Developmental Insights into Vulnerability to the Exposome (DIVE-1)

Summary

This study is being done to learn how people of different ages respond to everyday social situations. Social situations can include things like talking to others or feeling like you are being watched or evaluated. Teenagers go through many changes in their brain and body, which may affect how they think and feel in these situations. We are especially interested in how the body reacts during these kinds of experiences. These reactions are influenced by many things people are exposed to throughout life — for example, school, friendships, family situations, or other life events. All of these experiences together are sometimes called the exposome, which simply means the different things in your environment that your body and mind respond to over time.

By comparing teenagers and adults, we hope to understand whether people’s reactions to social situations change as they grow older, and how this relates to mental well-being. Learning more about this may help researchers find early signs of when someone might be more sensitive to certain social experiences and learn how to better support young people.

The study includes two in-person visits on consecutive days. During the first visit, you will be asked about your mental well-being through questionnaires and interviews. A small tube (called a catheter) will then be placed in your arm so that we can collect three blood samples using only one needle insertion. We will also measure your heart rate and skin conductance. Additionally, we will ask you to complete and breathalyzer and urine drug test.

Next, you will complete a computerized task that measures your blink response in different situations. During this task, you will hear brief sounds through headphones, and at times you may experience a mild, unpleasant electrical sensation that has been individually adjusted to your comfort threshold. As part of the study, you will also participate in a social interaction task that involves speaking and performing simple arithmetic. After this, you will repeat the blink response task and complete additional questionnaires. These tasks and questionnaires will be repeated again on the following day.