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* Brazilian HIV Prevention for the Severely Mentally Ill
The Feasibility and Impact of the Bridge Program upon Accessing HIV Care
Measuring mental illness stigma: Understanding HIV risk in youth with MI
* Mental Health and Risk in HIV+ Youth and Seroreverters
Stress, Identity, and Mental Health in Diverse Minority Populations
* denotes international research

 

 

MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS

Grant Title: Stress, Identity, and Mental Health

Project Name: STRIDE

Funding Source and Project Period: NIMH, R01; 2003 - 2006

Collaborating Institutions and Key Personnel:

Columbia Mailman School of Public Health:
Principal Investigator: Ilan Meyer, Ph.D.

HIV Center:
Co-Investigators: Joyce Hunter, D.S.W.; Michael Stirratt, Ph.D.;
Robert Kertzner, M.D.

Project Overview:

Members of stigmatized groups are exposed to social stressors related to prejudice that may increase their risk for mental health problems. They confront these stressors by engaging in a multitude of coping responses that can protect them from the adverse effects of stress. Minority identities based on social and psychosocial characteristics are important in defining one's self. Stressors in these areas may therefore affect mental health of diverse minority populations. Identities may be related to mental health both on their own -- e.g., negative self-identity may induce mental health problems --- and through interaction with social stressors --- e.g., stress related to a prominent identity may have more adverse effects than stress related to peripheral identities.

This three-year research project examines the effect of stress and minority identity related to sexual orientation, race/ethnicity and gender on mental health. The research describes social stressors that affect minority populations, explores the coping and social support resources that they utilize as they confront these social stressors, and assesses the associations of stress and coping with mental health outcomes including mental disorders and wellbeing. The study also explores the impact of various identity characteristics-such as whether an identity is viewed positively or negatively, or whether it is prominent or not-on the relationship of stress and mental health outcomes. The study, using extensive quantitative and some qualitative measures, is a longitudinal survey of 525 men and women between the ages 18 and 59 who are residents of New York City.

Update: 3/13/06

HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies
1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 15, New York, NY 10032
(212) 543-5969 | Fax (212) 543-6003