Florida A&M University proposes a Minority Institutional Research Development Support Program designed to enhance the research skills and research productivity of faculty and provide a challenging and stimulating environment to encourage students to consider research careers in mental health, alcohol and drug abuse. Faculty and students will be provided support, encouragement, and skills through the opportunity afforded by this research grant. The proposed research activities will consist of the following: 1. Developmental research support to enhance the technical research skills of faculty and students through intensive participation in workshops, collaboration with established research scientists, planning and conducting pilot research, and developing a competitive research proposal. 2. An investigation of the Africentric cultural-based Black personality construct called African self-consciousness, in relation to a complex network of general personality dispositions and socio-environmental factors as predictors of positive mental health outcome among African-American youth. 3. An investigation of the psychological, sociocultural, and psychophysiological factors associated to the stress responses of African-American college students. 4. An investigation of the psychophysiological factors that contribute to the physiological stress response in young African-American adults. These activities and projects will occur over a three year period.
