How early stress and relationships affect teen eating and risky behavior
Official title: Early Adversity, Interpersonal Stress, and Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescents
Funded at Miriam Hospital · NIH-11178503 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses short, real-time phone surveys and interviews with teens to learn how early-life stress and daily relationship problems relate to risky behaviors and eating habits.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Miriam Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Providence, United States) |
| Project start | September 15, 2021 |
| Project end | July 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $89,636 |
| NIH project number | 5P20GM139767-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11178503 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are adolescents who have experienced early adversity or who currently face interpersonal stress and may struggle with unhealthy eating or risk behaviors.
✕Less likely to help
Adults, children outside the adolescent age range, or teens without early-life adversity or without access to a smartphone may not benefit from or be eligible for this work.
What this research studies
You would be asked to take part in interviews so researchers can understand when and where relationship stress and risky behaviors happen for teens, paying attention to different kinds of early adversity. The team will turn what they learn into brief phone-based surveys (ecological momentary assessment) that prompt teens in real time about their emotions, social context, and behaviors. After refining those surveys, they will test whether teens can and will use them and whether the surveys capture the moments when stress and risk behaviors occur. The work focuses on mapping everyday contexts so future supports can be offered at times of highest need.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could help identify exact moments when teens are most likely to engage in risky eating or substance use so support or interventions can be timed better.
How similar studies have gone: Real-time phone surveys (ecological momentary assessment) have been used successfully in other adolescent mental-health research, but applying them to different types of early adversity and interpersonal stress in real time is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Miriam Hospital
Providence, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Jennings Mathis, Karen — Miriam Hospital
- Study coordinator: Jennings Mathis, Karen
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.