Category: Past News

 

How does a teenager’s stress ripple through the family—beyond the emotional tension—to affect their parents’ physical health?

That’s the central question driving a newly funded research project led by University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill’s Dr. Melissa Lippold, in collaboration with Dr. Katherine Ehrlich, University of Georgia Professor of Psychology and a Distinguished Scholar at the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, whose Health and Development Laboratory will spearhead the UGA portion of the work.

The five-year, $3.3 million study, titled “Examining the Crossover Effects of Adolescent Stress on Parent Cardiovascular Health,” is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), with $2.4 million awarded to UGA. The project launched in September 2025 and will follow 400 parent–child pairs across Athens and surrounding areas starting this spring.

A Friendship Turned Research Partnership

Ehrlich and Lippold’s collaboration began as many great scientific partnerships do—with a shared interest and a wonderful idea.

“I had been working on a proposal about how adolescents’ stress during the transition to middle and high school might be linked to their own cardiometabolic health,” Ehrlich said. “But we kept missing the payline—sometimes by just a couple of points.”

Lippold suggested expanding the idea to include “crossover effects”—how stress in adolescents might transfer to affect parents’ health. “We quickly realized we could examine both sets of questions within the same framework,” Ehrlich recalled. “That insight turned out to be the key.”

The two researchers first met in 2005 during graduate school interviews and have been sharing ideas ever since. “We’ve been informally bouncing ideas off each other for nearly two decades,” Ehrlich said. “It’s been amazing to see how that long-term friendship evolved into a project of this scale.”

Inside the Study: Tracking Stress and Health in Real Time

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., disproportionately affecting minority and low-income populations. Decades of evidence show that daily stressors and strong emotional reactivity to those stressors elevate risks for cardiometabolic disease and inflammation—two major predictors of CVD.

What’s new is the project’s focus on how adolescent stress might “crossover” to influence parent health. Early pilot data from Lippold’s lab revealed that, on days when adolescents experienced stressors, their parents were more likely to report negative mood, physical symptoms such as headaches or fatigue, and elevated cortisol—a stress hormone linked to heart disease.

The new study will dig deeper into those patterns. Over the next five years, the team will:

• Recruit 400 families with children entering 6th or 9th grade.
• Conduct in-lab assessments of stress, social relationships, and baseline health.
• Have parents and adolescents complete two weeks of nightly surveys to capture daily stressors and emotional responses.
• Follow each family for 18 months to see how adolescent stress predicts changes in parent cardiovascular health and inflammatory markers.

By combining new primary data with analyses of an existing parent-child dataset, the research will test whether findings hold across different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups—providing a rare opportunity to examine health disparities in stress transmission.

Why It Matters

Parenting adolescents can be both rewarding and stressful. This project aims to uncover how those daily stressors matter for parents’ physical health and identify modifiable pathways—such as poor sleep, worry, or strained family communication—that might amplify or buffer those effects.

Ultimately, the findings will guide the design of future interventions to help parents respond to teen stress in ways that protect their own cardiovascular health. “If we can pinpoint the mechanisms linking adolescent stress to parent health, we can design strategies that promote resilience in both generations,” Ehrlich explained.

The Human Side of Science

For Ehrlich, the project reflects the unpredictable but rewarding path of research. “Research trajectories often look linear in hindsight,” she said, “but in reality, they’re shaped by timing, collaboration, and a fair amount of luck. This grant is a perfect example—it started as a companion idea and became the centerpiece of our next five years.”

She also praised the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research and UGA’s Center for Family Research for their support. “The OIBR team was incredible, especially during those chaotic submission cycles when I had two or three proposals going at once,” she said.

And while the work is challenging—tracking participants over years, managing complex data systems—Ehrlich finds joy in the teamwork behind it all. “When everything is running smoothly—data coming in, students learning, analyses progressing—it feels like we’re all part of something bigger. That’s what I love most about this work.”

