Sharing the burden of discrimination: Parents as sources of resilience from adolescent obesity-related health risk

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Abstract Research Project: African American (AA) and Hispanic/Latina (HL) female adolescents show markedly elevated rates of obesity compared to their Non-Hispanic White (NHW) and male peers. Minority and female youth also experience increased discrimination-related stress; stress-induced alterations to physiology and behavior may partially account for these disparities in obesity prevalence. Guided by attachment theory, an influential paradigm that has never before been applied to the study of obesity-related health disparities, this project takes a resilience-focused approach, proposing that parents can buffer the impact of discrimination on youth. When parents serve as a safe haven (SH), providing comfort when youth face threat, and a secure base (SB), encouraging youth to actively cope with stressors in the environment, they help to strengthen youth’s ability to withstand discrimination with less physiological wear and tear. Attachment theory proposes that SH/SB can be measured both behaviorally and physiologically, as SH/SB exchanges affect both parent and youth Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) activity. Participants include 120 female adolescents (1/3 AA, 1/3 HL, 1/3 NHW; 1/3 obese, 1/3 overweight, 1/3 typical weight) and their caregivers, enrolled in an R01 study of adolescent stress and obesity-related health parameters (body composition, physiology, energy balance, and cardio-metabolic markers). Attachment relationships are measured during parent-youth discussions of youth experiences of discrimination. Both parent SH/SB behavior and parent-youth ANS activity linkage are assessed as indices of attachment. The study’s first aim tests whether associations between youth discrimination and obesity-related health are moderated by a) coded SH/SB or b) parent-youth ANS linkage. The second aim identifies catalysts of this health-protective parenting (SH/SB and physiology) for parents who have been exposed to discrimination. Parents’ history of discrimination may either reduce or enhance their sensitive responses to youth’s experiences of discrimination, depending on the parent’s capacity for reflective functioning, the ability to attune to youth’s thoughts, emotions, and intentions. The proposed study adds parent-youth discrimination discussions to an existing, data-rich study of adolescent obesity disparities. By identifying attachment relationships as reducing the obesogenic effect of discrimination, this project lays the foundation for the future development of dyadic obesity interventions for at-risk minority youth. Training Plan and Environment: Post-doctoral training will launch PI Kazmierski’s research career as a clinical psychologist who studies social determinants of health for at-risk youth. Via research, coursework, mentorship, and professional development activities, the proposed fellowship will endow Ms. Kazmierski with increased mastery of the theories, methodologies, and statistical approaches used in health disparities research. Working with Drs. Rao, Borelli, and their collaborators at UC Irvine provides a resource- and mentorship-rich environment to scaffold Ms. Kazmierski’s academic and professional development.