The present study, called “Spit for Science,” was born out of an attempt to address many of the challenges delineated above associated with large scale studies of genetic, environmental, and developmental influences by studying a large cohort of individuals as they transitioned through this critical developmental phase. To more fully understand the development of substance use and emotional health outcomes in college students we launched a comprehensive, university-wide study, with broad-based genetic, environmental, and phenotypic assessments. Freshman college students commence participation as they arrive on campus, and we follow them longitudinally across their college years and beyond (planned). Because this study is funded largely by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), there is considerable focus on alcohol outcomes, though we have also included brief broad-based assessments of several other substance use and psychiatric outcomes. In this article, we describe the process for launching such a study, and provide some preliminary results on levels of cooperation as well as rates of substance use and emotional health outcomes from the first wave of data collection of the Spit for Science sample.
