Early hardship and drug-use risk in low-income rural children
Official title: Early Adversity and Drug Use Vulnerability Among Low Income Rural Children: Testing a Neuro-ecological Model of Resilience
Funded at University of Georgia · NIH-11261225 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how hardships in early childhood affect brain development and later risk for drug use in low-income rural children starting at age seven.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Georgia NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Athens, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2023 |
| Project end | January 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $624,074 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA055630-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11261225 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children around age 7 from low-income families living in rural Georgia, along with their caregivers, are the ideal participants.
✕Less likely to help
Children who live in urban areas, adults, or those without early-life poverty or adversity are unlikely to benefit directly from this particular study.
What this research studies
You and your child would join a long-term study that links brain measures, thinking skills, behavior, and home and neighborhood stressors to later drug-use risk. Researchers will bring children in for brain scans, cognitive and emotional tests, and collect detailed information from caregivers about family and community experiences. The team will follow children over several years to see which brain and environmental patterns predict higher or lower risk for substance use. The aim is to find protective factors and guide prevention efforts tailored to rural communities.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify children at higher risk and support earlier, community-tailored prevention to reduce future drug misuse.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have linked childhood adversity and brain changes to substance risk, but integrating brain scans with detailed rural environmental data in a long-term study is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Georgia
Athens, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Oshri, Assaf — University of Georgia
- Study coordinator: Oshri, Assaf
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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How growing up poor in rural Georgia affects children's brains and risk for drug use
This project looks at how early poverty and stress in rural Georgia change children's brain systems and their later chances of using drugs.
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How early life challenges affect drug use risk in rural children
This study looks at how growing up in low-income rural areas affects children's brain development and their chances of misusing drugs, focusing on kids from rural Georgia and following them from age 7 to see how their environment shapes their thinking and feelings.
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How early life challenges affect drug use risk in rural children
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.