Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Wellbeing, Illness, and Recovery (R01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

PAR-21-350

This FOA invites R01 applications that may range between 2-5 years.  Three areas of focus especially of interest to OppNet and participating NIH ICO’s include, but are not limited to, those listed below:

1. Effects of social connectedness, connection, and isolation across the lifespan

• Affective and cognitive function during the aging process
• Contextual factors that increase or mitigate impact of disruption or isolation at different developmental time points, including but not limited to:
  • Caregivers of people with dementia, severe illness, end-of-life
  • Chronic illness or limited mobility
  • Perceived strength or quality of extant social connections
  • Recent diagnosis with a serious medical illness
  • Sleep changes across the lifespan (e.g., during adolescence, early parenthood, menopause)
• Molecular markers and mechanisms (e.g., epigenetic modifications, gene expression, microbiome alterations, telomere attrition) associated with changes in social connectedness
• Neurobiological developmental trajectories
• Protective and/or risk factors associated with isolation or connection disruption at various times in development and over the lifespan
  • (e.g., adolescence, death of mate/parent, middle-aged males, onset of serious medical diagnosis)
• Aggressive behaviors and/or risky sexual activity associated with connection trajectories

2. Mechanisms of connectedness, connection, and isolation

• Neurobiological factors
  • Impact on structure and function of the nervous system (central, peripheral, autonomic)
  • Impact on neuroimmune and neuroendocrine systems
  • Impact on neural systems associated with basic affective, cognitive, and social processes
  • Importance of inter-individual neural synchrony in mediating or moderating effects in relationship trajectories
  • Neurobiological biosignatures that predict sensitivity to connection disruption or isolation
  • Neurobiological processes that could be targets to ameliorate negative effects of disruption or isolation
  • Neurophysiological consequences of disruption or isolation on substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental illness
• Behavioral and environmental factors
  • The consequences of perceived isolation (e.g., loneliness) and/or objective/observed isolation on behavioral and clinical outcomes in adolescence and adulthood
  • Connections between social disruption/isolation in specific populations and/or health/illness contexts, e.g.,
    • Sex/gender differences; sexual and gender minorities
    • Racial/ethnic differences, acculturation/bicultural adaptations, and contributions to social integration versus isolation
    • Autism, HIV, mental illness, recovery status, substance use disorder
  • Whether the source of connection disruption leads to different processes or outcomes
    • E.g., Self-induced isolation versus isolation by others, or sense of undesired loneliness vs. sought solitude

3. Knowledge representation and behavioral ontology development

• Development of clearly defined vocabularies and taxonomies
• Elucidating relationships across constructs and between constructs and measures
• Integration of knowledge related to social connectedness, connection, and isolation into existing interoperable and sharable measures or ontology frameworks

Application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.

Not required

June 21, 2022

William Elwood, PhD; Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)
Telephone: 301-402-0116; Email :william.elwood@nih.gov