Measurement of gender and sexuality in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study

Alexandra S Potter; Sarahjane L Dube; Lisa C Barrios; Susan Bookheimer; Abigail Espinoza; Sarah W Feldstein Ewing; Edward G Freedman; Elizabeth A Hoffman; Masha Ivanova; Hailee Jefferys; Erin C McGlade; Susan F Tapert; Michelle M Johns

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101057

Measurement of gender and sexuality in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2022 Feb:53:101057. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101057. Epub 2022 Jan 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, 1 S Prospect St, UHC Arnold 6, Burlington, VT 05401, USA. Electronic address: Alexandra.Potter@uvm.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, 1 S Prospect St, UHC Arnold 6, Burlington, VT 05401, USA. Electronic address: Sarahjane.Dube@uvmhealth.org.
³ Division of Adolescent and School Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., NE MS US 8-1, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. Electronic address: LBarrios@cdc.gov.
⁴ Joaquin Fuster Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCLA School of Medicine, 916 Camino Colibri, Calabasas, CA 91302, USA. Electronic address: sbook@mednet.ucla.edu.
⁵ Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, Developmental Brain Imaging Lab (DBIL), Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239-3098, USA. Electronic address: espinoab@ohsu.edu.
⁶ Prochaska Endowed Professor of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, 130 Flagg Ave., Kingston, RI, USA. Electronic address: feldsteinewing@uri.edu.
⁷ Dept. Neuroscience, Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, 430 Elmwood Ave, Rochester NY 14620, USA. Electronic address: Ed_freedman@urmc.rochester.edu.
⁸ Division of Extramural Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, 301 North Stonestreet Ave, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. Electronic address: Elizabeth.hoffman@nih.gov.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, 1 S Prospect St, Burlington, VT 05401, USA. Electronic address: Masha.Ivanova@med.uvm.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA. Electronic address: hailee.j@wustl.edu.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, 383 Colorow Dr, Box 1, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. Electronic address: Erin.McGlade@hsc.utah.edu.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093-0603, USA. Electronic address: stapert@health.ucsd.edu.
¹³ Division of Adolescent and School Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., NE MS US 8-1, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. Electronic address: yrm9@cdc.gov.

Abstract

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM (ABCD) study is a longitudinal study of adolescent brain development and health that includes over 11,800 youth in the United States. The ABCD study includes broad developmental domains, and gender and sexuality are two of these with noted changes across late childhood and early adolescence. The Gender Identity and Sexual Health (GISH) workgroup recommends measures of gender and sexuality for the ABCD study, prioritizing those that are developmentally sensitive, capture individual differences in the experience of gender and sexuality, and minimize participant burden. This manuscript describes the gender and sexuality measures used in ABCD and provides guidance for researchers using these data. Data showing the utility of these measures and longitudinal trends are presented. Including assessment of gender and sexuality in ABCD allows for characterization of developmental trajectories of gender and sexuality, and the broad scope of ABCD data collection allows examination of identity development in an intersectional manner.

Keywords: ABCD; Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development; Gender; Sexuality.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Development*
Brain
Child
Cognition
Female
Gender Identity*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Sexuality

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding