Social transition and risk for disordered eating

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award with a focus on developing expertise in the investigation of sociocultural risk factors for eating disorders by combining perspectives from epidemiology, anthropology, and psychiatry. Candidate: The Candidate, already an established medical anthropologist and psychiatrist with clinical expertise in eating disorders, now seeks additional training (with a primary focus in epidemiology) to make her research more clinically relevant by integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches. Career development plans include training in (1) psychiatric epidemiology; (2) advanced qualitative methods; (3) skills for research with Puerto Ricans; and (4) the responsible conduct of research. Formal coursework, culminating in a master's of science degree in the psychiatric epidemiology program at the Harvard School of Public Health, and supervision with consultants with expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methods will lay the foundation for future independent investigation by the Candidate in this area. Environment: The proposed study will be based at the Massachusetts General Hospital under the supervision of Sponsor, Dr. Jane Murphy, and Co-Sponsor, Dr. Ruth StriegeI-Moore, with consultation from additional experts. Research Plan: Population data based studies suggest that several forms of social transition are associated with increased prevalence of disordered eating in young women across extremely diverse cultural groups. This study will build on the Candidate's previous research demonstrating an increase in disordered eating behaviors and attitudes among ethnic Fijian girls in the setting of rapid modernization in Fiji. Qualitative and quantitative methods and data will be used iteratively in separate studies in two distinct study populations of 15-24 year old females ethnic Fijians in Fiji and mainland Puerto Ricans in Boston. Study I will test hypotheses derived from the Candidate's previous qualitative research in Fiji with a cross-sectional survey to examine associations between primary predictors (relating to dimensions of social transition) and outcomes (relating to disordered eating) in Fijians. Study II will develop a general model for how social transition may contribute to risk for disordered eating across diverse populations by analysis of interview and focus group data exploring applicability of this model to a mainland Puerto Rican study population.