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Principal Investigator: JULIA W FELTON
Organization: RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $346,893
Funding agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary
Rapid escalations in substance use during adolescence confer risk for the development of substance and
alcohol use disorders across the lifespan. Thus, identifying malleable risk factors and prevention targets that
emerge before substance use onset is an important public health goal. Research demonstrates that delay
discounting (DD), the tendency to perceive diminishing value in a reward as a function of the length of delay in
its receipt, is an important and modifiable risk factor for substance misuse. However, the early developmental
precursors of DD, including environmental adversity and genetic risk factors that are thought to be associated
with increases in DD across adolescence are not well understood. The extant literature examining these
vulnerabilities is limited by its reliance on poorly characterized markers of environmental adversity, lack of
consideration of developmental effects, and the genetic contributions to the development of DD. The current
application proposes to address these limitations utilizing data from the Adolescent Brian Cognitive
Development (ABCD) Study, a national sample of youth (n = 11,875) with planned longitudinal assessments
from age 9 to 17, spanning critical developmental periods for changes in DD and substance use. The
proposed project will leverage rich and varied indicators of adverse childhood events and community
environments (using the “Pair of ACEs” framework) and genetic data to create polygenic risk scores for DD
(informed by findings from the largest available genome-wide association study of DD performed by project
consultants). The project timeline will take advantage of both currently available and planned releases of data
to test study aims and accelerate dissemination of findings from this landmark study. Specific aims of the
study include: (Aim 1) to examine the structure of ACEs and its relation to early levels of DD; (Aim 2) to
characterize the impact of ACEs on measured trajectories of DD over time; and (Aim 3) to investigate the
joint associations between genetic and ACEs risk factors on changes in DD across adolescence. We also
propose to explore whether developmental trajectories of DD mediate the relation between genetic and ACEs
factors and subsequent changes in substance use frequency and severity. The research team brings together
expertise in child development, delay discounting, genetics, and environmental indicators of risk, allowing for
the most comprehensive study of the independent and joint contextual and genetic contributions to DD
development. Findings from this project will provide mechanistic insights into the development of DD, in
addition to specific and actionable advancements at the environmental level that may inform targeting of
prevention approaches for reducing substance use among at-risk youth.
Terms: <0-11 years old><12-20 years old><21+ years old><Acceleration><Acute><Address><Adolescence><Adolescent><Adolescent Behavior><Adolescent Youth><Adult><Adult Human><Age><Approaches to prevention><Behavior><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID-19><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 era><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 period><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID-19 years><CV-19><Causality><Child><Child Development><Child Youth><Childhood><Children (0-21)><Choice Behavior><Chronic><Clinical><Communities><Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019><Data><Decision Making><Development><Dimensions><Disadvantaged><Environment><Etiology><Exposure to><Frequencies><Future><GWA study><GWAS><Gene variant><Genetic><Genetic Determinism><Genetic Diversity><Genetic Predisposition><Genetic Predisposition to Disease><Genetic Risk><Genetic Susceptibility><Genetic Variation><Genetic predisposing factor><Genetic propensity><Genotype><Goals><Health><Health Inequity><Heritability><Impoverished><Individual><Inequalities in Health><Inequities in Health><Infant and Child Development><Inherited Predisposition><Inherited Susceptibility><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Investigation><Joints><Length><Link><Literature><Longitudinal Studies><Measures><Mediating><Mission><Modeling><NIDA><National Institute of Drug Abuse><National Institute on Drug Abuse><Outcome><Pathway interactions><Pattern><PhenX Toolkit><Phenotypes and eXposures Toolkit><Phenx><Poverty><Prevention><Prevention approach><Process><Public Health><Research><Research Resources><Resources><Rewards><Risk><Risk Behaviors><Risk Factors><Risky Behavior><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><Sampling><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Severities><Shapes><Socioeconomically disadvantaged><Structure><Substance Use Disorder><Sum><Symptoms><System><Taxes><Testing><Time><Trauma><Youth><Youth 10-21><adolescence (12-20)><adulthood><adverse childhood events><adverse childhood experiences><aged><ages><alcohol use disorder><allele variant><allelic variant><at risk behavior><causation><cognitive development><coronavirus disease 2019><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease-19><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><coronavirus infectious disease-19><cost effective><critical developmental period><depository><developmental><discounting><disease causation><environmental stresses><environmental stressor><ethanol use disorder><executive control><executive function><experience><exposure to trauma><externalizing behavior><genetic determinant><genetic etiology><genetic mechanism of disease><genetic risk factor><genetic variant><genetic vulnerability><genetically predisposed><genome wide association><genome wide association scan><genome wide association studies><genome wide association study><genomewide association scan><genomewide association studies><genomewide association study><genomic variant><health goals><health inequalities><improved><inherited factor><insight><interventional strategy><juvenile><juvenile human><kids><life span><lifespan><long-term study><longitudinal data set><longitudinal dataset><longitudinal outcome studies><longterm study><malleable risk><meeting><meetings><modifiable risk><novel><pathway><pediatric><polygenic risk score><preference><prevent substance use><reduced substance use><reduction in substance use><repository><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><socio-economic disadvantage><socio-economically disadvantaged><socio-economically underprivileged><socioeconomic disadvantage><socioeconomically underprivileged><substance misuse><substance use><substance use and disorder><substance use prevention><substance use reduction><substance using><timeline><trait><trauma exposure><whole genome association analysis><whole genome association studies><whole genome association study><youngster>