The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) is a nationally representative study that explores the causes of health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and their outcomes in young adulthood. AddHealth seeks to examine how social contexts (families, friends, peers, schools, neighborhoods, and communities) influence adolescents' health and risk behaviors.

Initiated in 1994 under a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) with co-funding from 17 other federal agencies, AddHealth is the largest, most comprehensive survey of adolescents ever undertaken. Data at the individual, family, school, and community levels were collected in two waves between 1994 and 1996. In 2001 and 2002, AddHealth respondents, 18 to 26 years old, were re-interviewed in a third wave to investigate the influence that adolescence has on young adulthood. For more detailed information about this study, please visit the National Institutes of Health Add Health Page.

Faculty:

  • John Hewitt
  • Andy Smolen
  • Marissa Ehringer
  • Christian Hopfer
  • Susan Young
  • Brett Haberstick

Publication Highlights:

Harris K.M., Halpern C.T., Smolen A., & Haberstick B.C.(2006) The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Twin Data. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 9, 988- 997.| pubmed abstract |

Boardman J.D., Saint Onge J.M., Haberstick B.C., Timberlake D.S., & Hewitt J.K. (2008). Do Schools Moderate the Genetic Determinants of Smoking? Behavior Genetics, [Epub ahead of print] | pubmed abstract |

Haberstick BC, Timberlake D, Hopfer CJ, Lessem JM, Ehringer MA, Hewitt JK. Genetic and environmental contributions to retrospectively reported DSM-IV childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (2007). Psychological Medicine [Epub ahead of print] |pubmed abstract |