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Postdoc Description
We anticipate applying for a two-year postdoctoral minority fellowship as a supplement to our currently funded NICHD grant on health trajectories and racial/ethnic socialization. In keeping with the goals of the minority supplement program, the proposed candidate must be from a racial/ethnic minority group that is underrepresented in the health and behavioral sciences, be a U.S. citizen, and he/she must have defended his/her dissertation before the fellowship can commence.

The ideal candidate will participate in all phases of the research project funded by an NICHD grant in response to the FOA called “Reducing Health Disparities Among Minority and Underserved Children” and awarded to Jacquelynne S. Eccles at The University of Michigan. S/he will have (a) a background in the study of racial and ethnic identity, health, health behaviors and health outcomes among minority youth, (b) experience with large longitudinal datasets, and (c) quantitative data analysis experience, as well as writing skills. Preference will be given to applicants with a Ph.D. concentration in social/developmental psychology or personality/social psychology, as well as an interest in parent socialization.

Our current grant (see abstract below) began in January 2012 and will continue through December 2014. We plan to apply for a minority supplement to the grant in collaboration with our ideal candidate for a period of two years. This will require that we write up an application to NIH stating how the proposed racial/ethnic minority candidate would enhance our ongoing research and that the proposed candidate write up her/his research objectives and career goals which should complement our project goals.

Applicants should include a letter describing their research interests and how these interests align with the aims of the NICHD grant described below, a curriculum vitae, and the names of three people we could contact for letters of recommendation. Please submit materials by email to Oksana Malanchuk at oksana@umich.edu. Review of materials will begin immediately and applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Start date is flexible but early summer 2012 is preferred.

Abstract

Health trajectories from age 12-32: Disparities, discrimination, and socialization

Health disparities between African Americans (AA) and European Americans (EA) living in the USA, as well as disparities within each population are well documented. These disparities persist, even when socioeconomic and environmental factors are controlled, suggesting that some of the between group health disparity reflects the effects of non-economically based race-related experiences, such as racial discrimination, on psychological and physical health. In this project, we will document individual and group differences in trajectories of health and health-related behaviors from age 12 to age 32, focusing primarily on race, gender, and social class disparities. We will then evaluate the role of racial discrimination outside one’s home and socialization within one’s home in moderating the shape of these trajectories. Although some research has explored the impact of parent socialization on their children’s health and ability to cope with discrimination in the short term, little work has examined the role of parents and families on developmental health trajectories in the second and third decades of life.

Using the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (MADICS), a nationally-recognized 18-yearlongitudinal study of family, school, neighborhood, and peer influences on psychological, social, and physical development, we seek to understand the effects that parents have on the development of their children’s mental and physical health during the second and third decades of life. Specifically, we will create trajectories of physical health and health-related behaviors from approximately age 12 to approximately age 32 (Aim 1). Next, we will examine the extent to which the individual differences in these health trajectories vary as a function of: (a)racial/ethnic (R/E) classification, gender, and SES; (b) individual differences in experiences of racial discrimination and other critical life events; and (c) other individual differences known to predict effective coping with stressors like racial discrimination (Aim 2). We will next create profiles of general and R/E specific parent socialization and examine their relations (Aim 3). Finally, we will examine the relation between these socialization profiles and trajectories of physical health and health-related behavior (Aim 4).