Characterizing Longitudinal Trajectories in Juvenile Delinquency in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development – Social Development (ABCD-SD) Cohort

• In Event: The ABCD-Social Development Study: Current Findings

Abstract

Increased risk-taking during adolescence arises due to a unique balance of reward (striatum) and cognitive (prefrontal) systems. We have previously shown that dopamine availability in the striatum is associated with individual differences in delinquency in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development – Social Development (ABCD-SD) cohort at baseline, however, whether these early dopamine-related risk-markers contribute to variation in trajectories of delinquency (i.e., desistance or escalation following adolescence) remains unknown.

Leveraging the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development – Social Development (ABCD-SD) cohort (N = 2,426, age 9-14 at baseline), we will examine the extent to which baseline striatal tissue iron indices reflecting dopamine availability (MRI-based indices of time averaged and normalized T2* (nT2*w)) are predictive of trajectories in delinquency at follow-up waves 1-4. Furthermore, we will examine the contribution of environmental risk-factors in mediating the relationship between dopamine availability and trajectories in delinquency.

This study will allow for comprehensive characterization of longitudinal trajectories in delinquency, and the underlying brain mechanisms that contribute to variation in trajectories, in a large cohort of adolescents across the United States. Leveraging the ABCD-SD will allow us to identify deviations from normative brain development that predict the escalation of delinquent behavior, informing risk-markers and targets for intervention in terms of future juvenile justice involvement.

Author

• Ashley C. Parr, University of Pittsburgh