{"id":40195,"date":"2016-07-19T10:55:52","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T14:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=40195"},"modified":"2021-04-16T08:51:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T12:51:30","slug":"brock-receives-1-43-million-from-cihr-for-research-on-adolescent-risk-taking-behaviours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/07\/brock-receives-1-43-million-from-cihr-for-research-on-adolescent-risk-taking-behaviours\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock receives $1.43 million from CIHR for research on adolescent risk-taking behaviours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many parents of adolescents have\u00a0shaken their heads in wonder, saying, \u2018What were you thinking?\u2019 when confronting their child\u2019s risky behaviour.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the right question should be: \u2018How were you thinking?\u2019 As in, what happens in the brain of an adolescent when they\u2019re tempted to do something that might endanger their health, particularly in moments of intense excitement with their friends?<\/p>\n

A comprehensive research team from Brock University\u2019s Centre for Lifespan Development is studying that question, with the help of a $1.43 million grant over five years from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).<\/p>\n

Specifically, the team is looking to assess whether there is support for the \u2018Dual Systems Model\u2019 theory of adolescent brain development.<\/p>\n

According to the theory, that part of the brain called the \u2018striatum\u2019 and the \u2018medial and orbitol prefrontal cortices,\u2019 which increase motivation to pursue rewards, is relatively well-developed in adolescents. But the \u2018prefrontal cortex\u2019 \u2013 where the brain makes choices between right and wrong, predicts outcomes of actions or events and suppresses emotional or sexual urges \u2013 needs more time to mature.<\/p>\n

\"CIHRFunding-Infographic\"\u201cThat helps explain why adolescents sometimes do things that are risky for their health,\u201d says Teena Willoughby, Centre for Lifespan Development co-director and team leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there hasn\u2019t been a lot of research about how that theory directly translates into adolescents\u2019 health behaviours. That\u2019s where we come in: we\u2019re going to look at the interaction between brain development and health-risk behaviours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willoughby says her multi-disciplinary team of researchers will be pooling their expertise to examine how brain activity, genetics, endocrine status, physical fitness, personality and environmental factors interact to influence behaviours that pose health risks.<\/p>\n

These behaviours include not only the obvious ones like substance abuse, smoking, drinking and risky sexual activity, but even physical inactivity and poor nutrition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s unique about this study, says Willoughby, is that research participants will be monitored over a five-year period.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the current research occurs in one shot: you get adolescents into the laboratory, you look at how brain activity at this one point in time is related to performance on different lab-based risk taking tasks, but you don\u2019t really know how changes over time in the brain are related to health-risk behaviours outside the lab,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can show direct links between the dual systems model of brain development and health-risk behaviours, that would then solidify the theory.<\/p>\n

Researchers plan on recruiting 600 boys and girls ages eight to 13 who will be enrolled in the study for five years. The children and adolescents will fill out annual self-report surveys and will engage in various lab tasks twice-yearly.<\/p>\n

In addition to addressing the \u2018Dual Systems Model\u2019 theory, the research will shed much light on the development of adolescent health-risk behaviours, factors that influence these behaviours, and what kinds of policies and practices can be created to manage or mitigate risks, says Willoughby.<\/p>\n

Another intriguing question that the research aims to address is: Do brain changes lead to risk behaviours, or can behaviour such as being involved in sports or clubs enhance the brain\u2019s impulse control abilities?<\/p>\n

\u201cCan giving youth more responsibilities enhance that maturation of the prefrontal cortex? That could be a powerful outcome of the research if we could show that,\u201d says Willoughby, adding that structured activities can be used not only to enhance brain development but channel youth into positive, productive risk-taking activities.<\/p>\n

We certainly want to prevent health risk behaviours, but we also want to promote the enthusiasm, the passion, and encourage greater involvement in society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYouth often are usually highly motivated and passionate,\u201d says Willoughby. \u201cWe certainly want to prevent health risk behaviours, but we also want to promote the enthusiasm, the passion, and encourage greater involvement in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willoughby and her team will be working closely with 10 local, national and international partners, including: the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF); the Mental Health Commission of Canada; the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse; and Niagara Region Public Health, among others.<\/p>\n

She says the partners will be helping to guide the research as well as be receiving frequent research result updates. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that this research will be translated into practice really quickly because we have such fantastic partners who will be with us,\u201d says Willoughby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is outstanding because it recognizes both the high quality and impact of our research in adolescent development,\u201d says Joffre Mercier, Associate Vice-President Research, Natural and Health Sciences. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of our researchers whose work is well recognized and competitive at the national and international levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willoughby says the CIHR funding will go far in enabling the team\u2019s comprehensive research.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to do longitudinal research, and it\u2019s expensive to do anything exploring brain development,\u201d says Willoughby. \u201cTo get enough money to actually explore these areas, which I think are critically important for understanding both positive and negative behaviours in youth, is outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIHR also announced that it has awarded another Brock University researcher, Professor of Health Sciences Terrance Wade, a one-year grant of $100,000 for his research program, \u201cAdverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Blood Pressure, and Cardiovascular Structure and Function from Childhood to Early Adulthood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research\u00a0(CIHR)\u00a0is Canada\u2019s federal funding<\/a>\u00a0agency\u00a0for health research. Composed of 13\u00a0Institutes<\/a>, the agency collaborates with partners and researchers to support the discoveries and innovations that improve our health and strengthen our health care system.<\/p>\n

For a discussion on the wider topic, see Brock University\u2019s podcast: Understanding risk-taking behaviours in adolescence.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A research team from Brock University has been awarded a $1.43-million grant for cutting-edge research into the risk-taking decisions of adolescents.
\nThe Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding stretches over five years for a project to study how two brain systems \u2014 one that increases motivation to seek rewards, and another that controls impulses \u2014 develop in adolescents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":40201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,1,5,38],"tags":[4307,4306,2565,9749,29,3572],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40195"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71715,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40195\/revisions\/71715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}