We are requesting supplemental funding to conduct secondary analyses of data collected and integrated from 5 studies nearing completion in the Collaborative Center for Trauma and Mental Health Disparities at UCLA (MH07345). Analyses will be based on comprehensive assessments of psychosocial factors relevant for mental health and related biological health risk indexes from 598 African American and Latino men and women. Using a sophisticated set of secondary data analytic techniques, we will describe mental health outcomes as they are predicted by a set of composite indexes of risks and resources over the life-course that may promote resilience and/or vulnerabilities in individuals at high risk. Domains include: (1) cumulative psychosocial burden of acute trauma and chronic psychosocial adversities in childhood and adulthood, (2) the cumulative burden of biological health risk indicators (BHRI) of allostatic load that are predicted to result from cumulative childhood and adulthood burdens of trauma and adversities, and (3) proposed protective resources (i.e. ethnic identify, religious well-being) that may moderate the relationships between cumulative psychosocial burden, cumulative BHRI burden and a composite mental health status index (i.e. depression/PTSD) in African Americans and Latinos. Analyses will be conducted on a sample of 598 adult African American and Latino men and women, including 228 African Americans (63 women, 165 men) and 370 Latinos (220 women, 150 men). Data were collected using laptops equipped with the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) system augmented by private face to face interviews. Univariate and multivariate statistical methods will be used to develop predictor, moderator and mental health outcomes and to test a hypothesized predictive model of mental health status in this high-risk and understudied sample. This comprehensive, life-course approach offers a unique opportunity to identify multiple cumulative contributors to mental health disparities over time.
We expect that our results will inform the value of using composite indexes of risk and resilience in estimating risk for mental health outcomes, identify potential ethnic and gender differences in vulnerability and resilience factors in predicting these outcomes, and identify possible targets for future intervention research to reduce racial/ethnic mental health disparities.
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