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The Adolescent Neural Urbanome and Pubertal Development in the ABCD Study ®

A New York City skyline view

As NSF faculty fellow, Dr. Chung and her team including Dr. Daehan Kwak in the School of Computer Science and Technology  and three undergraduate research fellows in the department of Math/Data Science and Computer Science at Kean University investigate how urbanicity influences adolescents' brain, cognition and emotion using Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study ®).  

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U.S. National Science Foundation

Aim 1: To determine the impact of urbanicity on adolescents pubertal, brain function, and cognitive development.  

Most evidence points to urban living as a risk factor for poorer mental health, yielding increased risk for psychosis, anxiety disorders and depression. Relatedly, early onset of puberty is one of well-known risk factors for depression. As children go through puberty, there are large sex differences in the prevalence of mental disorders such as depression, with females having greater vulnerability to males. Thus, we expect that urbanicity, as measured by existing ABCD study data set such as vehicle density, may lead to early onset of puberty and greater risk for adolescents’ mental health.  

Aim 2: To determine a mechanistic relationship of urbanicity, socioeconomic inequality and mental health in adolescence.  

Urban areas generally offer better access to educational, recreational, and health resources. However, disparities in access within urban areas due to low socioeconomic status, can lead to uneven mental health outcomes. Further, socioeconomic inequality often led to social exclusion and stigmatization, which are well-known risk factors for adolescents’ mental illnesses. Furthermore, adolescents living in urban areas often face higher levels of environmental stressors such as noise, pollution, and overcrowding. These stressors can contribute to increased anxiety and stress.  Thus, this Aim will determine how urbanicity (e.g., residential segregation index from the ABCD study), especially for youth at low SES may lead to increased risk for mental illness.