# An adoption study of the development of early substance use: the joint roles of genetic influences, prenatal risk, rearing environment, and pubertal maturation

> **NIH NIH R01** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · 2020 · $658,184

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The proposed research will clarify how heritable risks and prenatal and postnatal environments
work together with hormonal changes to influence the development of risk for early substance
use (SU) and related problems in adolescence. Understanding the development of SU problems
is a vital health concern due to the economic costs of dealing with SU related injury, illness,
death, crime, and lost productivity. Pathways and interactions by which genes, prenatal
exposures, hormones, and key postnatal environmental factors influence the development of
SU are not fully understood, in part because studies have not considered them together. The
proposed research is innovative by using and expanding
an existing prospective longitudinal
adoption study, the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS) to address
the dearth of
research combining heritable, prenatal, hormone, and postnatal influences. This proposal is
timely, directly addressing PA-15-110, by using genetically informative approaches to expand
research on the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in the genesis and course … of
substance use disorders and comorbid conditions. The EGDS is a longitudinal study of children
adopted at birth and their birth and adoptive parents (N = 561 linked triads). We propose to
collect new data into early adolescence on SU milestones and related behaviors, and pubertal
development. We will use existing and new data to: (SA1) estimate the unique contributions of
heritable risk, prenatal, and postnatal environmental influences on trajectories of child behaviors
from infancy to adolescence that increase risk for SU; (SA2) examine the mediating role of
prenatal exposures for transmitting heritable influences on trajectories of behavioral risk for SU;
(SA3) examine the mediating role of hormone development for transmitting heritable, prenatal
and postnatal environmental influences on trajectories of behavioral risk for SU; and (SA4)
Examine moderation of heritable, prenatal, and hormone influences by postnatal environments
to elucidate the possible interactions among these factors in influencing child risk behaviors and
early SU. This study will help to advance knowledge of the development of adolescent SU, to
clarify which children are at greater risk for developing SU early in adolescence, and which
influences are most salient for SU development given multiple other influences. This
prospective, longitudinal, genetically-informed investigation using the EGDS is uniquely poised
to achieve these aims, which are critical for gaining a more precise understanding of factors
influencing the developmental course of SU that can be used to improve prevention efforts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9850226
- **Project number:** 5R01DA045108-03
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** Jenae M. Neiderhiser
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $658,184
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9850226

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9850226, An adoption study of the development of early substance use: the joint roles of genetic influences, prenatal risk, rearing environment, and pubertal maturation (5R01DA045108-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9850226. Licensed CC0.

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