Background

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) adolescents experience significant disparities in obesity and type 2 diabetes likely, in part, due to disproportionate experiences of adversity. Mental health problems (e.g., depression/suicidality) that can arise from adversity have also been related to greater risk of developing obesity/diabetes. Yet, most existing research has focused on AI/AN adults and utilized small sample sizes and it is unclear how mental health, and adversity may contribute to obesity/diabetes risk among AI/AN adolescents. In addition, it is likely that female AI/AN adolescents may experience stronger association between mental health concerns and obesity/diabetes risk compared to male AI/AN adolescents, given that female youth in the United States tend to experience higher rates of depressive disorders, but this has yet to be explored. 

Aims

In an effort to clarify these relationships and inform the tailoring of culturally aware preventative intervention programs for AI/AN adolescents, we will leverage the CDC’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System to:

1) Evaluate the associations of mental health problems and two key dimensions of adversity (i.e., threat/deprivation) with body mass index (BMI) among AI/AN adolescents (Aim 1) and 

2) Assess the extent to which adversity (threat/deprivation) and social identities moderate the mental health-BMI connection (Aims 2/3). 

This project is funded by the American Diabetes Association, Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research, Pilot & Feasibility Program.

Background

Despite the fact that nearly one-third of Colorado youth report poor mental health, many communities and schools are underprepared to address these high rates of mental health challenges. In 2021, Children’s Hospital Colorado declared a “State of Emergency” for pediatric mental health as they witnessed a 90% increase in demands for behavioral health services. While youth and parents nationwide have requested more mental health services, “the reality is that there are limited resources available in our community and in our state" said Pat Givens, DHA, Chief Nursing Executive, Children's Colorado. To meet this urgent need for youth mental health services, we must develop effective and sustainable solutions that can address the youth mental health crisis in Colorado head-on. 

Aims

Community-academic partnerships offer one potential avenue for addressing the youth mental health crisis in Colorado, especially among youth exposed to SEDs. We are currently partnering with local organizations to understand community-identified needs and explore strategies for implementing trauma-sensitive yoga interventions. 

We are currently looking for additional community partners!

Background

The Cumulative Risk Approach to adversity suggests that experiencing more adversity leads to greater mental health challenges and a higher risk of obesity. However, this perspective assumes that all types of adversity have the same impact on health and development. In contrast, the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology (DMAP) proposes that adversity falls into two key categories—threat (e.g., exposure to violence) and deprivation (e.g., housing instability)—each affecting adolescent health in distinct ways.

Research shows that threatening experiences, which involve harm or danger, are strongly linked to mental health problems. On the other hand, deprivation, which reflects a lack of key environmental resources, is associated with poorer executive functioning—the cognitive skills that help individuals regulate their behavior and achieve goals. One key aspect of executive functioning, inhibitory control (the ability to manage impulses), is particularly relevant to obesity risk.

While the DMAP framework provides a valuable lens for understanding adversity, it has not yet been applied to the study of emotion regulation difficulties—challenges in managing emotions effectively. By investigating how threat and deprivation contribute to these difficulties, we can better identify adolescents most in need of support and develop more targeted interventions to address their specific experiences.

Aims

In collaboration with our community and academic partners (Drs. Weiler, Haddock and Zimmerman), we are currently exploring the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and emotion regulation difficulties. Our primary goal is to understand how different patterns of adversity may be associated with specific emotion regulation challenges among adolescents 10-18 years old.

Enrollment is ongoing.

Background

Adolescent mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, have drastically increased over the past decade with major costs to individuals and society. Mental health problems are known to contribute to immediate and long-term stress-related physical health problems. Unfortunately, adolescents exposed to chronic stressors are at an increased risk for developing mental health problems likely due to impairments in emotion regulation, a self-regulatory task of adolescence necessary for coping with stressors. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been proposed to ameliorate mental and physical health problems through improvements in mindfulness and emotion regulation difficulties. However, most research on adolescent MBI mechanisms of change has only been conducted at the between-subjects level with cross-sectional data that are subject to low ecological validity. Further, little is known about how MBIs help adolescents to maintain mindfulness and healthy emotion regulation in moments of stress. The use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) can help to fill these gaps in the literature by providing information about momentary, state-level processes. The purpose of this project is to utilize EMA to understand the extent to which an MBI promotes adolescents’ maintenance of mindfulness and healthy emotion regulation in moments of stress. 

Aims

1. Characterize, prior to an intervention, the real-time, dynamic relationships between life stressors, state mindfulness, and state emotion regulation difficulties in at-risk adolescents

2. Investigate the extent to which participation in an MBI compared to a control condition changes these real-time, dynamic relationships. These aims will be tested within the context of a larger, parent randomized controlled trial designed to study an MBI’s feasibility and acceptability as well as its effectiveness for improving maladaptive eating behaviors among at-risk adolescents (11-18y) referred to a community-based mentoring program for being “at-risk for not reaching their full potential

Enrollment in this study is closed. This study was funded by the NIH (F31AT011642).

Background

Childhood stunting contributes to substantial global disease and economic burden. Despite consistent evidence that psychosocial risk factors such as maternal mental health and intimate partner violence (IPV) contribute to childhood undernutrition, few have explored predictors and meditators in the relationship between IPV and childhood stunting. 

Aims

This study investigates the prevalence of parental alcohol use, maternal mental health problems, and IPV as well as their associations with childhood stunting in the rural Iringa Region of Tanzania. 

Enrollment in this study is closed.