The ABCD study: understanding the development of risk for mental and physical health outcomes
Open accessAbstract
Following in the footsteps of other large "population neuroscience" studies, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) study is the largest in the U.S. assessing brain development. The study is examining approximately 11,875 youth from 21 sites from age 9 to 10 for approximately ten years into young adulthood. The ABCD Study® has completed recruitment for the baseline sample generally using a multi-stage probability sample including a stratified random sample of schools. The dataset has a wealth of measured attributes of youths and their environment, including neuroimaging, cognitive, biospecimen, behavioral, youth self-report and parent self-report metrics, and environmental measures. The initial goal of the ABCD Study was to examine risk and resiliency factors associated with the development of substance use, but the project has expanded far beyond this initial set of questions and will also greatly inform our understanding of the contributions of biospecimens (e.g., pubertal hormones), neural alterations, and environmental factors to the development of both healthy behavior and brain function as well as risk for poor mental and physical outcomes. This review outlines how the ABCD Study was designed to elucidate factors associated with the development of negative mental and physical health outcomes and will provide a selective overview of results emerging from the ABCD Study. Such emerging data includes initial validation of new instruments, important new information about the prevalence and correlates of mental health challenges in middle childhood, and promising data regarding neural correlates of both healthy and disordered behavior. In addition, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities to understanding both healthy development and the emergence of risk from ABCD Study data. Finally, we will overview the future directions of this large undertaking and the ways in which it will shape our understanding of the development of risk for poor mental and physical health outcomes.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The study recruited children from schools throughout the United States based on stratified probability to match the demographic and socioeconomic diversity of the United States.
“The study recruited children from schools throughout the United States based on stratified probability38 to match the demographic and socioeconomic diversity of the United States.39”
From Association of Demographic and Socioeconomic Indicators With the Use of Wearable Devices Among Children (2023) · cites this paper as [38]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience
Button, K. S., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Mokrysz, C., Nosek, B. A., Flint, J., Robinson, E. S. J., & Munafò, M. R. (2013) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3475 · Cited by 7,641 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Further, our expectations for effect sizes are likely biased, as it is known that underpowered studies overestimate effect sizes [68, 69].”
BackgroundA multi-modal parcellation of human cerebral cortex
Glasser, M. F., Coalson, T. S., Robinson, E. C., Hacker, C. D., Harwell, J., Yacoub, E., Ugurbil, K., Andersson, J., Beckmann, C. F., Jenkinson, M., et al. (2016) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature18933 · Cited by 5,111 · see citing works
The New Life Stage of Emerging Adulthood at Ages 18–29 Years: Implications for Mental Health
Arnett, J. J., Žukauskienė, R., & Sugimura, K. (2014) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(14)00080-7 · Cited by 1,896 · see citing works
Mental Health Surveillance Among Children — United States, 2013–2019
Bitsko, R. H., Claussen, A. H., Lichstein, J., Black, L. I., Jones, S. E., Danielson, M. L., Hoenig, J. M., Davis Jack, S. P., Brody, D. J., Gyawali, S., et al. (2022) · MMWR Supplements · doi:10.15585/mmwr.su7102a1 · Cited by 1,723 · see citing works
Cognition assessment using the NIH Toolbox
Weintraub, S., Dikmen, S. S., Heaton, R. K., Tulsky, D. S., Zelazo, P. D., Bauer, P. J., Carlozzi, N. E., Slotkin, J., Blitz, D., Wallner-Allen, K., et al. (2013) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182872ded · Cited by 1,287 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The base of the neurocognitive assessment for ABCD Study is the NIH Toolbox [26, 27], with the complete cognitive Toolbox administered at baseline, and the majority of tasks administered every 2 years.”
MethodOdgers, C. L., & Jensen, M. R. (2020) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13190 · Cited by 1,189 · cited 1× · see citing works
“However, previous research has not established screen time as a causal factor in the development of mental health outcomes, or whether altered social media use and screen time are a correlate or consequence of the development of psychopathology [98].”
BackgroundThe Generation R Study: design and cohort update 2010
Jaddoe, V. W. V., van Duijn, C. M., van der Heijden, A. J., Mackenbach, J. P., Moll, H. A., Steegers, E. A. P., Tiemeier, H., Uitterlinden, A. G., Verhulst, F. C., & Hofman, A. (2010) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-010-9516-7 · Cited by 1,027 · see citing works
Luby, J., Belden, A., Botteron, K., Marrus, N., Harms, M. P., Babb, C., Nishino, T., & Barch, D. (2013) · JAMA Pediatrics · doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.3139 · Cited by 733 · see citing works
Self-citationReliability of the Timeline Followback for cocaine, cannabis, and cigarette use
Robinson, S. M., Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., & Leo, G. I. (2014) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037/a0030992 · Cited by 699 · see citing works
Social media use and risky behaviors in adolescents: A meta-analysis
Vannucci, A., Simpson, E. G., Gagnon, S., & Ohannessian, C. M. (2020) · Journal of Adolescence · doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.014 · Cited by 410 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Social media use has been linked to psychopathology in adolescents, including higher symptoms of depression and anxiety [97].”
