Understanding how stress affects anhedonia in anxious and depressed teens
Official title: Multisystem Stress Response Biotypes: Deriving Novel Physiological and Neural Risk Factors for Anhedonia in Adolescence
Funded at Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill · NIH-11374567 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A science team is studying how stress-related bodily responses relate to the loss of interest and pleasure in teens aged 12–15 to help identify new ways to prevent or treat mood disorders.
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 12, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $748,732 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH136102-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11374567 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adolescents aged roughly 12–15 who experience or are at risk for anhedonia and related affective disorders.
✕Less likely to help
Teens without or not at risk for anhedonia or mood disorders may not directly benefit from this research.
What this research studies
This project will follow adolescents around the ages of 12–15 to see how their bodies react to stress and how these reactions relate to anhedonia, a reduced ability to feel pleasure. Researchers will use multiple measures of stress biology, including heart and nervous system responses and hormonal signals, to capture a full picture of each participant’s stress profile. By tracking these responses over time, the study aims to map how stress biology and mood changes connect during adolescence. The findings could point to earlier intervention targets and help tailor prevention strategies for youth at risk of affective disorders.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the study could lead to earlier identification of teens at risk for mood disorders and inform new, more precise prevention and treatment approaches.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work suggests multi-system stress biology is linked to mood symptoms, but comprehensive adolescent-focused multi-system studies are limited.
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.