Doctoral Dissertation Research: Population Neuroscience Approaches to Minority Discrimination and Health

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

This project examines the relationship between perceiving/experiencing discrimination and mental and physical health outcomes. Research in diverse populations suggests that discrimination creates cumulative health effects over time. Moreover, research on stress and stigma indicates that some populations are at particularly high risk for developing mental disorders, suicidality, self-harm, and substance dependence, especially those in 18-24 age range. This project will advance scientists? understanding of how discriminatory social interactions impact mental and physical health at a critical time in the life course, with an emphasis on how social interactions produce neurological changes in our brains. The project employs social neuroscience design principles, combining survey methodology with experiments and neurophysiological measurements. Using Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS), a representative sample of college-age students will be recruited to participate in a survey that focuses on discrimination experiences, mental and physical health and behaviors, and social support networks. As a case in point, the sample will include individuals who identify as lesbian gay, or bisexual (LGB) and demographically matched heterosexual students. From this larger sample, a subsample will be drawn to participate in the second phase in which participants? brain responses to experimental tasks will be measured using electroencephalography (EEG) to capture neural event-related potentials (ERP) in response to target-locked stimuli that simulate ostracism. By focusing on health-related behaviors, self-reported mental health, and neurologically-based biomarkers known to correlate with mental and physical health outcomes, this study will advance scientists? understanding of the ways social interactions and constructs impact health through their impact on our brains.