The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) was an obvious collaborator in the study, since mental disorders often begin in childhood or adolescence and frequently co-occur with substance use (Kessler, 2004). One of NIMH’s strategic research priorities is to chart mental illness trajectories to determine when, where, and how to intervene. The ABCD study provides a unique opportunity to delineate the association between brain development and the emergence and progression of psychopathology so that premorbid signs of illness and sensitive periods for intervention can be identified. The study will provide much-needed information on low-incidence behaviors (e.g., suicide attempts) that cannot be garnered from smaller studies and will be able to address critical, lingering questions about the bidirectional influences of substance use and psychopathology, such as the complex interrelationships among marijuana use, schizophrenia, and genetic vulnerabilities. By filling these existing gaps in knowledge, the ABCD study will provide a foundation for altering trajectories of risk and improving the lives of those with substance use or mental disorders. The NIMH also brings to the project its expertise in developing large-scale imaging databases suitable for widespread sharing (e.g., the HCP database).
