Dustin A. Pardini, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION: (Provided by Applicant) Empirical evidence suggests that the bi-directional relation between specific temperamental characteristics and parenting behaviors is essential to accurately understanding the multiple developmental pathways to deviant behavior, including substance use. The primary goal of this investigation will be to examine the moderating effects that childhood temperamental variables have on the relation between early parenting practices and later substance use outcomes. The secondary aim of this proposal will be to examine the influence that early temperamental factors have on parenting behaviors over time. The participants used in this study are part of a larger longitudinal investigation examining the effects of a preventative-intervention on aggressive boys in the 4th and 5th grades. Specifically, the sample will consist of the 126 boys comprising the Risk Comparison (n=63) and Non-Risk Comparison (n=63) cells. The racial status of the sample is 54 percent African-American (n=68) and 46 percent Caucasian (n=58). Data will be collected on participants at five separate time points so that the longitudinal cohort covers the age span from 10-to-17 years of age. Information on temperament (i.e., activity level, fearfulness, anger), parenting behaviors (i.e., harsh parenting, monitoring, involvement), and substance use outcomes (i.e., frequency, intensity, problems resulting from use) will be collected using a multiple measures and multiple informants approach. Hypotheses will be tested using state-of-the-art quantitative tools such as latent growth curve analysis and structural equation modeling. These longitudinal findings will provide an empirical framework for developing specialized preventative-interventions tailored to childhood temperamental characteristics, parenting practices, or a combination of the two factors.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This K01 application is designed to provide specialized training in the skills necessary to study the relation between functional neurobiology and the initiation, maintenance, and desistance of violent behavior across the lifespan. Although male violence is determined by multiple factors, dysfunction in the prefrontal neural circuitry subserving executive functions (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control), and the cortico-limbic network associated with processing cues of fearful distress in others has been implicated in the development of childhood-onset violence that persists into adulthood. However, few studies have examined the functional neural circuitry associated with male violence using contemporary functional neuroimaging techniques. As a result, little is known about the neurobiological functioning of men exhibiting childhood-onset persistent violence. It is also unclear whether neurobiological functioning differentiates childhood-onset violent males who persist in their violent behavior from those who desist from violence over time. To address these issues, the candidate will obtain additional training in: 1) the functional neural circuitry associated with cognitive abilities and emotion processing across the lifespan, 2) the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a method for examining neural functioning, and 3) the role of neurobiological functioning in the development and maintenance of antisocial behavior, particularly violence. Using this training, an fMRI study will be conducted to examine the functional integrity of brain regions subserving executive functions (i.e., response inhibition, working memory) and responsiveness to social cues of fearful distress among three groups of men: childhood-onset violent persisters, childhood-onset violent desisters, and non-violent controls. Participants will be recruited from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS), an ongoing longitudinal investigation that has annually assessed a cohort of boys from ages 7 to 19 using multiple sources. Funding is currently in place to re-evaluate the youngest cohort of the PYS at approximately age 25, and the proposed fMRI study will supplement this follow-up assessment. Because male violence is a serious public health problem, research aimed at understanding the development of persistent violence is a paramount concern. The proposed program of research would enhance our understanding of the relative role of brain functioning in the development, maintenance, and desistance of violent behavior across the lifecourse. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Marijuana is the most commonly used and abused illicit drug in the U.S. The prevalence of marijuana use (MU) increases across adolescence, peaks in the early 20s, and gradually declines thereafter. However, there is considerable individual variability in developmental trajectories of MU, with some adolescents continuing to use marijuana into early adulthood and others desisting from MU over time. While several studies have examined factors that predict MU during adolescence, little is known about the processes that promote or hinder desistance from MU into adulthood. Additionally, few studies have characterized the adverse adult outcomes associated with divergent trajectories of MU, including potential impairments in brain structure and function that may result from frequent use in adolescence. Moreover, most studies on teen MU have focused on predominately White samples, making it unclear whether the findings can be extrapolated to Black teens. This proposal will address these limitations by leveraging data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS), a prospective longitudinal study that includes 1009 boys in two cohorts followed from childhood (age 6) or early adolescence (age 12) into young adulthood (age 28 or 35). The aims are to: 1) Characterize the developmental course of MU from adolescence to adulthood and examine the risk/protective factors and early adult positive life events that influence MU in Black and White males; 2) Document the link between different developmental trajectories of MU and adult psychosocial adjustment in Black and White males; and 3) Examine the association between frequent adolescent MU and abnormalities in brain structure and function in adulthood. State-of-the-art analysis will identify varying trajectories of MU from early adolescence to adulthood. Path analysis will assess the processes by which early antisocial risk and pro social protective factors influence trajectories of MU, and determine whether positive adult life events influence deviations from ongoing MU trajectories. The adverse adult psychosocial outcomes associated with developmental patterns of MU will also be delineated. Across these analyses, we will explore potential differences in the patterns, precursors, and outcomes associated with MU in Black males relative to Whites, including examining what factors may help explain racial differences in MU. Finally, using a subsample of PYS youth who participated in a neuroimaging study (N=171), we will determine whether frequent adolescent MU is associated with gray and white matter brain abnormalities in adulthood, and brain function deficits while processing emotional cues and receiving rewards. The pioneering papers generated from this project will help to identify developmentally salient and culturally appropriate risk/protective factors that should be targeted by programs designed to prevent chronic MU. They will also elucidate the potential negative psychosocial and neurobiological consequences associated with different trajectories of MU, which can be incorporated into motivational enhancement interventions for marijuana using teens and inform public policies regarding the legalization of marijuana for medical use.

