# Understanding the Interplay of Social Context and Physiology on Psychological Outcomes in Trauma-Exposed Adolescents

> **NIH NIH R01** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $612,407

## Abstract

Project Summary
Trauma-exposed adolescents are at risk for a host of deleterious outcomes, particularly stress sensitive
disorders such as acute stress disorder (ASD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and
substance use disorders. Theory and available evidence point to two particularly important influences on the
development of PTSD: (1) individual stress response (particularly heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC)) and
(2) social context (interactions occurring in person and through online social networking (OSN)). Whereas prior
studies broadly point to self reported social context or single measurements of biomarkers, the present
investigation uses naturalistic ecological sampling approaches that permit more objective coding of social
behaviors and context and uses continuous biometrical sampling to permit the modeling of coupled individual
stress responses and social context. The present investigation, translational in implications for intervention, will
longitudinally model the course of early interplay of biomarkers and social context influencing symptom
development in 200 trauma-exposed adolescents (13-17 years). Youth will be recruited in-hospital immediately
after medical evaluation for traumatic injury (i.e., physical assault, serious vehicular accident) sufficiently life
threatening to warrant trauma team activation. They will be asked to wear: (i) a wristband health tracker, for
two weeks; (ii) the EAR, for two weeks (later coded for social environment, interaction, affect, content). At 2-
week follow-up, youth will: (i) permit download of OSN from 2-weeks pre-trauma through the 2-week follow-up;
(ii) participate in a semi-structured clinical interview to assess symptoms of stress-sensitive disorders, and (iii)
complete laboratory procedures developed to characterize social and biological processes critical to stress-
sensitive disorders. At 6-weeks, 6-months, and 9-months post-trauma, youth will download OSN occurring in
the 2 weeks prior as well as complete (i) laboratory procedures, (ii) semi-structured diagnostic interviews of
stress-sensitive disorders and (iii) self-report measures of social context. The present investigation will provide
rich, clinically relevant characterization of the inter- and intra-individual predictors and correlates of post-trauma
adjustment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9881195
- **Project number:** 7R01MH108641-05
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** NICOLE R NUGENT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $612,407
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2016-07-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9881195

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9881195, Understanding the Interplay of Social Context and Physiology on Psychological Outcomes in Trauma-Exposed Adolescents (7R01MH108641-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9881195. Licensed CC0.

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