# Structural Adversity and Life-Course Social Determinants of Stress Regulation and Epigenetic Aging in Midlife Adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $686,543

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Intersecting structural conditions, including racism and other systems of oppression create structural adversity
that impacts health and life expectancy, especially for Black Americans and other racialized communities. The
proposed mixed-methods research will collect new data to complement a wealth of existing longitudinal data
previously collected at key developmental stages over more than three decades from two ethnically, racially, and
socioeconomically diverse cohorts from the Harlem Longitudinal Development Study and the Children in the
Community Study. The sample will consist of 450 Black, Latinx and white adults previously surveyed in
childhood/early adolescence, emerging adulthood, young adulthood, and midlife. The proposed research,
informed by the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory, will quantify and contextualize the
assocations of exposure to structural adversity, namely individual-level life-course experiences of adversity
within and across institutions and social contexts over the life course (e.g., stigma/discrimination, socioeconomic
disadvantage) and neighborhood-level ethnic-racial inequality with stress regulation, epigenetic modifications
(i.e., epigentic age), and mental health (i.e., psychological distress, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress,
race-based traumatic stress). This will be accomplished using four forms of data that will be triangulated to
optimize results and interpretation: survey, biological, qualitative, and U.S. Census data. The proposed research
will also include innovative development and validation of a new Intersectional Stigma in Context tool (ISIC) that
will be compared and contrasted with existing stigma/discrimination measures. The quantitative survey and
biological data will facilitate comprehensive analysis of racialized differences in structural adversity and its
association with stress regulation, epigenetic aging, and mental health. These analyses will be further
contextualized through in-depth interviews with a purposive sample selected from the study cohort. The
qualitative data will innovatively provide deeper understanding and interpretation of structural adversity over the
life course, including stigma/discrimination, stress, resilience, and other salient experiences that are often missed
by quantitative data, including contexualized information of past generations. Further, this research will identify
protective factors that can mitigate the deleterious sequelae of adversity and thus highlight areas of resilience
that can be leveraged in interventions. In conclusion, identifying how racism and intersecting systems of
oppression permeate and reproduce social conditions that manifest at the individual and neighborhood levels –
creating structural adversity – will be examined for it’s association with biological stress regulation, epigenetic
aging, and mental health. This will constitute a crucial step towards changing policies and systems tha...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10474853
- **Project number:** 1R01AG077945-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Kobor
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $686,543
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10474853

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10474853, Structural Adversity and Life-Course Social Determinants of Stress Regulation and Epigenetic Aging in Midlife Adults (1R01AG077945-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10474853. Licensed CC0.

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