The goal of this project is to examine biological and early developmental factors in patterns of substance use in young men from early adolescence to the transition to adulthood. The project builds on an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study of 310 high-risk young men who have been followed since infancy using multiple methods (e.g., observation, interview) and informants (e.g., parents, teachers, peers) and spanning child, family, and extra-familial risk factors. As participants undergo the transition to adulthood and face challenges in interpersonal and instrumental domains, the project will incorporate data on genetics and brain function to understand how these individual differences in underlying, emerging biology factors, separately and in combination, influence patterns of use for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. Assessments of brain function will examine the contribution of function in mesolimbic and corticolimbic neural circuits at two time points by conducting functional MRI of participants'striatal reactivity to reward stimuli, amygdala reactivity to threat stimuli, resting cerebral blood flow, and resting functional connectivity. The inclusion of fMRI at this point in the longitudinal study will provide detailed information on the association between brain function and genetic factors, early development, social context, and substance use. The guiding hypothesis of the project is that stable characteristics such as a history of antisocial behavior and impulsivity;family and extra- familial contextual risk;brain function;and genetic variants associated with substance use- related brain function will contribute to longitudinal patterns of substance use. In addition, it is expected that the success participants have in establishing stable romantic relationships and employment/educational training during the transition to adulthood will attenuate associations between risk factors and patterns of substance use in early adulthood. The project provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine factors spanning from early childhood through early adulthood that are related to substance use and to link such data with data on genes and brain function during the transition from adolescence to adulthood using a low-income sample of ethnically diverse males at high risk for maladaptive adult functioning. Thus, the study offers the potential to advance our understanding of pathways to substance use problems and guide developmentally informed prevention and intervention efforts.

Public Health Relevance

The goal of this project is to examine biological and early developmental factors in patterns of substance use in young men from early adolescence to the transition to adulthood. The project builds on an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study of 310 high-risk young men who have been followed since infancy using multiple methods and informants, and spanning child, family, and extra-familial risk factors. These data will be linked with data on genes and brain function during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Thus, the study offers the potential to advance our understanding of pathways to substance use problems and guide developmentally informed prevention and intervention efforts.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA026222-17
Application #
7906724
Study Section
Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section (PDRP)
Program Officer
Sirocco, Karen
Project Start
2009-08-15
Project End
2014-05-31
Budget Start
2010-06-01
Budget End
2011-05-31
Support Year
17
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$773,085
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
004514360
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
Gard, Arianna M; Waller, Rebecca; Swartz, Johnna R et al. (2018) Amygdala functional connectivity during socioemotional processing prospectively predicts increases in internalizing symptoms in a sample of low-income, urban, young men. Neuroimage 178:562-573
Sitnick, Stephanie L; Galán, Chardée A; Shaw, Daniel S (2018) Early childhood predictors of boys' antisocial and violent behavior in early adulthood. Infant Ment Health J :
Gard, Arianna M; Shaw, Daniel S; Forbes, Erika E et al. (2018) Amygdala reactivity as a marker of differential susceptibility to socioeconomic resources during early adulthood. Dev Psychol 54:2341-2355
Ordaz, Sarah J; Fritz, Barbara L; Forbes, Erika E et al. (2018) The influence of pubertal maturation on antisaccade performance. Dev Sci 21:e12568
Galán, Chardée A; Choe, Daniel Ewon; Forbes, Erika E et al. (2017) Interactions between empathy and resting heart rate in early adolescence predict violent behavior in late adolescence and early adulthood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 58:1370-1380
Gard, Arianna M; Waller, Rebecca; Shaw, Daniel S et al. (2017) The long reach of early adversity: Parenting, stress, and neural pathways to antisocial behavior in adulthood. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2:582-590
Hasler, Brant P; Casement, Melynda D; Sitnick, Stephanie L et al. (2017) Eveningness among late adolescent males predicts neural reactivity to reward and alcohol dependence 2 years later. Behav Brain Res 327:112-120
Waller, Rebecca; Shaw, Daniel S; Hyde, Luke W (2017) Observed fearlessness and positive parenting interact to predict childhood callous-unemotional behaviors among low-income boys. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 58:282-291
Murray, Laura; Shaw, Daniel S; Forbes, Erika E et al. (2017) Reward-Related Neural Correlates of Antisocial Behavior and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Young Men. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2:346-354
Dotterer, Hailey L; Waller, Rebecca; Neumann, Craig S et al. (2017) Examining the Factor Structure of the Self-Report of Psychopathy Short-Form Across Four Young Adult Samples. Assessment 24:1062-1079

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