How income ups and downs affect stress, blood pressure, and cellular aging
Official title: Unstable Income, Rising Stress? The Effects of Income Instability on Psychological and Physiological Health
Funded at Cornell University · NIH-11398355 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers will change the timing and predictability of pay for low-income workers in southwestern Bangladesh to see how unstable income affects mood, stress hormones, blood pressure, and signs of cellular aging.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Cornell University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ithaca, United States) |
| Project start | March 7, 2024 |
| Project end | April 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $20,971 |
| NIH project number | 3R01AG076655-04S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11398355 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are low-income workers or households in southwestern Bangladesh who experience unstable or unpredictable earnings and are willing to complete surveys and biological measurements.
✕Less likely to help
People with stable, predictable incomes, those who do not live or work in the study area, or those unwilling to provide biological samples are unlikely to be eligible or benefit directly.
What this research studies
You would be part of a program where researchers change how and when you get paid to create more or less predictable income. They will collect short surveys about mood and anxiety, measure blood pressure and stress hormones like cortisol, and take samples to look for signs of cellular aging. The team will compare predictable versus unpredictable pay and also compare those changes to simply increasing average pay. They will look at why effects happen by tracking financial behaviors and will check whether age, gender, or prior mental health change the results.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could show that stabilizing pay schedules reduces stress, improves cardiovascular markers, and may slow biological aging, guiding policies that protect low-income families.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research links income instability to worse mental and physical health, but randomized experiments that directly alter pay timing and measure biological aging are uncommon and relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Cornell University
Ithaca, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Schofield, Heather — Cornell University
- Study coordinator: Schofield, Heather
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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.