Youth Health Data Briefs

Research highlights from the ABCD Study®

The ABCD Study has advanced our understanding of child and adolescent health, generating a large and
continuously expanding body of peer-reviewed research.


Teaching the Teen Brain:
Helping Adolescents
Learn, Discover,
and Thrive


Childhood Obesity
and the Brain: What a
Landmark Study Reveals
About Kids’ Health


Raising Resilient Teens:
What Parents Can Do
to Support Adolescent
Well-Being

News Articles About Study Findings

References

Teaching the Teen Brain: Helping Adolescents Learn, Discover, and Thrive

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  2. Beyer L, Keen R, Ertel KA, et al. Comparing two measures of neighborhood quality and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2024;59(8):1321-1334. doi:10.1007/s00127-024-02614-4
  3. Brieant A, Simmons C. Timing matters: a multi-contextual, within-individual approach to understanding age-related changes in psychopathology in the ABCD Study. J Res Adolesc. 2025;35(2):e70030. doi:10.1111/jora.70030
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  5. Carozza S, Kletenik I, Astle D, Schwamm L, Dhand A. Whole-brain white matter variation across childhood environments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025;122(15):e2409985122. doi:10.1073/pnas.2409985122
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  8. Center for the Developing Adolescent. Respect and social status. University of California, Los Angeles; 2024. Accessed April 10, 2026. https://developingadolescent.semel.ucla.edu/core-science-of-adolescence/respect-and-social-status
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  10. Dimitrov LV, Christensen GM, Ku BS, et al. Association of social and environmental exposures at the neighborhood level with child brain volume. Environ Int. 2025;201:109576. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2025.109576
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  12. Goldblatt R, Holz N, Tate G, et al. “Urban-satellite” estimates in the ABCD Study: linking neuroimaging and mental health to satellite imagery measurements of macro environmental factors. medRxiv. Posted February 1, 2024. doi:10.1101/2023.11.06.23298044
  13. Hammond CJ, Mayes LC, Potenza MN. Neurobiology of adolescent substance use and addictive behaviors: prevention and treatment implications. Adolesc Med State Art Rev. 2014;25(1):15-32. doi.org/10.1542/9781581108903-neurobiology
  14. Hartley CA, Somerville LH. The neuroscience of adolescent decision-making. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2015;5:108-115. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.09.004
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  18. Li Q, Whittle S, Rakesh D. Longitudinal associations between greenspace exposure, structural brain development, and mental health and academic performance during early adolescence. Biol Psychiatry. Published online April 11, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.03.026
  19. Nagata JM, Shim J, Balasubramanian P, et al. Cyberbullying, mental health, and substance use experimentation among early adolescents: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.lana.2025.101002
  20. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Committee on the Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Science of Adolescent Development and Its Applications; Backes EP, Bonnie RJ, eds. The promise of adolescence: realizing opportunity for all youth. National Academies Press; 2019
  21. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Building capacity to reduce bullying: workshop summary. National Academies Press; 2014. doi: 10.17226/18762
  22. National Institute of Mental Health. The teen brain: 7 things to know. 2023. Accessed April 10, 2026. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-7-things-to-know
  23. National Research Council (US) and Institute of Medicine (US) Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Fischhoff B, Nightingale EO, Iannotta JG, eds. Adolescent risk and vulnerability: concepts and measurement. National Academies Press; 2001. doi:10.17226/10209
  24. Niklason GR, Maxwell AM, Brucar LR, et al. Environmental, health, and psychological factors predict alcohol sipping in childhood: a machine learning analysis of the ABCD Study. JAACAP Open. 2025 May 6;3(4):1129-1146. doi: 10.1016/j.jaacop.2025.04.007
  25. Office of Population Affairs, US Department of Health and Human Services. Adolescent development explained. 2021. Accessed April 10, 2026. https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/adolescent-development-explained-download.pdf
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  28. Russell JD, Heyn SA, Peverill M, DiMaio S, Herringa RJ. Traumatic and adverse childhood experiences and developmental differences in psychiatric risk. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online October 23, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.3231
  29. Smith C, Stamoulis C. Effects of multidomain environmental and mental health factors on the development of empathetic behaviors and emotions in adolescence. PLoS One. 2023;18(11):e0293473. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0293473
  30. Spear LP. Adolescent neurodevelopment. J Adolesc Health. 2013;52(2 suppl 2):S7-S13. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.05.006
  31. Vandercook R. Impulsivity: recommendations for teachers. Accessed April 10, 2026. https://www.education.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Impulsivity.pdf
  32. Wen X, Shu Y, Qu D, et al. Associations of bullying perpetration and peer victimization subtypes with preadolescents’ suicidality, non-suicidal self-injury, neurocognition, and brain development. BMC Med. 2023;21(1):141. doi:10.1186/s12916-023-02808-8

Childhood Obesity and the Brain: What a Landmark Study Reveals About Kids’ Health

