# Effects of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Adolescent Cortisol Reactivity and Mental Health

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE · 2021 · $46,036

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Millions of children in the United States are living in high-poverty neighborhoods, where they are at risk for
exposure to higher rates of crime, violence and neighborhood-level disorder than peers living in more affluent
neighborhoods (Friedson & Sharkey, 2015). These disadvantageous neighborhood conditions predict
depression, anxiety and conduct disorder in adolescents (Aneshensel & Sucoff, 1996), but it is unclear exactly
how neighborhood disadvantage confers risk for these mental health outcomes. Cortisol reactivity to acute
stress is a candidate mechanism, given that cortisol reactivity is thought to be a link between adverse
experiences and psychopathology (Koss & Gunnar, 2018). However, little is known about the degree to which
neighborhood disadvantage influences adolescent cortisol reactivity. The proposed study has 3 aims: 1)
examine the association between neighborhood disadvantage and cortisol reactivity; 2) identify potential
moderators of this association; and 3) investigate cortisol reactivity as a mediator of the association between
neighborhood disadvantage and adolescent mental health. At age 13, neighborhood-level disadvantage (i.e.,
dangerousness, physical decay and disorder) will be coded using a novel social observation protocol, the
Systematic Social Observation Inventory-Tallying Observations in Urban Regions (SSO i-Tour). Adolescents
will also complete the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C), a social-evaluative task that reliably
evokes a cortisol response (Buske-Kirschbaum et al., 1997). Saliva samples will be collected during the TSST-
C and assayed for cortisol concentration. Adolescents will also report on the quality of their relationship with
their parent using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-Revised (IPPA-R, Gullone & Robinson, 2005).
At age 14, parents will report on adolescent mental health symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist
(CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Multivariate regression analysis will be used to examine the association
between neighborhood disadvantage and cortisol reactivity, as well as explore moderators (i.e., adolescent sex
and relationship quality) of this association. Last, mediation analysis will be employed to examine whether
cortisol reactivity mediates the association between neighborhood disadvantage and mental health symptoms.
This study aligns with NICHD research priorities due to the examination environmental factors that impact
youth stress reactivity and psychosocial adjustment in high-risk contexts. Findings stand to inform the
development of interventions to prevent and ameliorate the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on youth
mental health by identifying factors that can serve as novel treatment targets. In conjunction with the proposed
training plan, this project will provide the applicant with mentorship and training from experts in the fields of
neighborhood research, statistics, adolescent development and cortisol reg...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10315842
- **Project number:** 1F31HD106764-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
- **Principal Investigator:** Mallory Leigh Garnett
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $46,036
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-15 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10315842

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10315842, Effects of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Adolescent Cortisol Reactivity and Mental Health (1F31HD106764-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10315842. Licensed CC0.

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