NIH Releases Adolescent Brain Development Data to Scientists

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have released an enormous dataset of high-quality baseline data on a large sample of 9-and-10-year-old children, including basic participant demographics, assessments of physical and mental health, substance use, culture and environment, neurocognition, tabulated structural and functional neuroimaging data, and minimally processed brain images, as well as biological data such as pubertal hormones.

Psychological scientists are encouraged to access these data to conduct research on the many factors that influence brain, cognitive, social, and emotional development. These data, stemming from NIH’s Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, include initial information on a group of 4,500 subjects and will be expanded upon in the years to come.

Researchers who are interested in accessing the ABCD data should visit the ABCD website by clicking here. To learn more about the scientific plans and design of the study, click here.

The ABCD study is supported by several NIH institutes and offices, the Division of School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Science Foundation, and other groups. The data are hosted on the National Institute of Mental Health’s Data Archive.

Read previous APS coverage of the ABCD study by clicking here.