The overarching goal of the Developmental Psychopathology Module is to elucidate the ontogeny of psychopathology in relation to substance use disorder (SUD) liability and outcome. During the proposed funding period, the hypotheses to be tested focus on psychopathology and SUD outcomes between late adolescence and early adulthood (ages 19-22). In addition, research will be condcuted to examine the association between psychopathology and precursor as well as contemporaneous psychological traits, particularly cognitive, affective and behavioral dysregulation. These latter traits are hypothesized to be integral to SUD liability (see Scientific Core section 2.4.6) and have been shown to antedate psychopathology. Consistent with CEDAR's epigenetic framework, psychological dysregulation is hypothesized to predispose to psychopathology which in turn predispose to alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use and consequently lead to SUD. Studies of children at high risk for SUD, as well as adolescents qualifying for SUD, including CEDAR findings, have reported the predominance of two domains of psychopathology: (1) disruptive behavior disorders (saliently reflecting behavioral dysregulation); and, (2) negative affect disorders (saliently reflecting emotional dysregulation). The Developmental Psychopathology Module proposes to prospectively examine psychopathological characteristics from childhood through early adulthood. Using CEDAR's prospective paradigm, this module will determine the extent to which psychopathology predicts initiation and acceleration of ATOD involvement culminating in SUD. In conjunction with the Center's other modules, the influence and interaction of psychopathology on SUD liability and outcome will be examined in the context of maturational and environmental characteristics. In this context, psychopathology is both an outcome of psychological dysregulation (see Figure 1) and a precursor of subsequent outcomes, specifically SUD.
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