{"doi":"10.17615/y6be-7t74","title":"Baseline brain and behavioral factors distinguish adolescent substance initiators and non-initiators at follow-up","abstract":"Background Earlier substance use (SU) initiation is associated with greater risk for the development of SU disorders (SUDs), while delays in SU initiation are associated with a diminished risk for SUDs. Thus, identifying brain and behavioral factors that are markers of enhanced risk for earlier SU has major public health import. Heightened reward-sensitivity and risk-taking are two factors that confer risk for earlier SU. Materials and methods We characterized neural and behavioral factors associated with reward-sensitivity and risk-taking in substance-naïve adolescents (N = 70; 11.1–14.0 years), examining whether these factors differed as a function of subsequent SU initiation at 18- and 36-months follow-up. Adolescents completed a reward-related decision-making task while undergoing functional MRI. Measures of reward sensitivity (Behavioral Inhibition System-Behavioral Approach System; BIS-BAS), impulsive decision-making (delay discounting task), and SUD risk [Drug Use Screening Inventory, Revised (DUSI-R)] were collected. These metrics were compared for youth who did [Substance Initiators (SI); n = 27] and did not [Substance Non-initiators (SN); n = 43] initiate SU at follow-up. Results While SI and SN youth showed similar task-based risk-taking behavior, SI youth showed more variable patterns of activation in left insular cortex during high-risk selections, and left anterior cingulate cortex in response to rewarded outcomes. Groups displayed similar discounting behavior. SI participants scored higher on the DUSI-R and the BAS sub-scale. Conclusion Activation patterns in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex may serve as a biomarker for earlier SU initiation. Importantly, these brain regions are implicated in the development and experience of SUDs, suggesting differences in these regions prior to substance exposure.","journal":"UNC Libraries","year":2023,"id":402232,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9544,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":433894,"name":"Emma J. Rose","orcid":"0000-0001-5365-4794","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":586959,"name":"Goldie A. McQuaid","orcid":"0000-0003-3614-616X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270256,"name":"Valerie L. Darcey","orcid":"0000-0002-5053-4567","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1179906,"name":"VanMeter, Ashley S.","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":587476,"name":"Amanda E. Patterson","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":586960,"name":"Diana Fishbein","orcid":"0000-0003-1644-2762","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:20:23.920156Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}