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Identity influences on psychosocial traits, biologic age, and cardiovascular disease disparities

Award Number: R00AG075327
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/15/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2025

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Identity influences on psychosocial traits, biologic age, and cardiovascular disease disparities - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Cardiovascular disease (CVD) disparities are increasingly attributed to the distinct social conditions in which various social groups age. Socioeconomic and psychosocial factors are known to cause chronic stress that may increase risk of CVD, but the mechanisms are not fully clear. It is therefore important to identify factors that mediate or moderate the effects of social stressors on CVD. Geroscientific theory reconceptualizes chronic disease as a product of sustained dysfunctional aging, offering additional avenues for understanding how the social environment is internalized to influence health. Work emerging from this literature has identified epigenetic dimensions of aging such as DNA methylation which appear particularly responsive to psychosocial stressors. Epigenetic “clocks”, or measures of DNA methylation-based predictors of chronological age, health, and mortality may serve as useful markers that can provide important missing information on the relationships between social stressors, aging, and CVD. Furthermore, psychological factors may also play an integral role in these pathways. Self-concept is a determinant of a number of identity-based psychosocial characteristics associated with both epigenetic changes and CVD. These include dispositional traits such as optimism and negative affect, as well as beliefs about self-worth and subjective social status. Importantly, these factors are also known to influence the way individuals perceive and cope with stress. Antecedent to the psychosocial traits which influence stressor appraisal and stress-responsive behavior, self-concept may therefore serve as a viable point of intervening on the subjective identity characteristics which catalyze premature and dysfunctional aging in the context of social disadvantage and predispose individuals to CVD. Incorporating a geroscientific perspective, the applicant’s Identity Vitality-Pathology (IVP) model theorizes that certain self-concepts render individuals particularly vulnerable or resilient to the health effects of social stressors by promoting or preventing premature aging. The proposed IVP scale (IVPS) aims to measure these novel identity characteristics hypothesized to predict aging-related psychosocial factors and cardiovascular health. The specific objectives of the proposed study are to: 1) examine whether psychosocial risk and resilience factors predict biological age as measured by epigenetic clocks using data combined from the Jackson Heart Study and the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities cohorts; and 2) use preliminary qualitative data to develop and finalize items for use in the IVPS. R00 phase aims include examining the psychometric properties of the IVPS and assessing whether self-concept as measured by the IVPS predicts CVD-related psychosocial traits and biological aging. Ultimately, this work has the potential to identify additional targets for addressing racial and gender disparities in healthy aging and CVD, particularly ways of favorably influencing epigenetic changes associated with healthy aging.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $224,101 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	001	4	5/29/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	4	12/16/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$224,101
														Subtotal = $224,101

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $329,216 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	3	12/19/2023	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$249,000
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	001	3	1/11/2024	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	002	3	8/8/2024	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$80,216
														Subtotal = $329,216

Grand Total All Awards = $553,317

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Identity influences on psychosocial traits, biologic age, and cardiovascular disease disparities

Award Number: R00AG075327

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/15/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2025

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