# Biopsychosocial Pathways Linking Discrimination and Adolescent Health

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2020 · $71,337

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: Incidents of discrimination are part of the everyday life experiences of adolescents of
color, yet we know almost nothing about how discrimination gets under the skin to influence adolescent health.
Although discrimination (the focus of the original K01) is a clear stressor in the lives of youth, with the COVID-
19 pandemic, an unexpected and potent new stressor has been introduced to adolescents’ daily lives.
Moreover, the stark inequities in health and disease burden borne by the poor and racial/ethnic minorities in
the U.S. have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, and certain groups are encountering discriminatory
treatment tied directly to the pandemic. As such, the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the discrimination
experienced by adolescents both within and outside the context of COVID-19, could initiate or further
contribute to health disparities tied to race/ethnicity and social class observed in adult populations.
Adolescence is a key time to study these stress processes since the social-cognitive ability to recognize
discriminatory treatment emerges in the second decade of life, as do effective coping mechanisms for dealing
with major life stressors, such as those tied to the current pandemic. My proposed competitive revision targets
biodemography and the pathways by which COVID-19 stress/stressors influence developmental trajectories of
adolescent health and well-being. In addition to integrating COVID-19 stressors into the biopsychosocial model
tested in my original K01 (Aim 1), I introduce two new primary aims for my research project as part of the K01
competitive revision: (1) Document the extent to which COVID-19 is influencing all aspects of the daily lives of
adolescents and (2) Examine the extent to which COVID-19 is disrupting trajectories of well-being. To address
these new research aims, I will leverage three waves of rich longitudinal data from a racially/ethnically and
socioeconomically diverse sample collected pre-pandemic (annually from 8th to 10th grades) with three new
data collection waves collected during the pandemic (11th and 12th grade). These data will allow me to
document how COVID-19 may be disrupting trajectories and psychological well-being, physical health, and
academics, the extent to which these disruptions are temporary (denoting recovery) versus long-lasting, who is
more likely to recover, and how relationships with important others (families, teachers/schools, friends) might
mitigate disruptions. Along with these survey data, I will integrate interviews to delve deeply into COVID-19 and
the lived experiences of adolescents during the pandemic as well as daily diaries to capture how daily
processes, social interactions, and well-being are influenced by COVID-19 stressors. Texas relaxed social
distancing requirements May 1, 2020 without reaching goals for adequate COVID-19 testing, and it thus
provides an important backdrop for understanding how this global pandemic is compromising adole...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10164064
- **Project number:** 3K01HD087479-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Aprile Dawn Benner
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $71,337
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10164064

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10164064, Biopsychosocial Pathways Linking Discrimination and Adolescent Health (3K01HD087479-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10164064. Licensed CC0.

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