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Principal Investigator: Jonathan Drew Schaefer
Organization: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $158,719
Funding agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Substance use is a major public health concern that disproportionately affects individuals from lower
socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Although part of this association is attributable to downward
socioeconomic mobility among individuals who develop problematic patterns of use, emerging evidence
suggests that part may also reflect disadvantage-driven changes in brain development that increase risk of use
and negative use-related outcomes. However, because much of the research supporting this hypothesized
pathway is cross-sectional in nature, characterized by limited measurement of relevant constructs, and
conducted in disproportionately White, middle-/upper-class samples, the utility of targeting this pathway with
intervention/prevention efforts is unclear. The aims of the proposed career development award are thus
twofold: (1) to train the candidate in the use of geospatial tools and related statistical techniques, neuroimaging
approaches to characterizing distributed changes in brain structure and function, and theory and principles
from health disparities research, and (2) to use this training to test for associations between childhood
socioeconomic status, brain structure and connectivity, and substance use trajectories that generalize across
racial/ethnic groups using three population-representative, longitudinal cohort studies. The candidate will
receive training essential for his development as an independent research scientist under the guidance of an
outstanding team of mentors and consultants with extensive experience studying socioeconomic status, brain
development, self-regulation, health disparities, and substance use (Drs. Sylia Wilson, Monica Luciana,
Damien Fair, Shervin Assari, Martha Farah, and Daniel Berry). The research will be conducted at the Institute
of Child Development (ICD) and Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research (MCTFR), which together
offer unparalleled resources to support work identifying the neural and behavioral mediators connecting
children’s early-life environments and later substance use. Altogether, the candidate will address four specific
aims: (1) test whether children from low SES backgrounds are more likely to develop problematic substance
use trajectories and establish whether these associations generalize across different types of substance use;
(2) test whether low childhood SES is associated with individual differences in brain structure and resting-state
functional connectivity across distributed networks associated with self-regulatory abilities (i.e., cognitive
control, reward sensitivity, negative emotionality); (3) test whether these differences in distributed neural
networks mediate associations between low childhood SES and substance use trajectories; and (4) test
whether the strength of these associations differ for racial/ethnic minority vs. White children in accordance with
the notion of marginalization-related diminished returns. Results of the proposed project have great potential to
prompt reconceptualization of brain-based models of substance use and addiction, and, in turn, guide
prevention and intervention efforts to reduce an important behavioral health disparity.
Terms: <0-11 years old><21+ years old><Address><Adolescent><Adolescent Youth><Adult><Adult Human><Affect><Alcohol Chemical Class><Alcohol abuse><Alcohols><Behavioral><Berry><Brain><Brain Nervous System><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><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><Cannabis><Career Development Awards><Career Development Awards and Programs><Career Development Programs K-Series><Categories><Causality><Child><Child Development><Child Youth><Childhood><Children (0-21)><Data><Development><Disadvantaged><Drugs><Economic Income><Economical Income><Emotional><Encephalon><Environment><EtOH abuse><Ethnic Group><Ethnic Origin><Ethnic People><Ethnic Population><Ethnic individual><Ethnicity><Ethnicity People><Ethnicity Population><Etiology><Exposure to><Family><Family Research><Frequencies><GWA study><GWAS><Goals><Guide prevention><Health><Health Disparities Research><Health disparities related research><Illicit Drugs><Impoverished><Income><Individual><Individual Differences><Inequality><Infant and Child Development><Informal Social Control><Intercept><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Investigation><K-Awards><K-Series Research Career Programs><Life><Link><Long-term cohort study><Longitudinal cohort study><Longterm cohort study><Measurement><Measures><Mediating><Mediation><Mediator><Medication><Mentors><Minnesota><Modeling><NIDA><National Institute of Drug Abuse><National Institute on Drug Abuse><Nature><Negotiating><Negotiation><Neighborhoods><Nicotine><Outcome><Participant><Pathway interactions><Pattern><Pharmaceutical Preparations><Policies><Population><Poverty><Prevention><Psychosocial Factor><Public Health><Race><Races><Racial Group><Research><Research Career Program><Research Resources><Research Support><Resources><Rest><Rewards><Risk><Risk Factors><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><SES disparity><Sampling><Scientist><Self Regulation><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><Skin><Socio-economic status><Socioeconomic Status><Socioeconomically disadvantaged><Structure><Substance Addiction><Substance Dependence><Techniques><Testing><Training><Twin Multiple Birth><Twins><Work><Youth><Youth 10-21><adolescent minority><adulthood><alcohol co-abuse><alcohol problem><alcohol related consequences><behavior influence><behavioral health><behavioral influence><brain based><brain circuitry><causation><cognitive control><cognitive development><cohort><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 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><deprivation><developmental><differences due to race><differences in race><differs by race><differs in race><disease causation><disparities in race><disparity due to race><disparity in ethnic><disparity in health><drug/agent><ethanol abuse><ethnic based disparity><ethnic disadvantage><ethnic disparity><ethnic inequality><ethnic inequity><ethnic minority><ethnic subgroup><ethnicity disparity><ethnicity group><experience><genome wide association><genome wide association scan><genome wide association studies><genome wide association study><genomewide association scan><genomewide association studies><genomewide association study><hazardous alcohol use><health disparities science><health disparity><incomes><indexing><inequality due to race><inequity due to race><interventional strategy><juvenile><juvenile human><kids><low SES><low socio-economic position><low socio-economic status><low socioeconomic position><low socioeconomic status><marginalization><minority children><minority youth><morphometry><multi-modality><multimodality><neural><neural imaging><neural network><neuro-imaging><neurobehavioral><neuroimaging><neurological imaging><novel><pathway><pediatric><pediatric minority><polygenic risk score><pre-adolescent><preadolescence><preteen><problem alcohol use><problem drinking><problematic alcohol consumption><problematic alcohol use><prospective><psychosocial variables><race based differences><race based disparity><race based inequality><race based inequity><race differences><race disparity><race related differences><race related disparity><race related inequality><race related inequity><racial><racial background><racial difference><racial disparity><racial inequality><racial inequity><racial minority><racial origin><racial population><racial subgroup><racially different><racially unequal><reward processing><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><social><social disadvantage><social disparities><social inequality><socio-economic><socio-economic disadvantage><socio-economic disparity><socio-economic inequality><socio-economic inequity><socio-economic position><socio-economically><socio-economically disadvantaged><socio-economically underprivileged><socioeconomic disadvantage><socioeconomic disparity><socioeconomic inequality><socioeconomic inequity><socioeconomic position><socioeconomically><socioeconomically underprivileged><socioeconomics><stressor><substance use><substance using><theories><tool><whole genome association analysis><whole genome association studies><whole genome association study><young minority><youngster>