Dr. Tenesha Littleton has received a grant from the Resource Center on Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Deep South! Her project will build on her previous work funded by the University of Alabama Research Grants Committee that examined child wellbeing in the Alabama Black Belt. For her current study, Dr. Littleton will examine social determinants of health (SDOH) among African American grandmothers who have primary custody of their grandchildren and assess the relationship between those determinants and their physical and mental health outcomes. The mixed-methods investigation will analyze data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to assess trends in the SDOH among custodial grandparents before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic from 2018-2022. She will also collect qualitative data from African American custodial grandmothers in the Alabama Black Belt region. Dr. Nicole Ruggiano, who is a member of the RCMAR Research Education Core leadership, will serve as her project mentor. Along with her grant funding, Dr. Littleton will receive training in gerontological and aging research as a RCMAR Scholar. The RCMAR Deep South is funded by the National Institute on Aging and is a collaborative partnership between UAB, UA, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Tuskegee University.
Dr. Tenesha Littleton receive grant from Resource Center on Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Deep South
