Horizon Center for Health Equity

We are interested in the way maternal stress may influence how you and your baby communicate and how maternal stress may influence infant sensitivity to mom's moods.

We are looking for mothers who are between 18-40 years old and infants who are between 5-8 months old.

A new biomarker for chronic stress: Hair Cortisol Cortisol is a well-known stress hormone and until recently, we have only been able to understand how stressed a person has been for about the past 20 minutes or the past day. Now, with about 100 st

Are you interested in participating?

• We are studying stress in both foreign-born and US adults by measuring stress hormones found in hair.
• We will cut approximately 75 strands of hair (from the back and uppermost part of your head). This is noninvasive and not noticeable in your hairstyle.
• For most of the study, you will be on the computer answering questions about perceived stress levels, and other potentially negative experiences, such as whether you have experienced discrimination. We ask you to be as honest as possible in all of your responses.
• We will monitor your heart rate during the study and then there are a few cognitive tests. All of your data and are completely confidential!
If interested, please email [email protected]
or call 617-287-5685 to set up an appointment on campus!
Thank you!!

Horizon Center for Health Equity The HORIZON Center is an Exploratory Center of Excellence at the University of Massachusetts Boston, established with funding from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).

UMass Boston recently published an article about our ongoing research activities. Here is the link:

Feeling Stressed? UMass Boston Researchers Want to Study Your Hair - University of Massachusetts Bos Researchers from the Horizon Center for Health Equity are offering $25 to students, staff, and faculty who participate in a brief study.