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What is the context of this research?

Seven days after Donald Trump was inaugurated, he signed multiple Executive Orders targeting refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented immigrants. During the same period, Google Trends showed an increase in racism and xenophobia, and the FBI reported an increase in hate crimes. Five months into this administration, "the Trump effect," direct and indirect, has extended into the daily lives of migrants and minorities.

David Williams proposed that the stress associated with political threats and discrimination may lead to negative health consequences for affected populations. For example, Diane Lauderdale showed that after 9/11, Arab-American women gave birth to lower birthweight babies than right before 9/11, a change not seen in other ethnic groups.

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What is the significance of this project?

Though associations between political events or policies and health have been noted, few studies have directly investigated stress as a possible mechanism, and none have yet considered the effects of this unexpected, and unprecedented, presidency.

Hair cortisol (the stress hormone) has been used as a biomarker of stress for the last few years, and has on a few occasions been used to look back at the effects of natural disasters, but it has never been applied to the study of political or social shifts.

Because hair grows about 1 cm per month, 6 cm of hair can provide us with an objective and retrospective measurement of the last 6 months' worth of people's biological responses to an event (the Trump presidency) which has been deeply polarizing.

What are the goals of the project?

Our study population will include 50 adults who are threatened in different ways by recent political and social shifts: undocumented immigrants who face direct legal threats, refugees who face racism/discrimination, disaffected voters, etc.

We will collect hair samples for hair cortisol concentration analysis, and administer surveys about demographic information (legal status, race/ethnicity, etc.), hair care and treatment, perceived stress, and political affiliation. 6 cm hair samples will be divided into three 2 cm segments to look at stress corresponding to the last 0-2 months, 2-4 months, and 4-6 months.

We will look at differences between these variously affected groups, changes in stress over time, and associations with other risk factors. (See our upcoming lab notes!)