Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Support and Stress Among Religious Migrants

移徙是一个压力很大的过程，在移徙之前、期间和之后都会出现独特的压力源。对于宗教移民来说，他们的会众是重要的支持来源。然而，如果提供者和接受者之间支助的构成要素不同，那么提供必要支助以科普移徙压力可能会很复杂。本论文研究的目的是比较宗教移民和非移民的社会支持的理解，以及他们是否坚持当地的社会支持的期望与压力（感知压力以及荷尔蒙的措施）。该项目从生物和文化的角度探讨移徙问题，明确了长期压力因素对移徙者的影响。它还扩大了妇女在STEM领域的参与，因为它为一名女研究生提供了实验室和实地工作方面的培训。本研究的结果将广泛传播给参与社区和学术及非学术观众。研究者应用生物文化的方法来理解移民宗教和后国家理论来回答以下问题：1。同一宗教的移民和非移民对社会支持的理解是否相同？2.移民对社会支持的理解在哪些方面与目前科学研究中所描述的相似或不同？3.世俗和非世俗教育如何影响移民和非移民对社会支持的理解？4.移民或非移民给予和接受文化上适当的社会支持的程度是否与压力有关（感觉到的压力以及压力的荷尔蒙测量）？为了回答这些问题，研究人员采用了衡量共同文化规范（文化共识）以及个人对这些规范（文化一致性）的遵守的方法。皮质醇是一种与压力相关的激素，可以在头发中获得，用于测量生物压力。这些理论方法和方法的结合为理解移民经历提供了一种新颖的方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且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。

Migration is a stressful process, with unique stressors emerging before, during, and after migration. For religious migrants, people in their congregations are important sources of support. However, providing the support necessary to cope with the stressors of migration may be complicated if what constitutes support differs between the giver and the receiver. The purpose of this dissertation research is to compare religious migrant and non-migrant understandings of social support and whether their adherence to local expectations of social support is associated with stress (perceived stress as well as hormonal measures). By approaching migration from both a biological and a cultural perspective, this project provides clarity with respect to the impact of chronic stressors among migrants. It also broadens the participation of women in STEM, as it provides training for a woman graduate student in lab and field work. The findings of this research will be disseminated broadly to participant communities and academic and non-academic audiences.The researcher applies a biocultural approach to understandings of migrant religion and post-national theory to answer the questions: 1. Do migrants and non-migrants of the same religion understand social support the same way? 2. In what ways are migrant understandings of social support similar to or different from those currently described in scientific scholarship? 3. How does secular and non-secular education influence how migrants and non-migrants understand social support? 4. Is the degree to which a migrant or non-migrant gives and receives culturally appropriate social support associated with stress (perceived stress as well as hormonal measures of stress)? To answer these questions, the researcher employs methods that measure the presence of shared cultural norms (cultural consensus) as well as individual adherence to these norms (cultural consonance). Cortisol, a hormone associated with stress and accessible in hair, is used to measure biological stress. The combination of these theoretical approaches and methods provides a novel approach to understanding the migrant experience.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.