Development of Reward Processing in Prenatally Exposed Adolescents and Young Adults

Reward processing will be examined in prenatally exposed emerging adults in a longitudinal design. Participants will be followed for one year to see if neural markers of reward processing prospectively predict risk-taking behavior.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Risk-Taking; Pre-natal Cocaine Exposure
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: fMRI

Detailed Description

This cohort will be drawn from a pre-existing cohort of individuals recruited as part of an already existing study, and who have been followed since birth. Reward processing will be measured in two temporally close testing sessions involving two methodologies, electrophysiology and fMRI. Information will also be collected pertaining to experimental and problematic drug use, as well as information about mood, at the recording sessions. Drug use and mood information will then be collected once again in quarterly follow-up sessions for one year. The goal is to examine if PCE status and reward processing are risk factors for problematic drug abuse and risky behaviors in emerging adulthood, and if these factors interact to increase such risk.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 78

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520
      • Child Study Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 20 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Emerging adults in this study will be drawn from a sample of 359 individuals who have been participating in a longitudinal study of the effects of PCE on physical, social, cognitive and emotional development. Children and their mothers who were exposed to drugs other than cocaine were also enrolled, as were non-drug exposed controls. Prenatal drug exposure status was ascertained at time of recruitment via a detailed interview that covered lifetime substance use and use in the past 30 days, as well as a urine screening of mother and infant and meconium toxicology. The sample from which participants will be recruited consists of 81% African American, 6.5% Hispanic and 12.5% Caucasian children, all of who come from the greater New Haven area. The sample was recruited at birth over a 5-year period.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Ability to provide written informed consent and to comply with all study procedures.
2. Healthy emerging adults between 18-20 years of age (the age of the currently followed sample at the time of the proposed start date).

Exclusion Criteria:

• 1. A serious neurological or endocrine disorder or any medical condition or treatment known to affect the brain. 2. A medical condition that requires treatment with a medication with psychotropic effects.

  3. Evidence of stroke or space occupying lesions observed on conventional, clinical MR images.

  4. Any contraindications to MRI scanning (i.e., metal implants, pacemakers, etc.) 5. History of loss of consciousness (LOC) for longer than 30 minutes or LOC with any neurological sequelae.

  6. DSM-5 criteria for intellectual disability. 7. Current or a history of active neurological or psychiatric disorders, such as psychosis, bipolar illness, major depression, organic brain disease, dementia or DSM-V Axis I Psychiatric Disorder, including current alcohol or substance disorders. Participants will not be excluded for substance or alcohol use, only the presence of substance disorders.

  8. Current pregnancy. Female participants will be excluded if they report being currently pregnant or present positive for pregnancy after being given a urine test at the time of recruitment or scanning. If they become pregnant during the one-year follow-up duration of the study after the MRI scan is completed, they will remain in the study for the quarterly follow-ups and be referred to pre-natal care if they have not begun such care already.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
PCE; Emerging adult individuals who were exposed to cocaine in-utero	Other: fMRI; Observation of neural markers of reward processing; Other Names: EEG
NCE; Emerging adult individuals who were not exposed to cocaine in-utero	Other: fMRI; Observation of neural markers of reward processing; Other Names: EEG

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Risk-taking behavior:Drug and alcohol use	Teen Addiction Severity Index (Interview)	4x per year for one year (Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months)
Change in Risk-taking behavior:gambling behaviors	Massachusetts gambling screen (MAGS)	4x per year for one year (Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in affect over time	Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS)	4x per year for one year (Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months)
Change in alexithymia over time	Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)	4x per year for one year (Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months)
Change in experience of reward	Chapman Social and Physical Anhedonia Questionnaires	4x per year for one year (Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months)
Change in emotion regulation strategies	Emotion regulation questionaire (ERQ)	4x per year for one year (Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 15, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 14, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): September 14, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 29, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): August 31, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 4, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 1, 2021
• Last Verified: May 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: substance abuse
• Other Study ID Numbers: 0203014534; 1K01DA042937 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No