Study Purpose: It is known that different childhood environments are associated with later adult outcomes in life, such as mental health and wellbeing. However, the mechanisms by which these environments impact underlying biology remain mostly unknown. The goal of this study is to better understand how various experiences in childhood affect development on a genetic, neural, and behavioral level.
Who Can Participate: Families who have previously participated in the “Survey of Parents and Teens” are eligible to participate in this study. We will be contacting your family to see if you are interested in participating if you are a part of the existing Detroit and Toledo populations and formerly gave permission to the previous researchers for future contact.
If I choose to participate, what will happen during the study visit day? For those families that choose to participate in the Adolescent Wellbeing and Brain Development Study, the teen and their legal guardian (usually mom) will have a one day visit with researchers from the University of Michigan. During this time, we will visit your home, drive you to our lab in Ann Arbor, help you fill out questionnaires, run interactions tasks with your family, give you some computer games to play, take pictures of your brain using an MRI scanner, and have you give some biological samples including hair, saliva, and blood from a finger prick. At the end of the day we will drive you back to your home and compensate you for your time. More details and information will be provided to you at the time of your initial phone call and you are always welcome to contact our lab with any questions or concerns. As with any study at the University of Michigan, your participation is completely voluntary and all of your information will be kept confidential.
We look forward to your visit and thank you for sharing your family’s experiences with us!
