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Research Statement
domains, including cultures, subcultures, age and developmental levels. For example, the
population of the U.S. has a propensity for habits that are less than optimal for our health. This
starts in childhood, with the consumption of high calorie foods and high sugar content drinks,
and continues into adulthood with more dangerous substances. These activities set the stage for
social interactions and often determine the friend groups that we associate ourselves with.
My current research, Social development and sugary drinks: changing the American diet,
asks how the consumption of sugar added drinks have affected social development stages of
undergraduate students. I cross reference this to their year in their program, as well as their given
Social Economic Status. The data will be collected through a Qualtrics survey and broadly
distributed via list serves across many demographics to get the broadest target range. The
The information in this project is used to see if there are differences in advertising
targeting to lower class areas that would make poor consumption habits more socially acceptable
than in areas of higher class status. This will help to create an awareness of poor consumption
habits that affect social desirability factors. This information will help to guide future counselors
in educating clients in the fact that healthy choices extend beyond immediate body issues and
guide life outcomes in the social, interpersonal, educational, and ultimately career domains as
well.
This topic has implications in multiple domains of counseling and psychology, therefore
it lends itself well to integration into practice. There is a myriad of information available on
similar topics in childhood that are linked with diabetes research, so I plan on using this
information to incorporate my research into a full length creative nonfiction book on the topic in
My next project will focus on social discounting behaviors in situations where high
calorie diets are normal practice. This will focus on specifically gambling behaviors in low
income Native American communities of the Northeastern United States. I will seek grant
funding from the Native American Research Centers for Health, or NARCH, for this future
project.
By quantifying the significance of diet choice in low SES neighborhoods, both of these
research projects provide significant empirical and theoretical contributions to a growing body of