The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study SM is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded leading researchers in the fields of adolescent development and neuroscience to conduct this ambitious project. The ABCD Research Consortium consists of a Coordinating Center, a Data Analysis, Informatics & Resource Center, and 21 research sites across the country (see map), which have invited 11,880 children ages 9-10 to join the study. Researchers will track their biological and behavioral development through adolescence into young adulthood.
Description¶
Using cutting-edge technology, scientists will determine how childhood experiences (such as sports, videogames, social media, unhealthy sleep patterns, and smoking) interact with each other and with a child’s changing biology to affect brain development and social, behavioral, academic, health, and other outcomes.
The results of the ABCD Study will provide families; school superintendents, principals, and teachers; health professionals; and policymakers with practical information to promote the health, well-being, and success of children.
In 2015, these NIH Institutes and Centers came together to fund and establish the ABCD Consortium, specifically to follow a cohort of over 10,000 children from pre-adolescence into adulthood. Data gathered from this large cohort will allow the creation of baseline standards for normal brain development (similar to those that currently exist for height, weight, and other physical characteristics). More recently, the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) was added to address sex and gender influences in adolescent brain development, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) was added to address adolescent cardiovascular and hematologic health.
The ABCD Consortium is made up of a Coordinating Center (CC), Data Analysis, Informatics & Resource Center (DAIRC), and 21 research sites across the country. The ABCD CC, DAIC, and Consortium Workgroups have established standardized and harmonized assessments of neurocognition, physical and mental health, social and emotional functions, and culture and environment. They also have established multimodal structural and functional brain imaging and bioassays. Brain imaging and biospecimen collection for genetic and epigenetic analyses will be done every other year, and the remaining assessments will be conducted semi-annually or annually.
Dataset¶
An ongoing, longitudinal sample of 10,000 adolescents. Data have been released in waves. Data is released on the NIMH Data Archive.
Current Release is 5.1
baseline | n = 11868
6-month follow-up | n = 11389
1-year follow-up | n = 11220
18-month follow-up | n = 11083
2-year follow-up | n = 10973
30-month follow-up | n = 10228
3-year follow-up | n = 10336
42-month follow-up | n = 8449
4-year follow-up | n = 4754
Data Types¶
Demographic
Clinical
Imaging (MRI, fMRI, dMRI)
Electrophysiological (EEG, MEG)
Genomic
Register¶
Request access to the data here.