Category: Prevention
Olutosin Adesogan, B.S.
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Steven Beach, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Olutosin Adesogan, B.S.
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Justin Lavner, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Ariel Hart, M.S.
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Sierra Carter, Ph.D.
Professor
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia
Current research suggests that family relationships may play a pivotal role in fostering resilience in the face of external stressors. For example, the stress-buffering effects of couple relationships have been documented in several observational studies showing that individuals are more resilient to the health consequences of stressors if they have a supportive couple relationship. Nonetheless, it is very challenging to provide a strong test of mechanisms of resilience using traditional observational designs due to residual confounding and reverse directionality errors. The current symposium highlights a new approach that utilizes intervention studies to examine “constructed resilience.” The experimental design of intervention studies allows for stronger claims regarding the role of various sources of resilience, including family relationships, by examining whether intervention-induced changes in a given domain buffer the effects of the stressor on the outcome (i.e., constructed resilience).
The current symposium showcases these ideas through several studies. Specifically, using multiple waves of the Promoting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) randomized controlled trial, we examine how a family-focused prevention program can promote physical and mental health among Black individuals and families. The ProSAAF intervention is a CBT-based intervention designed to promote strong couple, coparent, and parent-child relationships among Black adults and their children living in the rural Southeastern United States. In previous work, we have documented main effects of the intervention on couple relationships, which in turn serve to benefit child and adult health. In the current set of studies, we explicate how ProSAAF-enhanced relationships also confer resilience to financial stressors, chronic race-related discrimination, and acute COVID-19-related stressors confronted by Black youth and their families. We expand upon these findings by discussing mechanisms by which the adverse physiological and psychological impacts of race-related stressors may be manifested and the ways in which constructed resilience may be a useful tool in buffering these effects.
Results from these studies bolster the causal hypothesis that family relationships can be a source of resilience in the face of external stressors and underscore the value of family-focused prevention programs for Black Americans contending with multiple sources of stress. More broadly, understanding the role of constructed resilience for enhancing the physical and mental health of minoritized groups suffering chronic adversity is in keeping with the mission of ABCT to influence policy and mitigate systemic adversities that may disadvantage minoritized groups, and with the theme of the 2022 ABCT Convention. The current presentations provide a framework for understanding constructed resilience strategies, the mechanisms by which they may enhance physical and mental health, and the types of analyses that may best capture such effects.
Presenter: Olutosin Adesogan, B.S. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Steven Beach, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Man-Kit Lei, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Justin Lavner, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Sierra Carter, Ph.D. – Georgia State University
Co-author: Allen Barton, Ph.D. – University of Illinois urbana-champaign
Presenter: Justin Lavner, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Man-Kit Lei, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Sierra Carter, Ph.D. – Georgia State University
Co-author: Olutosin Adesogan, B.S. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Steven Beach, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Presenter: Ariel R. Hart, M.S. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Ariel R. Hart, M.S. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Man-Kit Lei, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Justin Lavner, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Co-author: Sierra Carter, Ph.D. – Georgia State University
Co-author: Steven Beach, Ph.D. – University of Georgia
Presenter: Sierra Carter, Ph.D. – Georgia State University
Co-author: Frederick Gibbons, PhD – University of Connecticut
Co-author: Steven Beach, Ph.D. – University of Georgia