Doctoral Dissertation Research: The effects of COVID-19 on food choice and well-being

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。危机迫使人们以已知的影响行为，健康和福祉的方式适应新的环境。由于个人和社区的情况发生变化，影响到粮食供应以及与粮食选择有关的其他成本和效益，因此营养方面的考虑是对危机进行调整的一个关键组成部分。在COVID-19的背景下尤其如此，它不仅影响了个人情况（例如，本博士论文研究探讨在不断演变的COVID-19大流行背景下，人们如何调整食物选择以应对危机。它测试了人类学的复原力和灾难理论，以调查人们是否以及如何改变饮食习惯，以减轻与持续危机相关的压力。除了培养第一代人类学博士生外，还将向当地社区和利益相关者等广泛传播该研究成果。具体而言，本研究提出了一个生物文化理论透镜，以调查1）食物获取、偏好和选择; 2）应对压力时使用食物; 3）相关决定对人类生物学和健康的影响。博士生将进行调查，收集食物消费和饮食相关活动的数据，并收集生物测量（血红蛋白水平，身高，体重，体脂百分比），以实现这些研究目标。该研究将在受COVID-19影响的社区进行，以维持个人和家庭收入以及社区范围内的食物供应。这项研究的结果将通过对食物选择作为压力和健康结果的关键调解人的全面调查，为危机如何改变行为和健康提供更广泛的理解。该奖项反映了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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Crises force people to adjust to novel circumstances in ways known to affect behavior, health, and well-being. Nutritional considerations are a critical component of adjustment to crises as individual and community circumstances change in ways that affect food availability and other costs and benefits relevant to food choice. This is particularly true in the context of COVID-19, which has affected not only personal circumstances (e.g., income), but also food supply chains, costs, and so on. This doctoral dissertation research investigates how people adjust food choice to crisis in the context of the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic. It tests anthropological theories of resilience and disaster to investigate whether and how people change dietary habits to alleviate the stresses associated with ongoing crisis. In addition to training a first-generation doctoral student in anthropology, the research will be disseminated widely, including to local communities and stakeholders.Specifically, this research proposes a biocultural theoretical lens to investigate 1) food access, preferences, and choices; 2) the use of food in response to stress; and 3) the effects of related decisions on human biology and health. The doctoral student will conduct surveys, gather data on food consumption and diet-related activities, and collect biological measurements (hemoglobin levels, height, weight, body fat percentage) to achieve these research aims. The study will be conducted in communities that have been variably affected by COVID-19 in terms of maintenance of personal and household income and community-wide food availability. Findings from this research will provide a broader understanding of how crises change behavior and health via its holistic investigation of food choice as a critical mediator of stress and health outcomes.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.