# Research Project 3: Intergenerational Transmission of Neuroimmune Vulnerabilities for Addictive Behaviors among African American Youth: A Three Generation Study

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2020 · $89,787

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: Research Project 3
We propose Research Project 3 (RP3) in the context of a P50 Research Center of Excellence: The Center for
Translational and Prevention Science (CTAPS). CTAPS has been funded continuously since 2003
(P20MH068666; P30DA027827) to advance next-generation basic and preventive investigations of risk,
resilience, and drug use among African American young people living in resource-poor communities in the
southeastern US. Informed by advances that NIDA neuroscientists have made, we recently expanded our
program to consider the influence of social adversity on the consumption of high fat/high sugar foods, which
also can be considered an addictive behavior, co-opting many of the same neural circuitries as does drug
abuse. Understanding the development and prevention of addictive behavior vulnerabilities has significant
implications for preventing both drug abuse and cardiometabolic disease. The proposed P50 is designed to
transform scientific understanding regarding the etiology and prevention of addictive behavior by testing
hypotheses suggested by a neuroimmune network (NIN) model that, in concert with familial and contextual
factors, contributes to the development of drug use, unhealthy eating habits, and cardiometabolic health
problems. In RP3, we focus on rural African American families in Georgia in which poverty and unemployment
rates are among the highest in the nation. The parents in these families have grown up taking part in the
Strong African American Families Healthy Adolescent/Adult Project (SHAPE; R01HD030588). In RP3, we
propose to leverage the SHAPE sample to test hypotheses regarding how addictive behavior vulnerabilities are
transmitted across generations. We propose to investigate multigenerational risk and resilience pathways
linking chronic SES- and race-related stress, parenting behavior, and risk factors suggested by the NIN model
to preadolescent children’s addictive behavior vulnerability and cardiometabolic risk. We will combine extant
data on grandparents and parents, data currently being collected from parents that R01HD030588 is funding,
and collection of new data from parents and children that this proposal will support. Our first aim is to
investigate the risk pathways through which SES- and race-related stress exposure across generations affects
children’s addictive behavior vulnerabilities and cardiometabolic health. Our primary endpoints are children’s
(~age 11) addictive behavior vulnerabilities and cardiometabolic health. We hypothesize that exposure to
SES- and race-related stressors promotes a chain of processes generations that affects children’s
vulnerabilities to addictive behavior and their cardiometabolic health. The mechanisms through which SES-
and race-related stress promote children’s addictive behavior vulnerability and cardiometabolic risk include (a)
use of harsh, unsupportive parenting practices and, (b) NIN risk factors (inflammation and behavior- and
emotion-regulatio...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10023726
- **Project number:** 1P50DA051361-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Katherine Babcock Ehrlich
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $89,787
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10023726

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10023726, Research Project 3: Intergenerational Transmission of Neuroimmune Vulnerabilities for Addictive Behaviors among African American Youth: A Three Generation Study (1P50DA051361-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10023726. Licensed CC0.

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