# Origin of Chronic Diseases of Aging Among Rural African American Young Adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2020 · $168,182

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The current proposal builds upon an ongoing investigation to test hypotheses about (1) the role of
psychosocial stressors in “weathering” young bodies, (2) the protective factors that may mitigate their adverse
impact, and (3) the role of continuity and change in weathering during a key life course transition. Tests of
these hypotheses will enable a better understanding of the role of weathering in forecasting chronic diseases
of aging (CDAs) among rural African Americans and set the stage for prevention programming for this
vulnerable population. Using recently-developed, direct measures of biological weathering we have found that,
by age 20, some SHAPE youth are already experiencing accelerated aging due to psychosocial context. The
transition to adulthood provides an opportunity to examine the impact of both new and continuing sources of
risk and resilience on weathering and ultimately on CDA vulnerability during this important transition period,
allowing us to closely examine the potential for adverse and protective experiences to “bend” the risk curve for
future CDAs and so illuminate key targets for preventive intervention. Here, we request funds to supplement
the SHAPE study by using blood from an ongoing NICHD-sponsored data collection protocol to characterize
each participant's “epigenetic clock” at age 26, providing a key window on weathering and changes in
weathering and so allow us to conduct enhanced tests of theory and to more accurately identify high value
targets for preventive intervention. By adding this assessment we will have a data set with measures of
biological weathering at age 20 and age 26, along with a full complement of indicators of metabolic syndrome,
a precursor to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This assessment will place no additional burden on
SHAPE participants and will substantially increase the public health value of the data set. First, we will
examine the impact of exposure to multidimensional SES- and race-related stressors during the transition to
adulthood on changes in biological weathering. We expect exposure to stressors, particularly racial
discrimination, to play a key role in maintaining or accelerating weathering processes across young adulthood
and to presage CDA vulnerability (i.e. metabolic risk and inflammation). Second, we will identify positive,
protective influences, both inside and outside the family, that help shift African American young adults off the
above-mentioned trajectory to CDAs. We anticipate that these factors will be especially important for young
adults who enter the transition to adulthood with already-accelerated weathering. The results of the proposed
study will inform the development of preventive interventions designed to slow biological weathering and
promote health for a population at high risk for early development of CDAs. By examining not only risk factors
for accelerated aging but also protective environments and coping processes that pr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9925262
- **Project number:** 5R01HD091046-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Gene H. Brody
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $168,182
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-06-20 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9925262

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9925262, Origin of Chronic Diseases of Aging Among Rural African American Young Adults (5R01HD091046-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9925262. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*