# The Origins of Preadolescent Risk for Psychiatric Disorders in Early Childhood Brain Development

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $674,951

## Abstract

Abstract
 It has been hypothesized for years that most psychiatric disorders are the result of abnormal
trajectories of early childhood brain development and a major priority for NIMH is to better
understand how risk for psychiatric disorders unfold in childhood, to inform early intervention
strategies that prevent or mitigate risk and illness severity. The UNC Early Brain Development
Study is a longitudinal study that has followed children, enrolled prenatally, with imaging and
developmental assessments at birth and at ages 1, 2 4, and 6 years. Children from this cohort
are now reaching pre-adolescence, a period in which cognitive and behavioral abnormalities
associated with psychiatric disease, including executive function, attention, and anxiety, are
emerging. Very little is currently known about the relationship between brain structure and
development and risk phenotypes in pre-adolescence; this represents is a major gap in our
knowledge and a critical need for study.
 We propose to follow 446 children in our longitudinal cohort at ages 8 and 10 years of age.
MRIs, including structural, diffusion tensor, and resting state functional imaging, will be performed.
Cognitive development and behavioral development will be assessed, with a focus on the
phenotypes of executive function, attention, and anxiety, consistent with RDoC constructs and
important for psychiatric disorder risk. Knowledge gained in this study will improve our basic
understanding of human brain development in childhood, allow us to delineate childhood
predictors of risk phenotypes in late childhood, and ultimately help target periods of childhood
development for early intervention.
Relevance
New knowledge gained in this study will provide a dramatically improved framework for
understanding childhood brain development and its relationship to cognitive and behavioral
outcomes in late childhood, and to risk for subsequent psychiatric disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10176261
- **Project number:** 5R01MH111944-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** JOHN Horace GILMORE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $674,951
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10176261

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10176261, The Origins of Preadolescent Risk for Psychiatric Disorders in Early Childhood Brain Development (5R01MH111944-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10176261. Licensed CC0.

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