How anxiety in teens may lead to risky substance use
Official title: Developmental Pathophysiology of Adverse Patterns of Substance Use in Adolescents with Anxiety
Funded at Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill · NIH-11334318 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Tracking brain connectivity and stress responses in anxious adolescents to find who might develop harmful patterns of substance use.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2023 |
| Project end | April 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $644,398 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA057312-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11334318 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adolescents with anxiety symptoms in the study's age range (roughly early teens through late adolescence, e.g., about 12–20 years) who can attend visits and complete MRI and stress-testing procedures.
✕Less likely to help
People without anxiety, individuals older than the study age range, or those already enrolled in active substance use treatment are unlikely to gain direct benefit from participation.
What this research studies
You would come in for brain scans that measure how threat and control regions (like the amygdala and frontoparietal areas) communicate. The team will also monitor stress responses such as heart rate variability and saliva cortisol during a social stress task. Participants with anxiety symptoms will be followed over time to see who develops adverse patterns of substance use. Combining these brain and stress markers is meant to reveal pathways that could point to earlier, more targeted help.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify anxious teens at higher risk for harmful substance use so interventions can be offered sooner and more precisely.
How similar studies have gone: Prior studies have linked anxiety, amygdala function, and stress hormones to substance use risk, but using longitudinal brain connectivity plus stress physiology together to predict adverse substance use is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Belger, Aysenil — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Belger, Aysenil
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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.