Happy new year and we hope that you all enjoyed your break! It’s been a really stressful start of the year, and for those of you who are still quarantining at home, here are some tips that may help you alleviate anxiety and feel more energetic:

We have a lot of studies that explore how experiences relate to health! One aim of the On the Rise Study is to create risk profiles from biological data and determine whether they predict cardiovascular health risk in Black and African American youth.

Our latest study by Dr. Greg Miller and Dr. Alexa Freedman is featured on Institute for Policy Research 😼Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern @N3Initiative. Check out the following link for a full read-through of the paper: science.org/doi/full/10.11…

Happy Valentines Day! We hope you are able to spend the day feeling loved by those you hold dear. Here are some tips to keep your heart healthy this season.

A 2019 study by Cynthia S. Levine found that when schools emphasize the value of diversity, students of color have lower levels of inflammation, less insulin resistance, and fewer metabolic syndrome signs than students who attend schools that do not emphasize diversity.

Mental resilience in challenging times deepens the capacity to cope with all sorts of crisis, whether global or personal. Make sure to take care of yourselves and reach out to your support systems if needed.

A 79 year longitudinal study by psychiatrist Robert Waldinger found that good relationships actually protect your brain! People who are more socially connected to family, friends, and community are happier, physically healthier, and live longer than those who are less connected.

The Strong African American Families (SAAF) Intervention is a family skills training program aimed to lessen the effects of poverty and life stress on rural African American youth by focusing on youth, parents, and their family interactions.

A study by Freedman and collaborators found that individuals living in block groups with higher eviction filing rates were more likely to deliver preterm and deliver infants that were underweight compared to those living in blocks with lower eviction filing rates.

Our researchers examine whether low-income African American youths may experience poor physical health outcomes, in part, due to reduced access and opportunity to perform restorative health behaviors.

Our research has shown that high school students who participated in academic motivation programs with an emphasis on social support had lower inflammation levels compared to those who attended standard academic motivation programs.

Family environment plays an important role in both individual’s wellbeing. Our research has shown that risky family climate in childhood is associated with greater outflow of stress hormones in late adolescence, which leads to increase in cellular aging in early adulthood.

Our research has found that a group of youths from low-income households appears to be resilient in terms of academic outcomes and mental health, but they have higher allostatic load and elevated risks for multiple health issues.

In an attempt to test the neuroimmune network hypothesis, Dr. Miller and colleagues discovered that for children living in poverty, increased responsivity to threat and reward were associated with increased inflammation.

A study by Dr. Miller, Dr. Chen, and colleagues discovered that children with asthma had lower inflammatory response and better family asthma management when they perceived their parent as a secure base.

Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month from Foundations of Health Research Center! “Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.” --- Sonia Sotomayor

A 2021 study by our lab and collaborators examined the preventive effects of family-centered interventions on African American youths, and found that these programs reduced the association between exposure to discrimination and subsequent mental health problems.

As daylight saving comes to an end, days feel much shorter than before, and it could be depressing to spend a long night at home. Here are some tips for taking care of yourself as daylight hours get shorter: