Project Summary
Adolescence represents a critical period of heightened risk-taking, giving rise to dangerous health-related
risk behaviors such as substance use. The quality of the parent-adolescent relationship is one robust predictor
of adolescent substance use and health-compromising risk behavior. Critically however, the family
environment, including the parent-adolescent relationship, may not affect youth outcomes uniformly. Individual
differences in neurobiological susceptibility to the social environment may moderate the influence of the
parent-adolescent relationship on youth behavior, such that adolescents who are highly tuned to the social
environment may fare the worst in harsh, unsupportive family contexts and may be most at risk for substance
use. Thus, greater understanding of susceptibility factors is key for targeting at-risk youth and informing future
substance use prevention. The proposed NRSA will represent the first study to examine adolescent social
reward sensitivity, a key neurobiological marker of adolescent's susceptibility to social inputs, as a moderator
of the parent-adolescent relationship's influence on adolescent risk-taking and substance use. Specifically, the
proposed NSRA will employ a two-prong multimethod approach supported by the applicant's sponsor. First,
data will be analyzed from a well-characterized longitudinal dataset of 148 adolescents, followed for three
years beginning at ages 12-13. Adolescents completed fMRI social reward paradigms at baseline and reported
on family relationships, substance use, and other risk behaviors at each yearly time point. Second, 75
adolescents (ages 15-16) will be recruited from this sample to complete a novel 4-week ecological momentary
assessment (EMA) of daily parent-adolescent interactions and risk behavior (e.g., rule breaking, substance
use) which will be completed during wave 4 of the R01 parent study. This complementary approach will allow
us to examine social reward sensitivity as a neurobiological susceptibility marker across macro and micro
timescales. Consistent with NIDA's strategic objectives, this project will advance basic scientific understanding
of neurobiological and social factors conferring vulnerability for substance use initiation (NIDA 2016-2020, Obj
1.1) Further, this fellowship will provide the crucial training needed to establish this applicant's independent
research program in adolescent substance use prevention through training in social-affective neuroscience,
data-driven network analyses, intensive time-series method, adolescent substance use, and research
dissemination.
