RAPID: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC FOR LOW INCOME, LATE MIDDLE-AGED AFRICAN AMERICANS

COVID-19大流行引发了一系列巨大的社会变化，包括数百万美国人的避难所和失业。非洲裔美国人社区受到了不成比例的影响。由于非裔美国人家庭与自我隔离，经济不景气和高感染率作斗争，需要了解有关他们如何应对的详细信息，并需要确定他们成功或失败的资源。该项目将在对生活在南部和中西部的非裔美国人进行的纵向调查的基础上，评估这一流行病对家庭功能和福祉的影响。调查结果将为负责在极端事件期间为公民提供支持的政府和私营机构的政策提供信息。 这些研究结果将有助于从当前危机中恢复过来，并为如何更好地为另一场大流行病或类似紧急情况做好准备提供信息，从而促进我们社会的安全、保障和福祉。 COVID-19疫情对非裔美国人社区造成了不成比例的负面影响。 该项目将调查经济困难和自我隔离的影响，使用纵向数据集，包括近500名生活在南部和中西部的中年非裔美国人（250已婚，74独居，174住在多代家庭）。该数据集目前由25年来收集的八波数据组成，最近一波数据于2019年完成。它包括关于工作、经济困难、家庭关系、社会支持、宗教活动和心理健康的几波数据，从而形成评估COVID-19大流行影响的基线。这些基线数据提供了一个独特的机会来评估自我隔离和失业后生活各个领域的变化程度，包括情绪健康（焦虑，抑郁，愤怒，孤独），以及家庭互动的质量和参与危险行为，如吸烟，酗酒和不健康的饮食。 该项目还将分析疫情对经济困难、家庭关系和情感健康的影响是否因社会阶层和家庭组成而异。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a number of dramatic social changes, including sheltering in place and job loss for millions of Americans. The African American community has been disproportionately impacted. As African American families struggle with self-quarantine, a faltering economy, and high rates of infection, there is a need for detailed information regarding how they are coping, and a need to identify resources they are successfully or unsuccessfully accessing. This project will build on an on-going longitudinal survey of African Americans living in the South and Midwest to evaluate the effects of the pandemic on family functioning and well-being. Findings will inform policies of governmental and private agencies tasked with providing support to citizens during extreme events. These findings will aid in recovery from the current crisis and provide information as to how to better prepare for another pandemic or similar emergency, thus promoting safety, security and well-being in our society. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately negative impact on the African-American community. This project will investigate the impact of financial hardship and self-quarantine using a longitudinal data set comprised of close to 500 middle-age African Americans living in the South and Midwest (250 married, 74 live alone, 174 live in multigenerational households). This data set currently consists of eight waves of data collected over 25 years, with the most recent wave completed in 2019. It includes data regarding work, economic hardship, family relationships, social support, religious activities, and psychological well-being over several waves, thus forming a baseline in assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These baseline data provide a unique opportunity to assess the degree of change in various domains of life following self-quarantine and unemployment, including emotional well-being (anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness) and, in turn, quality of family interaction and involvement in risky behaviors such as smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, and an unhealthy diet. The project will also analyze whether the pandemic’s impact on economic hardship, family relationships, and emotional well-being vary by social class and by household composition. Findings from the project will inform sociological theories of family functioning, including the family stress model.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.