fMRI and Treatment Response with Binge Drinking Adolescents

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While many widely-used, empirically-supported alcohol treatments, including motivational interviewing, show promise in reducing alcohol use behaviors, MI has much more equivocal results down the developmental trajectory. Meaning, while MI is one of the few alcohol treatments that shows promise with youth, attention is needed to understand how to strengthen alcohol treatment outcomes for this age group. In line with NIAAA PAR-14-051, one route to improving treatment outcomes for youth is through using "...translational research [to] identify potential neurobiological...processes that....mediate the direct link between specific 'active ingredients' and alcohol use treatment outcomes." We are therefore proposing to use a cutting-edge translational approach to bridge the fields of basic biological and behavioral research. We will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate how brain-based (BOLD) response mediates the link between salient within session active ingredients (therapist behaviors) and adolescents' alcohol use treatment outcomes (problem drinking). To achieve these aims, we will enroll 243 current adolescent binge drinkers (14-19 year olds, with > 4 past month binge drinking events) in this alcohol treatment (2 x 1-hour sessions of MI). Consistent with PAR-14-051, this study will catalyze movement in the field of adolescent alcohol treatment in several ways. First, it will establish how salient active ingredients within an empirically-supported alcohol treatment initiate neurocognitive changes. Second, it will determine how that neurocognitive response will directly relate to behavior change in youth once they leave the therapist's office. Third, this study will begin to pave the way for new translational studies in the field of adolescent addiction.