Alfonso Floyd

Bio

After obtaining my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from The Ohio State University, I developed a passion for working with marginalized youth populations, and I was particularly moved by the sociocultural challenges experienced by the youth attending my church in my hometown of Cincinnati, which was comprised largely of African-American families. Many of these youth shared their challenges with navigating the complexities associated with living in under-resourced communities, as well as their use of coping strategies such as prayer, church attendance, and youth group involvement to mitigate the negative psychological effects of their stressors. These experiences led me to pursue my master’s degree at DePaul University in Chicago, where my thesis examined the potential moderating effects of religious participation in the relationship between urban stressors and negative psychological outcomes in socioeconomic disadvantaged African-American youth.

I am most excited about my research project investigating the impact of mechanisms of risk and resilience on the mental health of racial/ethnic minority youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). This project interests me because of the challenges that these youth experience with the daily management of their illness as well as the unique challenges associated with their everyday lived experience as youth of color. Little is known about the impact of stressors related to chronic exposure to racism and discrimination, social determinants of health, and adverse childhood experiences on mental health and adjustment to illness in youth with T1D. We do know that the family plays a key role in the youth’s management of T1D. I am interested in exploring these unique contextual and sociocultural factors to identify youth who are most vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes and their adjustment to illness management. I hope to apply this model of risk and resilience to other chronic illness populations to address health disparities experienced by racial/ethnic minority youth and families.