Social Disparities, Stress, & Health

Description

• Investigates how cultural dynamics, socioeconomic status, neighborhood factors, and interpersonal relationships influence stress and health, using models that attempt to control for selection into these social environments
• Examines the extent to which multiple subjective and physiological measures of stress relate to one another or reflect distinct markers of strain
• Examines how individual differences in physiological stress activation are associated with physical and mental health as well as cognitive achievement in children, adolescents, and adults

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Research Projects

National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project
Principal Investigator (subcontract): Thomas McDade (Project PI: Linda Waite, University of Chicago)

McDade is collaborating with colleagues at the University of Chicago to conduct a nationally representative, population-based, in-home survey of 3,000 persons aged 57 to 84 to better characterize the health of survey participants, as well as the psychological, social, and economic factors that contribute to healthy aging. The Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern is measuring blood samples for markers of immune function and cardiovascular disease risk to examine the biological impact of social processes associated with aging.

Acculturation, Health, and the Ecology of Immune Function in Lowland Bolivia
Principal Investigators: Thomas McDade, Bill Leonard (Northwestern University), Ricardo Godoy (Brandeis University)

With colleagues in anthropology, McDade is investigating the impact of social, economic, and cultural transitions on child and adolescent health in a remote population in lowland Bolivia. This project is addressing the local impact of globalization, and is developing new, minimally-invasive methods for measuring biomarkers of health.

Daily Experiences, Stress and Sleep over the Transition to Adulthood
Principal Investigators: Emma Adam, Richard Zinbarg (Northwestern University), Susan Mineka (Northwestern University)

In this 4-year longitudinal study, Adam explores the implications of differences in stress exposure and stress reactivity for the development of depression and anxiety in adolescents as they leave high school and move into college and work experiences. Life events interviews, questionnaires and diaries capture changes in adolescents’ experiences over this transition. Cortisol stress-hormone measurement, as well as objective measurement of sleep quality (wrist-watch sized “actigraphs”) trace the impact of these changes on adolescents’ physiology. Yearly clinical interviews will assess symptoms and diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and other emotional disorder. Adam will examine whether differences in stress-exposure, stress hormone levels, and sleep quality help us understand which adolescents remain emotionally healthy, and which develop depression and anxiety disorders as they negotiate the transition to adulthood.

Family Stress Study
Principal Investigator(s): Emma Adam

As part of the Sloan Working Family Study out of the University of Chicago, Adam explores factors that increase or decrease stress hormone levels in children and parents as they go about their everyday lives. She uses a noninvasive method—measuring the stress-sensitive hormone cortisol in saliva—and daily journal entries to gauge the psychological and physiological states of the mothers, fathers, and children throughout the day. She found that cortisol levels were lower, indicating lower stress levels, when parents felt productive, engaged, and challenged. Both parents and adolescents had higher stress hormone levels when they felt negative emotions such as worry and anger; adolescents also had higher stress hormone levels at moments they were alone rather than with other people. Kindergarten-aged children had higher stress hormone levels when they lived in a home that had high levels of conflict between parents and low levels of maternal involvement and warmth.

Northwestern Juvenile Project
Principal Investigator: Linda A. Teplin

Many studies have investigated general population youth to see who becomes delinquent. Far fewer studies examine youth in the juvenile justice system. The Northwestern Juvenile Project is the first large-scale longitudinal study of health needs and outcomes of detained youth. We are studying only delinquent youth because they are at such high risk for psychiatric disorders, HIV/AIDS risk behaviors, life-threatening problem behaviors and early violent death. (MORE)

Northwestern Victimization Project
Principal Investigator: Linda A. Teplin

The Northwestern Victimization Project is a unique five-year study of crime victimization patterns in severely mentally ill persons living in the community. Prior studies of violence and mental disorder have focused on perpetration, not victimization. We examined the rates, risk factors and patterns of crime victimization among 936 persons with chronic severe mental disorders who live in the community. (MORE)

Social Influences on Early Adult Stress Biomarkers
Principal investigators: Thomas McDade, Emma Adam, Greg Duncan, P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Tom Cook

This study (currently under review) will investigate stress and health in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).  This large, nationally representative sample will allow the most comprehensive analysis of stress biomarkers to date, and will elucidate some of the major pathways through which social contexts exert their influence on physical and mental well-being of young adults.  C2S members have been centrally involved in the planning for Wave IV data collection for Add Health, which is scheduled to go to the field in 2006.

Chicago Initiative to Raise Asthma Health Equity
Principal Investigator: Kevin Weiss (Northwestern University) Co-Principal Investigators: Madeleine Shalowitz, Lisa Sharp (Northwestern University)

The purpose of this $6 million, 5-year project is to develop a collaborative research program between Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and Cook County Hospital to fully characterize the relationship of social stress, coping, and self-regulatory health behaviors in the context of asthma disparities among African American and low income populations. (MORE)

Social Factors and the Environment in Pediatric Asthma
Principal Investigator: Carolyn Berry (New York University) Co-principal Investigators: Madeleine Shalowitz, Raoul Wolf (University of Chicago)

This study investigates the racial disparities in pediatric asthma outcome among low income African-American, Latino and Caucasian elementary school-aged children in Chicago. The goal is to clarify the biological and environmental, and the social and behavioral processes that lead to these disparities. (MORE)

Cardiovascular and non-Cardiovascular Risks in Four Cohorts
Principal Investigator: Philip Greenland

The general aim of this research program is to address important unanswered questions in cardiovascular epidemiology by employing data and analyses from four large Chicago population cohorts. The project focuses on several areas, examining the factors influencing coronary heart disease-cardiovascular disease and the differences in risk factors’ impact between groups based on sex, race, age or risk factor status. The study also examines the factors influencing CHD-CVD risk during both earlier and later follow-up (first 15 years and beyond 15 years of follow-up) and the relationship of habitual intake of multiple food groups to 10-year change in serum cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and to 30-year risks of death from CHD, CVD, cancers, and all causes. The project seeks to provide answers to questions that have eluded other cohort studies due to sampling and method limitations.

Women’s Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study (WACS)
Principal Investigator: JoAnn Manson (Harvard) Co-Investigators: Philip Greenland, Julie E. Buring (Harvard), Christine M. Albert (Harvard), Nancy R. Cook (Harvard)

The Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study is a randomized placebo-controlled trial evaluating the role of several micronutrients in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Between April 1995 and October 1996, 8,171 female health professionals at high risk were recruited for the study, either because they demonstrated a prior history of cardiovascular disease or because they had three or more major cardiovascular disease risk factors. Other studies prior to this trial had focused primarily on samples without a known risk for cardiovascular disease. The study followed Women for an average of six and a half years and also examined whether certain micronutrients are useful in preventing vision problems and cognitive decline. Findings from the study have revealed that the risk of repeat heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events in women increases as blood pressure rises, making blood pressure a strong independent predictor of cardiovascular disease among middle-aged and older women with known cardiovascular disease.

The Chicago Western Electric Company Study
Co-Investigator: Philip Greenland

The Chicago Western Electric project is a longitudinal study of 2,080 men aged 40 to 55 when selected in 1957. Two thirds of the men were first-generation or second-generation Americans, predominantly of German, Polish, or Bohemian ancestry. The study has tracked the health and dietary habits of these men since that time. Among the various findings, data have demonstrated that cigarette smoking modifies the association between weight gain and coronary mortality, implying that investigations of weight gain and coronary mortality should account for the modifying effect of cigarette smoking.

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