Learn More

Families interested in participating or following the project’s progress can visit the Health and Development Laboratory website: https://www.healthanddevelopmentlaboratory.com

Written by: Andrea Horsman
November 13, 2026

In April 2025, the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research (OIBR) proudly sponsored Dr. David Okech, one of OIBR’s Distinguished Scholars, to attend the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. The annual event brings together researchers from across the country to advocate for continued federal investment in social and behavioral science.

Dr. Okech is the Georgia Athletics Association Professor of Human Trafficking Implementation Research at the University of Georgia and the founding director of the Center for Human Trafficking Research & Outreach (CenHTRO).

This marked Dr. Okech’s first time participating in COSSA Advocacy Day, though he had prior experience advocating on Capitol Hill during graduate school. Reflecting on the event, he shared how meaningful it was to join a broad community of researchers working to ensure that policymakers understand the value and impact of their work.

“It’s easy to wonder if these events have a tangible impact,” Okech noted, “but when you see the long lines of people advocating on behalf of issues they care about, you start to see the potential for change. It was not just us advocating on behalf of social science research, it was also about listening to the research priorities of the administration.”

The fast-paced nature of meetings on Capitol Hill was both eye-opening and instructive. “You realize very quickly how important it is to make your message succinct and compelling,” he said. Although the time with lawmakers’ staff was brief, the opportunity to discuss the economic and societal importance of social science research proved to be a powerful reminder of the field’s relevance.

Dr. Okech emphasized the importance of using language that resonates with policymakers, especially in terms of economic impact. “Communicating how our work affects not just health and well-being, but also the economic impact, seemed to get more attention.”

One of his key takeaways from the experience was the sense of solidarity among researchers. “Meeting other social scientists with the same challenges—and feeling like I could do something, even if small, to communicate the importance of our work—was incredibly rewarding.”

When asked what more could be done to support the social sciences, Dr. Okech highlighted the need for clearer and more accessible communication. “Locally, I believe we need to better convey the real-world impact of our research to the general public,” he said.

Would he recommend the experience to others? Absolutely. “Not everyone understands the effects of social science research. Being able to communicate that to those shaping funding decisions is essential.”

His favorite moment? Being asked by congressional staff why his research matters. “It made me reflect more deeply on the real-world impact of my work, beyond what we put in grant proposals.”

The Owens Institute is proud to support faculty like Dr. Okech in representing the University of Georgia and the social sciences on a national stage.

Written by: Andrea Horsman
June 6, 2025

The University of Georgia has once again secured a place among the nation’s top research institutions in the social and behavioral sciences. According to the 2025 College and University Rankings for Federal Social and Behavioral Science R&D Funding, released by the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA), UGA ranks 10th nationally, with $37.3 million in federal funding for research in these fields during fiscal year 2023. This marks the second consecutive year that UGA has ranked in the top ten—and it remains the highest-ranked institution in Georgia.

This distinction highlights UGA’s growing prominence in disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics, political science, law, communications, and social work. These fields play a critical role in addressing some of today’s most pressing societal challenges, including public health, education access, social equity, and economic opportunity.

At the forefront of this effort is the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research (OIBR), which supports interdisciplinary research by affiliated faculty across campus. Their work helps shape policies and practices at the local, state, and national levels, producing research that not only expands academic knowledge but also drives practical solutions to real-world problems. From improving mental health outcomes and education systems to enhancing public safety and health equity, the work of OIBR researchers has tangible impacts on communities.

The COSSA rankings are based on data from the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey, which tracks federal R&D expenditures across higher education institutions. UGA’s continued ascent in the rankings is a clear reflection of the university’s dedication to advancing research that makes a difference.

But why should this matter to the broader public?

Social and behavioral science research touches nearly every aspect of daily life. It helps answer fundamental questions: How can families thrive? What reduces crime? How can schools be more effective? What drives political behavior? How do we create more equitable and healthier communities?

