Risk for Substance Use in Foster Adolescents: An fMRI Study of Inhibitory Control

Oregon Social Learning Center, Inc., Eugene OR

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Foster children have typically been exposed to a host of early adverse experiences. It is not surprising, therefore, that numerous studies have found foster children to be a high-risk group. Rates of early-onset drug use are particularly high among foster adolescents. In the proposed study, data will be collected from a subsample of children participating in an ongoing longitudinal randomized efficacy trial of a family-based intervention program of enhanced foster care. The objectives of the proposed study are to examine the neural substrates of inhibitory control, a cognitive process that has been linked to early-onset drug use, in former foster children and non-maltreated children between the ages of 10-13 years and to investigate the long-term impact of the intervention on inhibitory control and the underlying brain regions. This study will employ event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine behavioral performance and patterns of brain activation during a go/no-go task in 15 former foster children who received the intervention, 15 former foster children who received services as usual, and 15 non-maltreated, low-income children. It is hypothesized that the former foster children will perform more poorly and will display more diffuse patterns of brain activation during the task than the normal-treated children. However, it is hypothesized that the former foster children who received the intervention are expected to demonstrate better performance and more localized activation in expected brain regions than the former foster children who received services as usual. The impact of specific dimensions of early adverse experiences (e.g., number of caregiver disruptions and severity of maltreatment) on behavioral performance and patterns of brain activation will also be examined. This study will provide the foundation for an R01 application examining the association between the neural substrates of inhibitory control and early-onset drug use in the full sample from the efficacy trial in mid-adolescence. The proposed study is designed to generate preliminary data supporting this research and enhance our capacity to collect an analyze neuroimaging data. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Foster children are at significant risk for early-onset drug use and subsequent development of drug abuse problems. The proposed study will examine the effects of early adverse experiences and a family-based intervention on the brain regions involved in inhibitory control. The knowledge generated by this study will allow us to develop more precise and targeted interventions for foster children and other at-risk populations.