# RDoC Domains Underlying Emotional Health and Trajectories of Psychopathology in Families of WTC First Responders and Evacuees: A Genome-Wide GxE Study

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC · 2020 · $595,570

## Abstract

The role of familial/parental factors in modulating youths’ reactions to terrorism is supported by the
scientific literature, including the Child Psychiatric Epidemiology Group’s (CPEG) findings from youth assessed
six months after 9/11 (N=8,236; see Significance). Those findings led to a NICHD-funded grant (Wave 1-2
WTC Family Study) to understand the impact, over time, of parental direct WTC-exposure on their children’s
psychopathology. For that study, N=855 families (parents + one child) of WTC First Responders, WTC
Evacuees and local Residents were recruited from the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR), as well
as 9/11 unexposed Control families. The Wave 1-2 WTC Family Study was innovative and unique in that it: (a)
examined the effects of direct exposure of parents to the consequential effect of indirect (“take home”)
exposure on their children, (b) it followed families over time, and (c) assessed a broad array of psychiatric
disorders in parents and children with DSM diagnostic instruments.
 Since initiation of the WTCHR and the Wave 1-2 WTC Family Study, NIMH developed the Research
Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, a new way to classify mental disorders based on validated behavioral
functions, supported by neural circuits. RDoC domains have quickly illuminated the conceptualization of
psychopathology by providing a more comprehensive framework of functions/deficits across a spectrum of
disorders and the health-illness dimension. This conceptualization is critical to understanding the long-term
consequences to individuals and families with 9/11 exposure. Additionally, the explosion of high-throughput
technologies has led to a more comprehensive view of the genetic architecture of observable behaviors and of
gene-environment interactions (G×E), which may be critical in the development of individualized treatment
plans for 9/11 exposed individuals.
 To date, there has been no other 9/11 investigation that encompasses families, even of First
Responder, WTC and Residential Evacuee families, the most adversely impacted WTC population. Based on
findings from the Wave 1-2 WTC Family Study on the effects of parental WTC-exposure/psychiatric disorders
on their child’s’ psychopathology, as well as other epidemiological, behavioral and genetic findings by CPEG
regarding these individuals (see Approach-C.4), we propose to follow-up the same families for a 3rd wave, to
examine how four key RDoC domains of functioning (negative valence; positive valence; cognitive systems;
social cognition) are associated upward with (i) long-term psychiatric outcomes (DSM disorders), (ii)
emotional health (psychological resilience), and (iii) trajectories of psychopathology, and downward, with
interactions between genetic variation and direct/indirect WTC exposures.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9935989
- **Project number:** 5U01OH011327-05
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
- **Principal Investigator:** Lupo Geronazzo-Alman
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $595,570
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9935989

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9935989, RDoC Domains Underlying Emotional Health and Trajectories of Psychopathology in Families of WTC First Responders and Evacuees: A Genome-Wide GxE Study (5U01OH011327-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9935989. Licensed CC0.

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