What began as ASU professor Meg Bruening’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Minnesota is now expanding into a five-year research study, thanks to a $1.25 million grant from the National Institute of Health.
This grant will allow Bruening to begin a research study that will examine the effects of friendships on physical activity, weight and other life aspects.
Bruening, an assistant professor at the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion and a registered dietician, was one of 15 who received a 2013 Early Independence Award grant from the High Risk-High Reward Research Program. The Early Independence Award allows for new researchers who have just graduated with their doctoral degree to begin conducting research studies rather than enroll in traditional post-doctoral training.
“My dissertation was looking at how adolescents and adolescents’ friends share eating behaviors,” Bruening said. “But, there were a lot of limitations to that and so ASU was kind of the right place to do the study.”
Bruening’s study is looking to target a very specific group — ASU freshmen in five residence halls on the Tempe campus.
Bruening said she wants to look at the average population as much as possible. Health majors, which make up a significant amount of the Downtown campus, are typically immersed in a healthier environment and therefore do not represent the average college freshman.
“Their behaviors are probably different than the average population because they are already so into health,” Bruening said.
Unlike Bruening’s beginning dissertation, participating students will now be asked to sign on for the entire academic year. This group of 1,600 to 1,700 freshman students will be examined in an attempt to predict future health patterns in the entire student population. Both nutrition and physical activity will be studied during the next five years.
“I do think people are influencing each other’s behaviors,” Bruening said. “One of the cool things we’ll get out of this study is when and where that’s happening.”
The research study is also unique in that it will utilize mobile apps to help track the behaviors of the participants. This method of data collection is fairly new to both this study and the field of clinical research as a whole.
Daniel Hruschka, an associate professor with the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, is one of many faculty members that will be working with Bruening on the study.
“I think this is a great way for her to embark on a new topic and new direction,” Hruschka said.
Hruschka will be looking at the effects of social networks on the participants’ wellbeing to see if their ideals and beliefs are replicated on their social media platforms he said.
Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, an associate professor with the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, will also be involved with the research study in a “monitoring role,” examining obesity prevention and survey research.
Ohri-Vachaspati will have the opportunity to work with “young adults just leaving home,” which she sees as an opportunity for both herself and the rest of the staff to advance as a “researcher and scholar.”
So far the government shutdown has not affected the research study as the funds for the first year were disbursed by the National Institute of Health prior to Oct. 1.
Though small pieces of the study are beginning now, both the recruitment of student participants and the hiring of research assistants will not take place until next year.
“(This is a) fabulous beginning any researcher would want,” Ohri-Vachaspati said.
Contact the reporter at carolyn.corcoran@asu.edu
