# ABCD-USA Consortium: Coordinating Center

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2020 · $157,487

## Abstract

Abstract
Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) is the largest long-term study of brain development and child
health in the US. ABCD consists of a Coordinating Center, a Data Analysis and Informatics Resource Center,
and 21 research sites. ABCD has enrolled a diverse sample of 11,878 9-10 year-olds, and is tracking their
biological and behavioral development through adolescence into young adulthood. All participants receive
repeated detailed youth and parent assessments of physical health, mental health, substance use, and culture
and environment, and state-of-the-art neuroimaging, neuropsychological testing, and bioassays.
In March 2020, when our participants are ages 11-13, the world became substantially affected by the COVID-
19 pandemic, leading to an upheaval in the economy and the lives of almost every family. The majority of US
schools closed to reduce viral spread. Many parents incurred changes in work (from home, longer shifts,
reduced wages, and/or job loss), some services and support systems became disrupted, and case counts and
death tolls surge. The massive multifaceted impact of this unprecedented event has the potential to affect for
decades those who are currently children. The proposed research immediately leverages the ABCD cohort,
infrastructure, and existing protocol to rapidly characterize the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on each
child in the study. By collecting this situational information as soon as possible, we can use existing ABCD data
to examine perturbations in developmental trajectories of physical health, mental health, substance use, brain
functioning, cognition, academic achievement, and social functioning.
The proposed project would query all ABCD participants and their parents multiple times about the impact of
the pandemic on their lives and, in a subset of participants, examine their physical activity and sleep objectively
with activity trackers (Fitbits), over the months of school closures, job loss, and disease spread. This will allow
the consortium and scientific community at large to test multiple aims regarding how various facets of the
pandemic affect development and outcomes. This includes: (1) characterizing how the COVID-19 pandemic
and social distancing efforts impact physical activity, sedentary behavior, screen media use, and sleep; (2)
leveraging sensors to objectively evaluate change in physical activity and sleep as youth transition from pre-
pandemic to stay-at-home lifestyles; and (3) evaluating the extent to which changes in health behaviors during
the stay-at-home period influence long-term health outcomes in youth. This unprecedented crisis provides an
opportunity to make use of ABCD’s elaborate infrastructure and rigorous scientific processes to discern critical
dimensions of development not previously envisioned.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10146191
- **Project number:** 3U24DA041147-06S5
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** SANDRA A BROWN
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $157,487
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-04-16 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10146191

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10146191, ABCD-USA Consortium: Coordinating Center (3U24DA041147-06S5). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10146191. Licensed CC0.

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