Learning the ABCD: A Landmark Study of Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development
Far too many times as a teenager, after displaying a clear lack of judgment, my parents would ask, “What were you thinking?” I suspect that this is a common question of many parents and lies at the heart of an NIH study launching today to understand better how teens’ brains develop into adulthood and how the many social and emotional challenges of adolescence shape this development. The landmark NIH Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States, will follow the biological and behavioral development of more than 10,000 children beginning at ages 9–10 through adolescence into early adulthood.