Rutgers School of Social Work Faculty Selected as NJHealth Early-Stage Scholars

Several Rutgers School of Social Work faculty members have been selected as NJHealth Early-Stage Scholars, earning support for innovative research that will leverage data from the New Jersey Population Health Cohort (NJHealth) Study to address critical issues related to mental health, substance use, immigration, family support, and health equity.

The NJHealth Early-Stage Scholars program is designed to foster interdisciplinary research by pairing promising early-career investigators with senior faculty mentors. Each funded project is led by an early-stage principal investigator (PI) and includes guidance from an established senior scholar, creating opportunities to advance impactful research while supporting the next generation of academic leaders.

The funded projects demonstrate Rutgers School of Social Work’s strength in interdisciplinary, community-focused research and highlight the School’s growing leadership in advancing health equity through data-driven scholarship. Together, these four projects will generate new knowledge about the social, structural, and familial factors that influence mental health and substance use, helping inform policies and interventions that improve the health and well-being of diverse communities across New Jersey and beyond.

Examining Mental Health and Substance Use Among Asian Indians
Assistant Professor Rachel John serves as principal investigator on the project, “Understanding Mental Health and Substance Use Risk Among Asian Indians: Discrimination, Family Support, and Immigration Experiences.” Professor Lenna Nepomnyaschy serves as the project’s senior faculty mentor, and Assistant Professor Michael Park is a co-investigator.

Asian Indians are among the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the United States but remain significantly underrepresented in mental health and substance use research. The study seeks to better understand how discrimination, family emotional support, generational status, and age at immigration influence depression, anxiety, and substance use among Asian Indian adults participating in the NJHealth Study.

Using advanced statistical analyses, the research team will examine whether family support can protect against the negative effects of discrimination and whether immigration experiences shape mental health outcomes. Findings are expected to inform culturally responsive prevention and intervention efforts while highlighting the importance of disaggregating Asian health data to better address the unique needs of specific populations.

Exploring Family Support and Criminal Legal System Involvement
Assistant Professor Durrell Washington Sr. is the principal investigator on a project examining the relationship between criminal legal system involvement, family support, and mental health. Dr. Nepomnyaschy serves as the senior faculty mentor, while Assistant Professor Ashley Jackson of Rutgers School of Social Work and Assistant Professor Natalie Muñoz of Rutgers–Newark Department of Social Work, serve as co-investigators.

The project will investigate whether family social support moderates the relationship between criminal legal system involvement and mental health among adults participating in the NJHealth Study. The research team views criminal legal system involvement as one component of cumulative adversity while also recognizing that individuals differ in their histories of childhood adversity and lifetime traumatic experiences.

Ultimately, the study seeks to determine whether family support serves as a protective factor that promotes improved mental health and well-being among individuals who have experienced involvement with the criminal legal system.

Disaggregating Asian American Mental Health
Assistant Professor Michael Park is the principal investigator and Dr. John is co-investigator on “Disaggregating Asian American Mental Health in New Jersey: Subgroup Disparities in Mental Health and Care Access, and the Korean American Experience.” Distinguished Research Professor Stephen Crystal serves as the senior faculty mentor.

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States but remain understudied in mental health research, despite experiencing significant psychological distress and low rates of mental health service utilization. Dr. Park’s project will use NJHealth's uniquely diverse immigrant sample, including one of the largest Korean-origin samples available, to better understand mental health disparities across Asian American subgroups.

The study will document differences in mental health outcomes, sleep, and access to care among Asian American populations while also examining how family relationships and experiences of discrimination affect mental health among Korean Americans. Researchers will also explore how these relationships vary across factors such as immigrant generation, socioeconomic status, and neighborhood context.

The findings are expected to improve understanding of subgroup-specific mental health needs and support more targeted and culturally responsive approaches to care.

Investigating Stress, Socioeconomic Position, and Behavioral Health Among Immigrant Communities
Associate Professor Grant Victor serves as principal investigator and Dr. Park serves as co-investigator on the project, “Stress, Socioeconomic Position, and Co-Occurring Alcohol Use and Mental Distress Across New Jersey’s Immigrant Communities.” Dr. Crystal serves as the project’s senior faculty mentor.

Using data from NJHealth, the study will examine how stress and socioeconomic position shape co-occurring alcohol use and mental distress across immigrant communities in New Jersey. The research seeks to better understand how these interconnected behavioral health challenges vary across immigrant origin groups and how the process of acculturation influences those patterns.

The research team anticipates finding that patterns of comorbid substance use and mental distress—as well as acculturation gradients—differ markedly across immigrant subgroups rather than following a single trajectory. By identifying these differences, the project aims to generate evidence that can inform more targeted, culturally responsive approaches to integrating substance use and mental health services and improve behavioral health care for New Jersey's diverse immigrant communities.