BackgroundSatterthwaite, T. D., Connolly, J. J., Ruparel, K., Calkins, M. E., Jackson, C., Elliott, M. A., Roalf, D. R., Hopson, R., Prabhakaran, K., Behr, M., et al. (2016) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.03.056 · Cited by 335 · cited 1× · see citing works
“org; N= 1029) [29], the National Institutes of Health Pediatric MRI Database (N= 550) [30], IMAGEN (N= 2000) [6], Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics study (PING) (N= 1493) [31], National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) (N= 831) [4], Human Connectome Project (HCP) (N= 120…”
BackgroundDeVille, D. C., Whalen, D., Breslin, F. J., Morris, A. S., Khalsa, S. S., Paulus, M. P., & Barch, D. M. (2020) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.20956 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Walsh, J. J., Barnes, J. D., Cameron, J. D., Goldfield, G. S., Chaput, J.-P., Gunnell, K. E., Ledoux, A.-A., Zemek, R. L., & Tremblay, M. S. (2018) · The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/s2352-4642(18)30278-5 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
Brown, S. A., Brumback, T., Tomlinson, K., Cummins, K., Thompson, W. K., Nagel, B. J., De Bellis, M. D., Hooper, S. R., Clark, D. B., Chung, T., et al. (2015) · Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs · doi:10.15288/jsad.2015.76.895 · Cited by 255 · see citing works
Paulus, M. P., Squeglia, L. M., Bagot, K., Jacobus, J., Kuplicki, R., Breslin, F. J., Bodurka, J., Morris, A. S., Thompson, W. K., Bartsch, H., et al. (2019) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.040 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Heeringa, S. G., & Berglund, P. A. (2020) · doi:10.1101/2020.02.10.942011 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Thompson, W. K., Barch, D. M., Bjork, J. M., Gonzalez, R., Nagel, B. J., Nixon, S. J., & Luciana, M. (2019) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2018.12.004 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Self-citationZucker, R. A., Gonzalez, R., Feldstein Ewing, S. W., Paulus, M. P., Arroyo, J., Fuligni, A., Morris, A. S., Sanchez, M., & Wills, T. (2018) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2018.03.004 · Cited by 221 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Many of these assessments are described in more detail in a special issue of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience published in 2018 [1, 7, 17, 18].”
BackgroundKarcher, N. R., Barch, D. M., Avenevoli, S., Savill, M., Huber, R. S., Simon, T. J., Leckliter, I. N., Sher, K. J., & Loewy, R. L. (2018) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.1334 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Self-citationSleep duration, brain structure, and psychiatric and cognitive problems in children
Cheng, W., Rolls, E., Gong, W., Du, J., Zhang, J., Zhang, X.-Y., Li, F., & Feng, J. (2021) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-020-0663-2 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Bagot, K. S., Matthews, S. A., Mason, M., Squeglia, L. M., Fowler, J., Gray, K., Herting, M., May, A., Colrain, I., Godino, J., et al. (2018) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2018.03.008 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Iacono, W. G., Heath, A. C., Hewitt, J. K., Neale, M. C., Banich, M. T., Luciana, M. M., Madden, P. A., Barch, D. M., & Bjork, J. M. (2018) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2017.09.001 · Cited by 94 · cited 3× · see citing works
“For example, these sites used approved vital records approaches to capture a diverse set of twins generally representative of the demographics of their respective states [12].”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Volkow, N. D., & Blanco, C. (2023) · World psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.21073 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
Kim, E. H., Jenness, J. L., Miller, A. B., Halabi, R., de Zambotti, M., Bagot, K. S., Baker, F. C., & Pratap, A. (2023) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.5681 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Integrative analysis of genomic and exposomic influences on youth mental health
Choi, K. W., Wilson, M., Ge, T., Kandola, A., Patel, C. J., Lee, S. H., & Smoller, J. W. (2022) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13664 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Werner‐Seidler, A., Maston, K., Calear, A. L., Batterham, P. J., Larsen, M. E., Torok, M., O’Dea, B., Huckvale, K., Beames, J. R., Brown, L., et al. (2023) · International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1002/mpr.1954 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Park, J. J., Lacadie, C. M., Zhao, Y., & Potenza, M. N. (2026) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.121829 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Karcher, N. R., & Barch, D. M.
- Affiliations
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Karcher, Nicole R.
- Venue
- Neuropsychopharmacology
- Published
- 2020-06-15
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 131-142
- ISSN
- 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
- 1740-634X
- PMC
- PMC7304245
- OpenAlex
- W3035624610
- Cited by
- 351
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 73 · 2025: 78 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 56 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 2.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (MH014677)
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA041120)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Health and Behaviors
- Keywords
- Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, brain development, adolescent mental health, substance use risk, pubertal hormones, biological specimen, neuroimaging, risk and resilience factors, physical health outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Child, Cognition, Humans, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Adolescent Development, Young Adult, Neuroimaging
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
