The three signature themes guiding our research are: social disparities, stress, and health; families, interpersonal relationships, and health; and developmental perspectives on health disparities from conception through adulthood. The goals of our proposed activities are to: (i) become an international locus for information about and training in the use of biomarkers in population research; (ii) expand and strengthen our signature programs of population research; (iii) initiate new types of interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects that span the social and life sciences; (iv) mentor and develop young scientists; (v) increase external funding; and (vi) translate research findings for practice and policy. With regard to biomarkers, C2S faculty would expand their work on development of """"""""field-friendly"""""""" methods for assessing biomarkers of human health and development. Key goals are to develop methods for assaying new biomarkers, provide technical assistance for incorporating these methods into national and community surveys, and, through an annual summer workshop, train students and faculty in using and analyzing biomarker data in population surveys. With regard to new research activities, our focus in social disparities and health include cross-national studies of stress and culture, studies of racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S., biologically-based studies of stress and psychological health, and studies of stress and socioeconomic elements of both families and neighborhoods. Our focus on interpersonal relationships and health includes studies of family stress and child well-being, and prejudice and stereotyping in inter-group relations. Our focus on developmental perspectives on health include studies of how prenatal and neo-natal environments affect child well-being and adult health, and developmental influences on adult reproductive function. Consistent throughout our proposed work is the emphasis on population-level health and well-being through the use, where possible, of representative samples from target populations of interest. Our research-based mentoring and curriculum-based instruction will train a new cadre of young researchers whose mastery of both biological and population-based methods will equip them to engage in the kind of integrative, multi- method, interdisciplinary approaches to population health research envisioned by the NIH Roadmap.
