limitations, this application seeks funding to add biomarkers of INF and MS, as well as telephone interview data regarding stress and health behaviors, to the 18 years of longitudinal data that has been collected on the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS) sample of roughly 700 African Americans (now 28 years of age). Specifically, we plan to pursue the following specific aims: 1) identify the cluster of SE- and race-related stressors experienced in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood that best predict adult INF and MS. 2) Use these stress indices to test competing models regarding the manner in which stressors from various developmental periods combine to influence biological dysregulaton. And, 3) investigate the extent to which the experience of supportive parenting and racial socialization during childhood, and/or supportive relationships and religiosity during adulthood, are moderating factors that promote healthy biomarkers for INF and MS. There are few, if any, efficacious preventive interventions that address the causes of health disparities. The Institute of Medicine prescribes that such efforts be based on the results of longitudinal, epidemiological research with target populations. Currently, there are no prospective investigations that identify the protective factors that interrupt the translation of social determinants of stress into biological vulnerabilities for African Americans. The results of the proposed research will identify protective processes and serve as the basis for empirically-based, health disparities preventive interventions.

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Strong evidence has accrued indicating that inflammation (INF) predicts the onset of chronic, age-related diseases. Although psychosocial stress is a major determinant of INF, we know little about the role of stress contagion from romantic partners, a prominent social context in early adulthood, or the role of childhood stressors in amplifying INF response to adult stress. Evidence has accumulated indicating that early stress experiences may shift propensity to respond with INF due to early calibration of Inflammation Related Transcriptional Response (IRTR). However, we have little information regarding the extent to which IRTR predicts amplified INF response to adult stressors or the extent which it accounts for the impact of early stressors on INF. In addition, we do not know the extent to which persistent, supportive relationships in young adulthood have the potential to ameliorate the impact of earlier stressors by modifying IRTR and so reducing INF in response to adult stressors. Finally, prior research has largely focused on White samples, thereby limiting our understanding of the causes of INF among African Americans, a group at elevated risk for age- related chronic illness. This application seeks funding to add assessment of romantic partners and to directly assess IRTR for both targets and partners who are participating in a recently funded application. In the parent application we assess INF and collect telephone interview data from targets regarding stress and health behaviors in a sample of roughly 700 African Americans (now 28 years of age). In the current application we add parallel interview assessments and assessment of INF for N = 320 romantic partners. In addition we add assessment of IRTR for both targets and romantic partners. This additional data collection will allow us to address the following specific aims: 1) Identify the effect of stress contagion on young adult INF among African Americans, controlling for own stressors and history of early exposure to stressors; 2) Test hypothesized amplification of effect on INF of own stress, stress contagion, and dyad-level effects due to exposure to early stressors, and examine the hypothesis that calibration of Inflammation Related Transcriptional Response (IRTR) is the mechanism by which early stress influences INF; and 3) Test the hypothesized role of persistent supportive romantic relationships (PSR) in recalibrating stress biology, i.e., examine the hypothesis that among those in persistent supportive relationships in young adulthood we will see reduced impact of early stress exposure on IRTR. The Institute of Medicine prescribes development of prevention based on longitudinal, epidemiological research with target populations. Currently, no prospective investigations identify the protective factors that interrup the impact of stress on INF for African Americans. The results of the proposed research will identify protective processes and serve as the basis for empirically- based, health disparities prevention programs as well as provide a basis for ongoing policy discussions, e.g. the Healthy Marriage Initiative.

PROJECT SUMMARY Unprecedented growth in the proportion of older adults in the U.S. has placed inequalities in healthy aging at the forefront of the public health agenda. Individuals often differ dramatically in their speed of aging. Some demonstrate accelerated aging and suffer early onset of chronic illness whereas others manifest decelerated aging and stave off serious illness well into their 90s. In recent years, researchers have made much headway in understanding the molecular markers of healthy aging, thereby allowing for earlier identification of risk for chronic disease. The proposed research focuses on two such biomarkers of healthy aging ? inflammatory aging and methylomic aging. These measures provide us with ?biological clocks? that are strongly predictive of age-related physiological decline, disease, and mortality. Having established these molecular measures of the speed of aging, the important question for social scientists and health policy now becomes: To what extent is the speed of aging malleable, for better or worse, in response to natural shifts in psychosocial contexts? This question is the focus of the present proposal. We plan to investigate the extent to which adult social conditions from various domains, but especially those operating within the family, influence speed of biological aging after taking into account childhood experiences and potentially confounding life style factors such as diet, exercise, and smoking. Our objective is to identify the stressors that accelerate aging as well as the supports that decelerate aging. These goals will be pursued using longitudinal data from the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS), a 20-year study of well-being among African American mothers, their romantic partners (RPs), and their offspring. A focus on aging among African Americans is important as they tend to suffer from earlier onset and higher prevalence of age-related diseases and a wider range of psychosocial stressors than other ethnic groups. First, we will obtain longitudinal indices of the speed of inflammatory and methylomic aging from the now middle-aged mothers and, if partnered, their RPs by collecting and assaying a new wave of blood data, as well as assaying stored blood from a previous wave. The proposed data will provide the first comprehensive assessment of change in the speed or rate of biological aging during adulthood. Second, we will collect an additional wave of interview data so that changes in supports and stressors can be mapped onto changes in the rate of biological aging.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In recent years, strong evidence has accrued indicating that inflammation (INF) and metabolic syndrome (MS) represent dysregulated biological systems that predict onset of chronic, age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and dementia. Although a wealth of findings has indicated that psychosocial stress is a major determinant of INF and MS, a number of crucial questions remain unanswered. First, we do not know whether sensitive period (early biological programming), stress accumulation, social schematic, or mismatch models best account for the development of INF and MS. Second, we have little information regarding the range of stressors within a developmental period that are most critical. Studies of childhood stress usually simply assess low SES or exposure to harsh parenting, and these measurements typically entail retrospective reports. Research on the effect of adult stress sometimes includes community context but usually fails to consider the way that childhood stress may moderate reactions to adult stressors. And, whether the focus is childhood or adult adversity, there has been limited consideration of the way that race-related stressors such as segregation, perceived racism, discrimination, and internalized racism impact biological dysregulation. Third, we know little about the extent to which factors such as parental support, racial socialization, social support, or religiosity operate to reduce the deleterious impact of childhood, adolescent, or adult stressors on INF and MS. A final limitation of past research is that it has focused, with a few exceptions, on White samples whereas African Americans display significantly higher rates of almost every type of chronic illness and score higher on biomarkers of INF and most indictors of MS. In order to address these unanswered questions and limitations, this application seeks funding to add biomarkers of INF and MS, as well as telephone interview data regarding stress and health behaviors, to the 18 years of longitudinal data that has been collected on the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS) sample of roughly 700 African Americans (now 28 years of age). Specifically, we plan to pursue the following specific aims: 1) identify the cluster of SE- and race-related stressors experienced in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood that best predict adult INF and MS. 2) Use these stress indices to test competing models regarding the manner in which stressors from various developmental periods combine to influence biological dysregulaton. And, 3) investigate the extent to which the experience of supportive parenting and racial socialization during childhood, and/or supportive relationships and religiosity during adulthood, are moderating factors that promote healthy biomarkers for INF and MS. There are few, if any, efficacious preventive interventions that address the causes of health disparities. The Institute of Medicine prescribes that such efforts be based on the results of longitudinal, epidemiological research with target populations. Currently, there are no prospective investigations that identify the protective factors that interrupt the translation of social determinants of stress into biological vulnerabilities for African Americans. The results of the proposed research will identify protective processes and serve as the basis for empirically-based, health disparities preventive interventions.