# Understanding diabetes and related-risk factors among adolescents of American Samoa

> **NIH NIH F31** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $39,174

## Abstract

SUMMARY
 Pacific Islanders in the US are disproportionately affected by diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
Among US Pacific Islanders, those most at risk are resident in the US-affiliated Pacific Island territories, which
are geographically isolated, medically underserved, health professional shortage areas. Despite obesity often
being established in childhood, adolescence is a critical time for intervention to prevent associated chronic
diseases. In American Samoa, this age group has been completely overlooked in existing efforts to mitigate
disease risk. There is a need to intervene on adolescent's individual behaviors, but health-related decisions are
not made in vacuum – family, peers, and the wider surrounding environment are important influences. Equally,
adolescents play a critical role in food preparation in the Samoan familial structure and are responsible for
cooking daily meals for immediate and extended family from early adolescence, thereby shaping familial risk.
To date, there has been limited consideration of specific Samoan cultural and social influences on adolescent
risk behaviors. The important impacts AS adolescents may have on familial and peer habits have also been
underrecognized. Therefore, the central premise of this thesis is to understand the distribution of obesity,
diabetes, and hypertension, and factors associated with these conditions, in the adolescent population in
American Samoa. With this proposal we will: (1) use qualitative methods to identify factors influencing healthful
nutrition among American Samoan adolescents; (2) employ a school-based survey to identify factors
associated with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension in adolescents in American Samoa; and (3) use social
network analysis to examine the patterning of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension among friendship networks
in American Samoa. Findings from this work are expected to enhance our understanding of the range of
behavioral and social influences on chronic disease risk in this setting and to concretely inform future
intervention strategies. Importantly, the findings are likely to translate to Pacific Islander adolescents in other
settings in the US and US-affiliated Pacific Islands. Through this work the applicant will develop skills in
qualitive methods, advanced epidemiologic study design and management of epidemiological surveys, and
social network analysis. This training is central to the applicant's long-term goal of become a Pacific-focused
noncommunicable disease epidemiologist integrating advanced epidemiologic methods with locally relevant
interventions to support health promotion in Pacific Island communities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10996657
- **Project number:** 1F31DK139749-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Mata'uitafa Faiai
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $39,174
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2025-04-25

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10996657

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10996657, Understanding diabetes and related-risk factors among adolescents of American Samoa (1F31DK139749-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10996657. Licensed CC0.

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