Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Biocultural Approach to Evaluating Psychosocial Stress Mediators in Vulnerable Communities

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Disruptions in living arrangements create vulnerabilities for individuals whose day-to-day security is affected by displacement. Residence in temporary settlements presents a range of difficulties and vulnerabilities that may have long-term implications for health and resilience. How do displaced individuals negotiate control and regularity over their daily lives in the context of persistent uncertainty and limited availability of critical resources. This project, which trains a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, tests the hypothesis that displaced individuals regain control and enact resilience by engaging in routine activities. The importance of routine in helping people structure their daily lives, impart a sense of control and normalcy, and weather day-to-day stressors has been noted across research settings. Therefore, understanding the role of Routinized Social Practices (RSPs) on well-being is critical for developing programs that may improve long-term health outcomes among vulnerable populations affected by displacement. This multi-sited research will be conducted among vulnerable populations consisting of individuals negotiating displacement in the context of precarity. These populations face different specific contexts leading to displacement, opening the opportunity to discern both specific and general ways that RSPs may affect health and well-being. Specifically, this study will explore whether participation in RSPs is associated with healthier profiles for biological markers related to stress physiology and immune function. The researchers will also investigate the ways in which RSPs may help vulnerable individuals to maintain livable lives and negotiate their vulnerability following temporary residence in novel communities. The researchers will conduct surveys, collect information on RSPs, sources of stress, and lived experiences, and gather data on stress markers (cortisol, Epstein-Barr virus antibody levels, and blood pressure). Findings from this research will provide insights into the role of routine action in health and stress mediation by examining the extent to which RSPs make everyday life structured and regulated in transitional residential contexts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.