PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
As highlighted in the NIH Research Plan on Down Syndrome (DS) and the INCLUDE Project
Research Plan, there is a need to assemble large cohorts of individuals with DS for studies that
examine risk and resilience factors relevant to health and well-being. These studies have
implications not only for those with DS but for individuals in the general population. The parent
award to the proposed administrative supplement examines the neural and real-world correlates
of executive dysfunction (i.e., impairments in cognitive control processes that are important for
self-regulation and the completion of complex tasks) in young adults with DS (n=200). One
real-world correlate studied in the parent grant that will be the focus of the proposed
administrative supplement is vocational outcomes. Specifically, the administrative supplement
seeks to extend the parent grant by completing a second wave of (online) data collection from
caregivers of adults with DS (targeted n=120) focused on two influences on vocational
outcomes not measured in the parent award. The first is an important, but overlooked, aspect of
vocational functioning, work readiness, or the individual’s potential employability based on their
“soft skills.” Vocational status (as assessed in the parent grant) provides a categorical
characterization that is dependent on broader societal (e.g., economic) and local (e.g., service
provision) factors. Work readiness provides a complementary and continuous metric of
vocational potential independent of these broader and variable contextual/environmental factors
influencing employment for individuals with DS. Thus, the second influence on vocational
outcomes to be quantified as part of this extension to the parent grant is these critically
important contextual/environmental factors. More specifically, the administrative supplement
seeks to identify through both quantitative and qualitative means potential
contextual/environmental factors (e.g., parent motivation, access to transportation) that are
likely to modify or obscure relations between executive dysfunction and vocational outcomes.
Through greater refinement of vocational metrics and contextual/environmental influences, the
administrative supplement will support the parent grant in setting the stage for future research
examining mechanisms to optimize vocational outcomes in adults with DS.