Differential Susceptibility for Adolescents’ Development of Risk-Taking Behavior: A Time-Varying Approach

该奖项是作为NSF的社会，行为和经济科学（SBE）博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在查佩尔山的北卡罗来纳州大学的伊娃H.特尔泽博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金支持一位早期职业科学家艾玛.阿姆斯特朗-卡特博士研究青少年冒险行为的发展。青少年以从事高风险行为而闻名，如不安全驾驶，酒精和药物使用，以及可能损害其身体，情感和学术健康的危险性行为。由于环境压力和资源限制，在社会经济不利环境中长大的青少年更有可能从事高风险行为。然而，在社会经济不利的背景下，哪些因素保护青少年或使青少年特别容易受到风险行为的影响，目前还知之甚少。本研究将通过调查青少年在某些时间点是否比其他时间点更容易在神经学上冒险，来推进有关青少年风险行为的基础科学知识。具体来说，我们将研究是否不同的神经易感性冒险行为（1）不同的青少年在不同的年份，（2）不同的青少年在不同的日子。我们将使用一种新的纵向，受试者内的研究设计，重复神经成像和脑电图测量。通过整合认知神经科学方法和青少年行为评估，该项目将有助于揭示一个关键和持续的社会问题：如何减少持续存在的不平等对青年的影响，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Eva H Telzer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist, Dr. Emma Armstrong-Carter, studying the development of adolescent’ risk-taking behavior. Adolescents are renowned for engaging in high levels of risk-taking behavior such as unsafe driving, alcohol and drug use, and risky sexual behaviors that can compromise their physical, emotional, and academic wellbeing. Adolescents who grow up in contexts of socioeconomic disadvantage are more likely to engage in heightened risk-taking behaviors due to environmental stressors and resource limitations. However, little is known about which factors protect adolescents or make adolescents particularly susceptible to heightened risk-taking behavior in contexts of socioeconomic disadvantage.This research will advance fundamental scientific knowledge about adolescent’ risk-taking behavior by investigating whether adolescents are more neurologically susceptible for risk taking at some time points compared to others. Specifically, we will investigate whether differential neural susceptibility for risk-taking behavior (1) varies within adolescents across years, and (2) varies within adolescents across days. We will use a novel longitudinal, within-subjects research design with repeated neuroimaging and electroencephalogram measurements. By integrating cognitive neuroscience methods and adolescents’ behavioral assessments, this project will help to shed light on a crucial and ongoing social problem: how to reduce the effects of persistent inequalities on youth, and promote adolescents’ positive development across contexts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.