# Do peers enhance or detract progress in group MI? A look into emerging adult brain and behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SCH OF MED/DNT · 2024 · $437,516

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 At this time, alcohol is the top substance used by US emerging adults under the legal drinking age
(underage emerging adults; U-EA; ages 18-19). While drinking rates had recently been trending downward,
2021 national data reflect rises in youth drinking across all metrics. This is highly consequential in terms of
youth safety and neurodevelopment. One of the central challenges of U-EA alcohol use is that youth are
unlikely to seek, receive, or complete indicated alcohol intervention. In turn, it is imperative to find brief,
effective interventions to impactfully intervene with U-EA hazardous alcohol use. Additionally, the
developmental neuroscience literature robustly reflects that peers hold higher neural salience during this
developmental window, as evidenced by youths’ differential neural response in conditions with real and/or
simulated peers, even when those peers were not friends, and particularly in the context of alcohol.
Furthermore, studies are recognizing that peers concomitantly activate positive (prosocial) neural and
behavioral responses in this age group, and this has been observed in conditions of negative and positive peer
feedback. The role of negative and positive peer feedback is consequential given that one of most widely-used
U-EA intervention service delivery methods are group-based formats. Here, we aim to build upon PI Feldstein
Ewing’s 15 year history of continuous NIH funding in youth translational (brain:behavioral) approaches
evaluating youth within-session factors, youth neural response, and subsequent behavior change. Across
independent samples, our team has found distinct developmental brain response to MI interventions, largely
localized to default mode network (DMN) regions [precuneus, posterior central cortex (PCC)]. Further, this
observed DMN activation to examined within-session factors (client language; therapist language) was
significantly associated with youth post-treatment behavior change. We thus respond to PAR-21-280: “Dyadic
Interpersonal Process and Biopsychosocial Outcomes” and propose functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) to evaluate U-EA brain response in the underexamined, but widely-utilized, group MI context.
study, we will examine the nature of peer-peer dyadic exchanges in the youth brain during group MI
In this
interventions (Aim 1) and predictors of behavior change: prospective relationships between youth brain
response and behavior change in the novel context of group MI (Aim 2). These data are crucial for guiding
improvements in brief behavioral group-based intervention programming
alcohol use.
for U-EA engaged in hazardous

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11163990
- **Project number:** 7R01AA030678-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SCH OF MED/DNT
- **Principal Investigator:** Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $437,516
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2023-09-20 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11163990

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11163990, Do peers enhance or detract progress in group MI? A look into emerging adult brain and behavior (7R01AA030678-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11163990. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*