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Youth aggression (e.g., bullying, fighting) and serious violence (e.g., shootings, robbery) places a considerable emotional and financial burden on society, making effective prevention a paramount public health concern. While several empirically supported prevention programs have been developed to target elementary school children at risk for exhibiting chronic aggression and serious violence (A-SV) into adolescence, no screening tools have been explicitly designed to identify children in the community who should be enrolled in these programs. As it stands, children are recruited into these interventions based on various ad hoc screening procedures designed to delineate youth with early conduct problems (e.g., defiance, lying, fighting). Recent longitudinal examinations of these screening strategies indicate that they are relatively poor at accurately identifying those children who will exhibit a persistent pattern of A-SV across adolescence. As a result, costly prevention programs are being unnecessarily administered to low-risk children, while a sizable portion of children most in need of violence prevention services are overlooked. To address this issue, the proposed study will use a multi-staged measurement development strategy to create a set of informant-specific (i.e., parent, teacher, youth report) screening instruments explicitly designed to identify children at risk for exhibiting chronic A-SV across adolescence. First, secondary data analysis of four large longitudinal studies will be used to identify the risk factor across multiple domains (e.g., low school bonding, peer deviance) that most accurately and consistently delineate elementary school children at risk for exhibiting A-SV across multiple years during adolescence (~ages 13-20). This will include identifying informant-specific risk factors that help to optimize classification accuracy. Next, state-of-the-art qualitative and quantitative measurement development techniques will be used to create three informant-specific screening instruments that assess the risk factors that best classify children at risk for exhibiting chronic A-SV across the longitudinal studies. A comprehensive item bank designed to assess each risk factor will be created by systematically identifying and extracting items from all relevant instruments that exist in the literature. A Consortium of international experts on youth violence will systematically refine the item set to optimize construct coverage and content clarity, and cognitive interviews with targeted informants will be used to further identify and rectify problematic items. A national sample of 2520 elementary school children will then be recruited to psychometrically refine and validate the violence risk screening tools. Using item response theory and computer adaptive testing methods, an efficient subset of items that minimize measurement error and optimize precision will be selected for inclusion in the final version of the screening instruments. The deliverables from this project will be a set of free, empirically- based, and precise risk screening instruments that can be used in multiple settings to identify children most in need of targeted violence prevention services.

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Murder is the second leading cause of death among young males in the US, with most of these killings resulting from gun violence in urban minority communities. Policy and behavioral interventions to address this problem have been largely ineffective. Existing research on this issue has been almost exclusively cross- sectional, meaning that many of the factors linked to gun carrying and use (i.e., as part of an antisocial lifestyle, for self-protection, or as a product of social influence) may or may not be influential.A 2013 Presidential Memorandum provided an opportunity to conduct NIH-funded research on the causes and consequences of gun violence in urban males (PA-13-363); research previously banned by Congress. This is a response to that call for innovative research to address this issue. Longitudinal studies would provide more valid information than currently available about the purported factors related to gun carrying and use. These would, however, be lengthy and costly. The proposed project uses two of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies of males ever conducted to examine the mechanisms related to gun carrying and use in urban males from adolescence to young adulthood. Complementary analyses, using comparable measures, will be conducted with a high-risk community sample (i.e., Pittsburgh Youth Study; N=1,009) and a sample of serious juvenile offenders (i.e., Pathways to Desistance study; N=1,107). Together, these studies have information on gun carrying/use as well as theoretically relevant factors related to these behaviors (e.g., drug dealing, victimization) measured at least annually from ~ages 10 to 25. Both have a substantial proportion of youth who have carried guns and shot at others. This is a unique opportunity to do theoretically, programmatically, and policy relevant research on a pressing social problem. Applying state-of-the-art longitudinal approaches, this study will a) use intra-individual analyses to delineate the inter-related effects between individual psychological and socio-contextual variables across development, focusing on factors implicated in the current theoretical formulations regarding gun carrying and use (e.g., psychopathy, gang membership), b) examine the bidirectional effects (i.e., variables as both a cause and a consequence) of gun carrying/use and victimization and attitudes toward violence, c) identify the factors related to the transition from gun carrying to gun use, and d) examine whether certain factors (e.g., drug dealing) are more influential for gun carrying/use among minority vs. White males and whether any racial/ethnic differences are attributable to a disproportionate exposure to specific risk factors (e.g., neighborhood crime). This proposed project is a unique, cost effective opportunity to move research on gun violence forward substantially. It enriches theory about the processes of gun carrying/use, and informs interventions to make them more effective. It will identify what specific risk factors should be targeted, to whom certain types of interventions are most relevant, and the developmental point when specific interventions are most salient.