There is much we have yet to learn about the myriad factors that influence brain development and other outcomes. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, having enrolled nearly 12,000 diverse youth from across the country starting at ages 9-10 and assessing them repeatedly for a decade, was designed to answer these questions. Youth participants undergo magnetic resonance imaging to assess brain structure and function, provide biospecimens for pubertal hormone, substance use, environmental exposures, and genetic analyses, and take part in neurocognitive assessments. Both youth and their caregivers provide information about physical and mental health, culture and environment, and other factors that influence their lives. The ABCD Study® dataset also incorporates residential history-derived data (e.g., environmental pollution, built environment, local policies, neighborhood characteristics) to enable researchers to begin to disentangle individual and socioenvironmental contributors to various health outcomes. Data from the ABCD study is released to the scientific community annually through the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive, allowing scientists worldwide to conduct analyses, pool resources, and enrich the value of this study, with the ultimate goal of providing actionable information to help educators, health professionals, and policymakers improve the lives of all children, today and for generations to come.
Learning Objectives:
After the session, participants will be able to:
Describe the comprehensive nature of this longitudinal study, including the many different types of data being collected.
Discuss emerging findings from the ABCD study and describe its potential value for understanding risk and resilience factors that influence adolescent development.
Explain the open science model and how it can facilitate the use of science to inform policy and practice.
