What is the ABCD Study?
Adolescence is a time of extraordinary physical, emotional, and intellectual growth. It is also a period of increased vulnerability when risky behaviors emerge as youth attempt to navigate an increasingly complex world. Thanks to recent technological
What is the ABCD Study?
Adolescence is a time of extraordinary physical, emotional, and intellectual growth. It is also a period of increased vulnerability when risky behaviors emerge as youth attempt to navigate an increasingly complex world. Thanks to recent technological advances, we can now explore, in unprecedented detail, the biological and environmental factors that influence young people’s ability to successfully navigate this protracted and challenging phase in their lives.
NIH News: NIH releases first dataset from unprecedented study of adolescent brain development
Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Research Sites Map
The map below shows the locations of the research sites for the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. For information about the project investigators (PIs) and affiliated institutions visit https://abcdstudy.org/sites/abcd-sites.html.
The Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN) is a partnership between the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that was created in 2013 to foster research in poly- or multiple substance use. From its inception, CRAN partners recognized the urgent need for a better understanding of the long term impact of substance use and other environmental exposures on the developing brain and functional outcomes.
Advances in neuroimaging research had already shown that adolescence entails dramatic changes in brain structure and function. This knowledge has intensified long standing concerns about the fact that the use of potentially addictive substances typically begins during this period, since it helps explain why the developing brain may be more vulnerable to drugs’ short- and long-term effects. There is much we still do not know about how drug use and other experiences during adolescence influence development to promote or interfere with later healthy outcomes.
Among the pressing questions identified at this early stage were:
- To what extent do drug use or other experiences change the adolescent brain, and to what extent do brain vulnerabilities (as a result of genetics, injury, or other environmental factors) lead to drug use and other adverse outcomes?
- How do different types of substance use interact, and can the effects of individual drugs be dis