The Price of Debt: The Unequal Burden of Financial Debt and Its Impact on Health

The Laboratory for Human Biology Research (LHBR), directed by co-Investigator Thomas McDade at Northwestern University, will be responsible for processing and analyzing dried blood spot (DBS) samples for this study. Three different biomarkers will be tested in these DBS samples: glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), c-reactive protein (CRP), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies. As director of the LHBR, co-I McDade will oversee the processing and analysis of biological samples. McDade, Kuzawa (both department of Anthropology), and Penedo (department of Medical Social sciences) are all experts in biosocial and biocultural mechanisms of disease and health disparities and, as such, will contribute to the study’s design, data analysis and interpretation, and manuscript preparation. Northwestern co-I’s will participate in regular phone and Skype project meetings with PI Sweet, as well as annual in-person team meetings to be held at Northwestern. Secondary analyses of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) will be conducted by analyst Joshua Rutsohn (department of Medical Social Sciences) under the direction of PI Sweet. Rutsohn and Sweet will have weekly phone or Skype meetings to manage data analysis activities.