ANN ARBOR— Social inequalities have been identified
by public health advocates as one of the most pressing
public health issues in this country. It is widely
believed that they are a key cause of physical and mental
health problems. A new University of Michigan research
center, funded by a $10 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), will allow U-M researchers to
delve deeper into research on the detrimental health
effects of being poor.

“For the first time, we will bring together an
interdisciplinary group of researchers who will present
evidence that demonstrates consistent and strong
associations between socio-economic status, psycho-social
states and physical and mental health. By concentrating on
the role of economic factors, neighborhood characteristics
and the biology of stress within a birth to old age
framework, we hope to make a quantum leap in understanding
inequalities in health and what can be done to reduce
them,” said George A. Kaplan, professor and chair of the U-
M School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology.

Kaplan, who has published more than 150 papers on this
and related issues, will head the new research center
called the Michigan Interdisciplinary Center on Social
Inequalities, Mind and Body. Kaplan is also director of
the Michigan Initiative on Inequalities in Health, a
universitywide network of researchers who specialize in
inequalities in health issues. The Mind-Body research
center will bring together researchers from public health,
sociology, education, social work, public policy, medicine,
psychology and economics. The U-M center’s six research
projects include:

Pathways to Child Health and Function: This research
project will determine how decades of economic stress on
parents effects where they live, the quality of education
their children receive and how those factors—in
combination with their home environment and schools—
affect the health and development of their children. The
study will be based on data from the Panel Study of Income
Dynamics, a longitudinal survey of a representative sample
of U.S. men, women, and children.

Pathobiology of Hopelessness, Depression, Socio-
economic Status and Cardiovascular Disease: This study
will analyze data taken over a 12-year period to determine
how socio-economic status, depression and feelings of
hopelessness influence the glucocorticoid and serotonin
levels in the brain and how they can lead to increased risk
of heart disease and other health problems.

Social Context, Social Inequality, Mind, Body and
Health: Researchers will interview representative samples
of families to examine the connection between neighborhood
and community characteristics, economic status, race and
ethnicity, attitudes and perceptions and how those factors
contribute to poor or better health.

Life Course Development, Psycho-social Function and
Cardiovascular Disease: How does one’s childhood influence
behavior and physical and mental health in adulthood?
Researchers will determine how birth weight, growth
patterns through childhood and socio-economic conditions
impact self-esteem, personal uncertainty, sense of
coherence, hostility, depression, hopelessness, anger and
other factors. Researchers will also examine how these
developmental and psycho-social factors are biologically
linked to cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes
in adulthood.

Health of Women Under Economic Stress: This project
will focus on the physical and emotional health effects of
welfare reform on single mothers. It considers how
successful or unsuccessful navigation through work-fare
programs leads to better or worse health among low income
mothers; how health problems influence their work success;
and how community and governmental resources can contribute
to better health among these mothers and their children.

Methodology and Biostatistics Core: U-M, University
of Chicago and other center researchers will work together
to develop new ways of measuring and assessing the complex
web of health determinants.

A congressional mandate directed the Office of the
Behavioral and Social Sciences Research to lead efforts at
NIH to develop a mind-body initiative. Congress designated
more than $60 million to be granted over the next five
years for the programs. The University of
Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon University, University of
Wisconsin, University of Miami and Ohio State University
also received funding.