Associate Professor Meg Paceley led a study examining the relationship between the family and community environments of LGBTQ+ youth and disordered eating behaviors. The research was published in Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services and supported by the National Institute of Mental Health/National Institutes of Health (NIMH/NIH) Loan Repayment Program ($58,000).

To explore the relationship between disordered eating and acceptance or rejection of LGBTQ+ youth in both family and community contexts, Paceley and the research team – including Ryan Watson from the UConn Department of Human Development and Family Studies – used data from the National LGBTQ+ Teen Survey, an anonymous online survey of 7,895 LGBTQ+ youth aged 13 to 17 collected in 2017. The survey questions included measures of acceptance or rejection from parents or caregivers; it also explored community factors such as climate, LGBTQ+ involvement, LGBTQ+ support and anti-LGBTQ+ bullying. The researchers assessed disordered eating behaviors related to attempting to control one’s weight (taking diet pills, fasting, purging) and binge eating.

The study found that LGBTQ+ youth who experienced family rejection and LGBTQ+-based bullying were more likely to report disordered eating patterns for weight control and binge eating. However, youth who experienced LGBTQ+ community acceptance and support were less likely to engage in those disordered eating behaviors.

The study results show that both families and communities are important environments that contribute to disordered eating among LGBTQ+ youth. Paceley is currently analyzing data from the 2022 National LGBTQ+ Teen Survey and preparing a submission for federal funding to study transgender youth and disordered eating longitudinally.

Read more about Paceley’s work.

With a $49,000 Research Excellence Program grant from UConn’s Office of the Vice President for Research, Assistant Professor Kelsi Carolan will lead a qualitative study with a focus on individuals with long COVID in Connecticut. The term “long COVID” describes a clinical set of post-COVID symptoms that may include fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction, among other effects.

The aims of Carolan’s research are to investigate how long COVID affects employment, family and social relationships, and mental health; what coping strategies affected individuals are utilizing to manage the psychosocial repercussions of long COVID; and what types of professional and clinical interventions are needed to best support psychosocial functioning in the context of long COVID.

“We are aiming to focus especially on the needs and experiences of Black/African American and Latine individuals experiencing long Covid symptoms given that the psychosocial impact of long COVID on these populations has so far been understudied,” says Carolan.

The novel research brings together a multidisciplinary team of faculty from UConn and UConn Health Center with complementary expertise to address significant gaps in understanding of a new and poorly understood chronic disease. Rachel Tambling, professor in Human Development and Family Sciences at UConn, is co-principal investigator. Contributors also include Ameer Rasheed, assistant professor of medicine in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UConn Health, and Chinenye Anyanwu, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the UConn School of Pharmacy.

Read more about Carolan’s work.

Associate Research Professor Hsiu-Ju Lin, has joined an interdisciplinary team awarded a $1.5 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH/NIAAA) to investigate the relationship between social isolation, loneliness, stress and coping mechanisms with alcohol use across the United States.

There are two parts to the study. In the first phase, the research team will carry out a series of sophisticated analyses using a nationwide survey of more than 1,500 participants during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the link between coping mechanisms and alcohol consumption. An innovative aspect of this phase involves utilizing geo-coding and participants' geographic locations to assess place-based sources of stress. It aims to explore how these factors are associated with social isolation and loneliness and to understand the impact of these inter-relationships on drinking, Lin explains. The GIS analysis is overseen by Associate Professor Debarchana Ghosh from the Department of Geography at UConn.

In the second part of the study, the researchers will collect prospective data to validate their isolation, loneliness, and coping strategy conceptual model and compare pandemic and post-pandemic periods.

“The main goal is to understand how social isolation and loneliness during COVID impact alcohol consumption,” she says. “We want to understand the mechanism and impact of that unique stress.”

Lin, the co-investigator, is collaborating with PIs Michael Fendrich, Crystal Park, Beth Russell, as well as co-Investigator Ghosh. Fendrich, formerly the associate dean for research at the UConn SSW, is a professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin; Park is a professor of Psychological Sciences; Russell is an associate professor in the Human Development and Family Sciences department.

Read more about Lin’s work.