Community and environmental resilience through the lens of culture

A biopsychosocial model will provide a tailored multi-perspective approach to characterize, within a region that has experienced successive disasters during the past 7 years, the proximal and distal effects of adversity on maternal health, maternal-child relationships, and infant development. During this time, the environmental stressors of Hurricanes Katrina (2005), Rita(2005), Gustav (2008) and Isaac (2012), as well as the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010), have caused significant physical/structural damage and psychological distress in rural areas already characterized by high levels of poverty and limited access to healthcare. A plethora of research exists exploring why some individuals and communities are able to maintain better functionality in the face of external stressors; however none focus on the unique Gulf Coast cultural diversity and parents' experiences navigating cumulative environmental stressors while caring for their children. This study, Gulf Coast Cultural Influences on Maternal and Child Health: Influence of Prenatal Stress, Culture, and Attachment on Epigenetic Factors, is part of a larger investigation of the Transdisciplinary Research Consortium for Gulf Resilience on Women's Health(GROWH).