Collaborative research: Food insecurity and mental health in global perspective: Social and nutritional pathways

社会不平等被认为是人类遭受多种形式痛苦的根本原因。 社会不平等虽然植根于特定的社会和经济秩序，但也表现在个人的生物学和心理学上。然而，所涉及的复杂和相互作用的联系还没有得到很好的理解;身心健康的差异既可能是社会不平等的原因，也可能是社会不平等的结果。了解这些差异如何相互作用是很重要的，因为它们可以相互加强，因此一旦周期开始就很难逃脱。该奖项支持的研究将通过粮食不安全的透镜以及将其与精神疾病联系起来的途径来调查这些联系，这些联系由文化和社会差异介导。虽然这项研究将在美国以外的地方进行，以利用分析上有用的比较，但其研究结果将普遍适用。这项研究将由人类学家莱斯利J韦弗博士（亚拉巴马大学）和克雷格A。哈德利（埃默里大学）在三个快速发展的社区在巴西，埃塞俄比亚和海地。 之所以选择这些研究地点，是因为这三个地区在最近的记忆中都经历了粮食短缺，而且在每一种情况下，社会不平等都在生活机会上造成了明显的差异。 与此同时，这三个研究地点在科学上也各不相同：它们有着不同的饮食文化，与全球经济的融合程度也各不相同。在每个地点，研究人员将收集与食物的获取、准备和消费相关的社会和文化意义的信息;他们将进行心理和身体健康评估;他们将研究这些数据之间的关系，以衡量生物（特别是营养）和文化因素的重要性，这些因素是将粮食不安全与精神疾病联系起来的途径。将通过健康和福祉访谈、参与者观察、收集基本健康生物统计数据以及管理适应文化的心理健康量表来收集数据。跨站点比较将使研究人员能够评估是否存在我们可能在包括美国在内的其他全球地区看到的粮食不安全和心理健康问题的共同经历。这项研究的结果将有助于更好地理解人类社会，文化，生物学和心理学之间的联系。研究结果还将有助于提高旨在缓解心理健康问题和粮食不安全以及减轻社会不平等的一些有害影响的发展和援助计划的有效性。

Social inequality is recognized as a fundamental cause of many forms of human suffering. Although rooted in particular social and economic orders, social inequality also manifests in individual biology and psychology. However, the complex and interacting connections involved are not well understood; physical and mental health disparities can be both the cause and the effect of social inequality. Understanding how these disparities interact is important because they can be mutually-reinforcing and thus difficult to escape once the cycle has begun. The research supported by this award will investigate these linkages through the lens of food insecurity and the pathways that connect it to mental ill health, as mediated by cultural and social differences. Although the research will be conducted outside of the United States to take advantage of analytically useful comparisons, its findings will be universally applicable.The research will be undertaken by anthropologists Dr. Lesley J. Weaver (University of Alabama) and Dr. Craig A. Hadley (Emory University) in three rapidly developing communities in Brazil, Ethiopia, and Haiti. These research sites were chosen because all three have experienced food shortages in recent memory and in each setting, social inequality is creating noticeable disparities in life chances. At the same time, the three research sites also differ in scientifically useful ways: they have culturally distinct food cultures and each has a different degree of integration with the global economy. In each site, the researchers will collect information on social and cultural meanings associated with the acquisition, preparation, and consumption of foods; they will do mental and physical health assessments; and they will look at the relationships between these data to weigh the importance of biological (especially nutritional) and cultural factors as pathways that connect food insecurity to mental ill health. Data will be gathered through interviews about health and well-being; participant observation; the collection of basic health biometrics; and the administration of culturally adapted mental health scales. Cross-site comparisons will allow the researchers to assess whether or not there is a shared experience of food insecurity and mental health problems that we are likely to see in other global locations, including the United States. Findings from this research will help to better understand the connection between human society, culture, biology, and psychology. Results also will help to improve the effectiveness of development and aid programs designed to alleviate mental health problems and food insecurity and alleviate some of the harmful effects of social inequality.