  1. Adise S, Boutelle KN, Rezvan PH, et al. Sex-specific impulsivity, but not other facets of executive function, predicts fat and sugar intake 2 years later among adolescents with a healthy weight: findings from the ABCD study. Appetite. 2024;192:107081. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2023.107081
  2. Adise S, Marshall AT, Kan E, Gonzalez MR, Sowell ER. Relating neighborhood deprivation to childhood obesity in the ABCD study: evidence for theories of neuroinflammation and neuronal stress. Health Psychol. 2023;42(12):868-877. doi:10.1037/hea0001250
  3. Adise S, Marshall AT, Kan E, Sowell ER. Access to quality health resources and environmental toxins affect the relationship between brain structure and BMI in a sample of preadolescents and early adolescents. Front Public Health. 2022;10:1061049. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.1061049
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Childhood obesity facts. Updated April 2, 2024. Accessed April 9, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood-obesity-facts/childhood-obesity-facts.html
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consequences of obesity. Updated December 5, 2025. Accessed April 9, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/php/about/consequences.html
  6. Cuevas AG, Krobath DM, Rhodes-Bratton B, et al. Association of racial discrimination with adiposity in children and adolescents. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(7):e2322839. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.22839
  7. Décarie-Spain L, Sharma S, Hryhorczuk C, et al. Nucleus accumbens inflammation mediates anxiodepressive behavior and compulsive sucrose seeking elicited by saturated dietary fat. Mol Metab. 2018;10:1-13. doi:10.1016/j.molmet.2018.01.018
  8. Ertel KA, Okuzono SS, Beyer LN, Pintro K, Cuevas AG, Slopen N. Neighborhood opportunity and obesity in early adolescence: differential associations by sex. J Adolesc Health. 2024;75(2):314-322. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.04.009
  9. Jiang F, Li G, Ji W, et al. Obesity is associated with decreased gray matter volume in children: a longitudinal study. Cereb Cortex. 2023;33(7):3674-3682. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhac300
  10. Kaltenhauser S, Weber CF, Lin H, et al. Association of body mass index and waist circumference with imaging metrics of brain integrity and functional connectivity in children aged 9 to 10 years in the US, 2016–2018. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(5):e2314193. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.14193
  11. Kansra AR, Lakkunarajah S, Jay MS. Childhood and adolescent obesity: a review. Front Pediatr. 2021;8:581461. doi:10.3389/fped.2020.581461
  12. Kulisch LK, Arumäe K, Briley DA, Vainik U. Triangulating causality between childhood obesity and neurobehavior: behavioral genetic and longitudinal evidence. Dev Sci. 2023;26(6):e13392. doi:10.1111/desc.13392
  13. Li ZA, Samara A, Ray MK, et al. Childhood obesity is linked to putative neuroinflammation in brain white matter, hypothalamus, and striatum. Cereb Cortex Commun. 2023;4(2):tgad007. doi:10.1093/texcom/tgad007
  14. Morys F, Yu E, Shishikura M, et al. Neuroanatomical correlates of genetic risk for obesity in children. Transl Psychiatry. 2023;13(1):1. doi:10.1038/s41398-022-02301-5
  15. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Overweight and obesity: childhood obesity. Updated March 24, 2022. Accessed April 9, 2026. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/overweight-and-obesity/childhood-obesity
  16. Rapuano KM, Laurent JS, Hagler DJ Jr, et al. Nucleus accumbens cytoarchitecture predicts weight gain in children. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020;117(43):26977-26984. doi:10.1073/pnas.2007918117
  17. Rapuano KM, Berrian N, Baskin-Sommers A, et al. Longitudinal evidence of a vicious cycle between nucleus accumbens microstructure and childhood weight gain. J Adolesc Health. 2022;70(6):961-969. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.01.002
  18. Tomasi D, Volkow ND. Childhood obesity’s effect on cognition and brain connectivity worsens with low family income. JCI Insight. 2024;9(16):e181690. doi:10.1172/jci.insight.181690
  19. Ward ZJ, Bleich SN, Long MW, Gortmaker SL. Association of body mass index with health care expenditures in the United States by age and sex. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0247307. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247307
  20. Yang A, Lu HJ, Chang L. The impacts of early environmental adversity on cognitive functioning, body mass, and life-history behavioral profiles. Brain Cogn. 2024;177:106159. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106159
  21. Zhang Y, Ji W, Jiang F, et al. Associations among body mass index, working memory performance, gray matter volume, and brain activation in healthy children. Cereb Cortex. 2023;33(10):6335-6344. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhac507