This research provides critical insights into how people think, behave, and interact—and turns those insights into action. It informs better policies, more efficient public programs, and stronger community support systems. Whether it’s navigating a public health crisis, addressing systemic inequality, or understanding how technology affects communication, social science is essential to creating a more just and sustainable society.

At UGA, investment in these disciplines is not just about academic excellence—it’s about making life better for everyone. Through strong leadership, committed researchers, and growing national recognition, the Owens Institute and the University of Georgia are proud to be a driving force in the future of social and behavioral science.

Written by: Andrea Horsman
May 7, 2025

2025 GUIDELINES

Deadline: Proposals are due by 5:00 pm (Eastern) on Friday, May 30, 2025.

Award Description
In support of the UGA-UoL Humanities and Social Sciences Summit, the UGA Office of Global Engagement is launching a one-time UGA-UoL Humanities and Social Sciences Seed Grant Program. The purpose of this support is to encourage the development of sustainable research collaboration or other joint activities aimed at generating extramural funding among UGA and University of Liverpool faculty within the humanities and social sciences. Two grants, one in the Humanities and one in the Social Sciences, each up to $15,000, will be awarded to support preliminary research and the preparation of external funding proposals. The Office of Global Engagement will provide $10,000, while the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will each contribute $5,000.

Eligibility
• You must be a faculty member within the Humanities or Social Sciences.
• Each proposal must have one, at minimum, UGA investigator and one UoL investigator. Larger teams and interdisciplinary projects are encouraged.
• To be eligible, proposals must identify and commit to pursue specific sources of external funding as a result of the activities enabled by the seed grant.

Funding
• Grants will be in an amount of up to $15,000. Expenditures may include travel and other collaborative efforts, such as preliminary data collection, feasibility studies, and proposal preparation costs.
• Travel proposed must be necessary to the articulated output of the identified research collaboration.
• Proposals may be funded in an amount less than requested and investigators may request less than the maximum amount.

Required Proposal Content and Submission Instructions
The following proposal components are required and must be submitted via the online proposal form. The full proposal should be uploaded as a single PDF file. Save and return is not available so applicants should have documents prepared for upload prior to completing the form. Clicking “Submit” is a final transmission of the proposal.

Preliminary information entered on the proposal submission form:
• Title of project
• Name, affiliation, and email of UGA principal investigator (PI)
• Name, affiliation, and email of other UGA investigators
• Name, affiliation, and email of all UoL investigators

Upload as one PDF:
• Summary of planned project for non-expert (no more than 500 words)
• Description of preparatory activities to be funded by the grant (1/2 page max)
• Expected outcome of those activities, identifying by name the sponsor(s) and program(s) to which subsequent external funding requests will be submitted (1/2 page max)
• Budget, following the Faculty Research Grant Budget template found here: Faculty Research Grant Budget Template
• UGA PI’s curriculum vitae
• UoL PI’s curriculum vitae
• Submit proposals here by 5pm on May 30, 2025

Evaluation Criteria and Procedures
The Office of Global Engagement will coordinate vetting and approval of proposals. The following will be taken into account by the review teams:

• Quality of the proposal: The research project or other proposed joint activity presented in the proposal should be original, innovative, and clearly articulated.
• Importance and strategic fit: The proposal should explain the project’s significance beyond the borders of the discipline and indicate how it aligns with larger institutional priorities.
• Partnership development: The proposal should demonstrate the potential to develop sustainable collaborations between UGA and UoL. Proposals that include additional matching funding will be prioritized.
• Sustainability: The proposal must articulate a credible plan to attract additional external funding, linking the preparatory activities for which grant funding is requested to specific future funding submissions.

Award Conditions
Grants are expected to start on July 1, 2025, and funds are to be spent within the current fiscal year of the award (end June 2026). An outcome report will be due on July 1, 2026. These reports should focus on what was accomplished and the status of attempts to obtain external funding.

Contact for questions: Harper Davison.