This application for a Mentored Scientist Career Development (K01) award involves a program of coursework, research training and strong mentorship by a team of established researchers to strengthen the candidate's capacity to develop theory by examining the longitudinal effects of poverty and domestic violence on young mothers' short and long-term mental health outcomes. The candidate's extensive clinical experience as a social work practitioner and her previous scholarship on linkages between domestic violence, mental health and welfare use provide a strong foundation for this research, but higher level skills in longitudinal statistical analysis and advanced qualitative methods are currently beyond her scope of expertise. The proposed research plan extends previous scholarship by determining whether material resources mediate the consequences of stressors on mental health outcomes, and by examining how the sequencing of stressful life events affects mental health in later life stages. To accomplish the specific research aims and training goals, data from a 17 year longitudinal study (Young Women's Health Study - Gillmore, Co-Pi, DA05208) of young single women who became pregnant as adolescents will be used. The survey data are unusual in that they include measures of economic insecurity, violence exposure and mental health outcomes within an ethnically diverse sample of women. The proposed statistical analyses of the data will be supplemented through use of an innovative qualitative technique to identify life course sequences of risk and resilience. The results from this study will identify causal pathways and developmental trajectories that can be used to inform prevention and intervention services to at-risk women. A five year program of education, training and mentored research will be supervised by Dr. Mary Gillmore of the University of Washington and will provide the candidate with the methodological skills and substantive knowledge needed to carry out the specific aims of the research.
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