# Developmental, Contextual, and Psychosocial Predictors of Weathering and Health among Rural African Americans in their Fourth Decade of Life

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2021 · $597,666

## Abstract

Project Summary
African Americans in the rural South are among the most disadvantaged populations in the US in terms of life
expectancy, a consequence of morbidity from chronic diseases of aging (CDAs). Emerging evidence suggests
that CDAs are conditions that develop over the lifespan, with pathogenic processes starting in childhood but
manifesting clinically at older ages. Wear and tear from chronic stress, beginning in childhood and continuing
throughout the life course, weathers multiple physiological systems, increasing CDA vulnerability. Since 2001,
the Strong African American Families Healthy Adult Project (SHAPE) has followed a cohort of rural African
American youth participating in an investigation of risk, resilience, and development. When participants were
age 19, we expanded our investigations to address biological weathering. We found that exposure to family
economic hardship and racial discrimination in late childhood and adolescence forecast biological weathering
during emerging adulthood as evidenced by allostatic load, inflammatory activity, and epigenetic aging. For
rural African Americans, the fourth decade of life has significant potential to affect biological weathering and
CDA vulnerabilities for better or worse. The influences of poverty, community disadvantage, and racial
discrimination combine to render rural African Americans’ transitions to productive young adult roles especially
challenging and stressful. Despite challenging conditions, many SHAPE participants will maintain in good
health and some may improve their health. During the next 5 years, SHAPE participants will be exposed to
continued and, in some cases, amplified contextual stress. Some participants will evince escalation in their
weathering trajectories and the emergence of health problems, whereas others will not. The proposed research
is designed to investigate the reasons why by collecting two waves of additional data when SHAPE
participants are ages 31 and 33. The data collection will involve biological markers of weathering, indicators of
cardiometabolic health – metabolic syndrome (MetS) and insulin resistance (IR), and developmentally
appropriate behavioral and psychosocial risk and protective factors. Our specific aims are to test hypotheses
regarding: (a) the direct and indirect effects of contextual stressors endemic to rural Southern environments on
indices of weathering and the emergence of MetS and IR, and (b) mechanisms that prevent stress exposure
from affecting rural African American young adults' biological weathering and health. The young adult
protective mechanisms on which we focus include health protective social ties and bonds, problem-focused
coping styles, and protective racial identity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10207694
- **Project number:** 5R01HD030588-27
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Gene H. Brody
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $597,666
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1993-04-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10207694

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10207694, Developmental, Contextual, and Psychosocial Predictors of Weathering and Health among Rural African Americans in their Fourth Decade of Life (5R01HD030588-27). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10207694. Licensed CC0.

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