Raising Resilient Teens: What Parents Can Do to Support Adolescent Well-Being

  1. Alexander JD, Nguyen-Louie TT, Gupta S, Cummins KM, Wade NE. Adolescent smartphone use, sleep, and physical activity: Daily associations between sensor-based measures in the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study. Psychiatry Res. 2025;349:116523. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116523
  2. Al-Shoaibi AAA, Zamora G, Chu J, et al. Family conflict and less parental monitoring were associated with greater screen time in early adolescence. Acta Paediatr. 2024;113(11):2452-2458. doi:10.1111/apa.17349
  3. Doran N, Robledo Gonzalez M, Courtney KE, et al. Social Cognitive Influences Associated With Susceptibility to Nicotine and Tobacco Use in Youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2025;86(4):521-529. doi:10.15288/jsad.24-00041
  4. Gonzalez MR, Palmer CE, Uban KA, Jernigan TL, Thompson WK, Sowell ER. Positive Economic, Psychosocial, and Physiological Ecologies Predict Brain Structure and Cognitive Performance in 9-10-Year-Old Children. Front Hum Neurosci. 2020;14:578822. Published 2020 Oct 28. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2020.578822
  5. Guerrero MD, Barnes JD, Chaput JP, Tremblay MS. Screen time and problem behaviors in children: Exploring the mediating role of sleep duration. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2019;16(1):105. Published 2019 Nov 14. doi:10.1186/s12966-019-0862-x
  6. Harris JC, Wilson IG, Cardenas-Iniguez C, Watts AL, Lisdahl KM. The Childhood Opportunity Index 2.0: Factor Structure in 9-10 Year Olds in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025;22(2):228. Published 2025 Feb 6. doi:10.3390/ijerph22020228
  7. Li Q, Whittle S, Rakesh D. Longitudinal Associations Between Greenspace Exposure, Structural Brain Development, and Mental Health and Academic Performance During Early Adolescence. Biol Psychiatry. Published online April 11, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.03.026
  8. Moore A, Lewis B, Elton A, Squeglia LM, Nixon SJ. An investigation of multimodal predictors of adolescent alcohol initiation. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2024;265:112491. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.112491
  9. Nagata JM, Cheng CM, Shim J, et al. Bedtime Screen Use Behaviors and Sleep Outcomes in Early Adolescents: A Prospective Cohort Study. J Adolesc Health. 2024;75(4):650-655. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.06.006
  10. Nagata JM, Lee CM, Hur JO, Baker FC. What we know about screen time and social media in early adolescence: A review of findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2025;37(4):357–364. doi:10.1097/MOP.0000000000001462
  11. Nagata JM, Li K, Sui SS, et al. Associations between media parenting practices and early adolescent consumption of R-rated movies and mature-rated video games. BMC Pediatr. 2025;25(1):90. Published 2025 Feb 4. doi:10.1186/s12887-024-05367-w
  12. Nagata JM, Shim J, Low P, et al. Prospective association between screen use modalities and substance use experimentation in early adolescents. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2025;266:112504. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.112504
  13. Paulich KN, Ross JM, Lessem JM, Hewitt JK. Screen time and early adolescent mental health, academic, and social outcomes in 9- and 10- year old children: Utilizing the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development ℠ (ABCD) Study. PLoS One. 2021;16(9):e0256591. Published 2021 Sep 8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256591
  14. Pelham WE 3rd, Tapert SF, Gonzalez MR, et al. How Does Parental Monitoring Reduce Adolescent Substance Use? Preliminary Tests of Two Potential Mechanisms. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2024;85(3):389-394. doi:10.15288/jsad.23-00297
  15. Rakesh D, Flournoy JC, McLaughlin KA. Associations between socioeconomic status and mental health trajectories during early adolescence: Findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. JCPP Advances. 2025;e70001. Published 2025 Feb 25. doi:10.1002/jcv2.70001
  16. Roberston L, Twenge JM, Joiner TE, Cummins K. Associations between screen time and internalizing disorder diagnoses among 9- to 10-year-olds. J Affect Disord. 2022;311:530-537. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.05.071
  17. Sartor CE, Latendresse SJ, Jackson KM, et al. Parents’ perspectives and behaviors regarding their child’s access to alcohol: Variation by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and neighborhood. Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2025;49(1):234–243. doi:10.1111/acer.15498
  18. Weissman DG, Hatzenbuehler ML, Cikara M, Barch DM, McLaughlin KA. State-level macro-economic factors moderate the association of low income with brain structure and mental health in U.S. children. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):2085. Published 2023 May 2. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37778-1
  19. Wojciechowski T. Dual Systems Imbalance as a Predictor of Marijuana Use Risk: Examining Parental Monitoring as a Moderator. J Drug Issues. 2025; 0:0. doi: 10.1177/00220426251326168
  20. Wojciechowski T. Understanding time to vaping onset in childhood and adolescence: A dual systems model approach. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2025;268:112575. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112575
  21. Xu LX, Song KR, Deng HY, et al. Beyond screen time: The core influences of problematic screen use on adolescent development networks. J Behav Addict. 2025;14(2):724–737. Published 2025 Apr 28. doi:10.1556/2006.2025.00035