title: The National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA): A Multisite Study of Adolescent Development and Substance Use.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  During adolescence, neurobiological maturation occurs concurrently with social and interpersonal changes, including the initiation of alcohol and other substance use. The National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) is designed to disentangle the complex relationships between onset, escalation, and desistance of alcohol use and changes in neurocognitive functioning and neuromaturation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 831 youth, ages 12-21 years, was recruited at five sites across the United States, oversampling those at risk for alcohol use problems. Most (83%) had limited or no history of alcohol or other drug use, and a smaller portion (17%) exceeded drinking thresholds. A comprehensive assessment of biological development, family background, psychiatric symptomatology, and neuropsychological functioning-in addition to anatomical, diffusion, and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging-was completed at baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The NCANDA sample of youth is nationally representative of sex and racial/ethnic groups. More than 50% have at least one risk characteristic for subsequent heavy drinking (e.g., family history, internalizing or externalizing symptoms). As expected, those who exceeded drinking thresholds (n = 139) differ from those who did not (n = 692) on identified factors associated with early alcohol use and problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NCANDA successfully recruited a large sample of adolescents and comprehensively assessed psychosocial functioning across multiple domains. Based on the sample's risk profile, NCANDA is well positioned to capture the transition into drinking and alcohol problems in a large portion of the cohort, as well as to help disentangle the associations between alcohol use, neurobiological maturation, and neurocognitive development and functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.|Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.
authors.forename: Sandra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.
authors.forename: Ty
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brumback
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cummins
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.
authors.forename: Wesley K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Bonnie J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Nagel
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: De Bellis
authors.affiliation: Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Hooper
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Duncan B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Tammy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Brant P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Hasler
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Colrain
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.
authors.forename: Fiona C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.
authors.forename: Devin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prouty
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.|Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California.
authors.forename: Adolf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pfefferbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California.
authors.forename: Edith V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.|Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California.
authors.forename: Kilian M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Pohl
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.|Google, Inc., Mountain View, California.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rohlfing
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.|Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California.
authors.forename: B Nolan
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Nichols
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.|Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California.
authors.forename: Susan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Tapert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult