# Neurobiological susceptibility to peer influence and drug use in adolescence

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $12,528

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
An alarming number of adolescents will engage in substance use (including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and
opioids) before they leave high school, a fact that has serious long-term health and societal impacts. Since
most adolescents begin using substances with peers, an understanding of the processes that lead to peer
influence susceptibility in the context of substance-using peers offers critical avenues for successful
intervention in substance use. Our prior research developed a unique performance-based experimental
paradigm for measuring peer influence susceptibility and found that individual differences in susceptibility
interact with adolescents’ perceptions of their peers’ substance use to predict their own substance use
engagement. However, it remains unclear why some adolescents are more susceptible to peer influence than
others, and how development confers increased risk for susceptibility. This work will examine the neural
correlates associated with individual differences in peer influence susceptibility. Specifically, we will assess
how increased functional connectivity within and between neural networks subserving greater sensitivity to
social rewards and punishments, motivation to attain rewards and avoid punishment, and representations of
social others is associated with greater peer influence susceptibility. We will also examine a network involved
in executive control as a protective factor against later substance use. Using a two-cohort, accelerated
longitudinal design including adolescents spanning grades 6-12, we will investigate how individual differences
in connectivity within and between candidate neural networks predict prospective substance use initiation in
the context of peers. Eight hundred adolescents (age 11-13 years) will complete baseline assessments of
substance use, and peer influence susceptibility using an innovative experimental paradigm. A subset (n =
250) of the initial sample will partake in longitudinal task-based functional imaging in year 1 and 3, as well as
multi-wave longitudinal assessment occurring at one-year longitudinal intervals in subsequent years 2-5 to
obtain extensive data on adolescents’ and peers’ substance use trajectories across a critical developmental
period associated with substance use. By delineating the neurobiological markers of social influence
susceptibility, project findings can characterize those individuals at greatest risk for substance use, which can
inform interventions by targeting the psychological processes that contribute to peer influence susceptibility.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10399745
- **Project number:** 3R01DA051127-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristen Ann Lindquist
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $12,528
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10399745

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10399745, Neurobiological susceptibility to peer influence and drug use in adolescence (3R01DA051127-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10399745. Licensed CC0.

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