Part 4-Behavioral and Social Science Research and Health

Behavioral and social science researchers study the complex interplay between biological, behavioral, social, and environmental processes, including phenomena that occur both within the organism (e.g., genetics, neurobiology, emotion, perception, cognition) and external to the organism (e.g., environment, social relationships, societal factors, culture, policy). Understanding the reciprocal influences of these internal and external processes is key to understanding how these processes interact to alter health, and for developing efficacious interventions to improve health. This broad approach to the multilevel and multi-modal influences of behavior, from genetic to societal, provides the behavioral and social sciences with a unique perspective on the dynamic interactions that can influence health outcomes of individuals and populations.^[1]

Programs within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have taken steps to enhance social science contributions to health research. The social and behavioral health sciences play an important role in public health policies and decisions, as the work professionals in this field do is focused on identifying and analyzing the social determinants and behavioral risk factors associated with any number of public health issues. They then use this information to better understand how to promote and achieve healthy behaviors within certain communities and populations.

The behavioral and social sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) include a diverse set of research disciplines that have in common the study of behavior and/or social phenomena relevant to health. The multi-disciplinary nature of behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) is both a challenge and an opportunity. The disciplines contributing to the behavioral and social sciences often have different scientific approaches, methods, definitions, vocabularies, theories, and hypotheses. This broad and complex research landscape, however, provides a rich fundamental and applied knowledge base to understand behavioral and social phenomena and how these processes and mechanisms impact health and well-being.

For the purposes of monitoring the behavioral and social sciences at the NIH, a project (grant application, funded grant, contract, etc.) is considered a BSSR project if one or more of its specific aims include understanding and/or modifying behavioral or social phenomena relevant to health.^[2]