
Studies in this research arm utilize data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth), an on-going longitudinal study that recruited ~20,000 adolescents to follow repeatedly into their adult years. The study has just completed its fifth Wave of data collection.
We are primarily motivated to understand the precursors, including genetic, psychosocial, and psychological, of risk and protection from the development of depression and externalizing outcomes (e.g., substance use, antisocial behaviors). We utilize advanced longitudinal modeling techniques, such as latent class analysis and latent growth curve models, to characterize long-term, 20+ year trajectories of these outcomes in our research. We also incorporate powerful genome-wide tools (e.g., polygenic scores) to investigate the ways in which genes and psychosocial development might influence how a person develops mental health outcomes over time.

Key collaborators:
UW-Madison
Jason Fletcher (LaFollette School of Public Policy)
Lauren Schmitz (LaFollette School of Public Policy)
Qiongshi Lu, Ph.D. (Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, UW-Madison)
The DREAM BIG Research Team at McGill University
Ashley Wazana, M.D. (Psychiatry)
Alexia Jolicoeur-Martineau (Psychiatry)
Ezster Szekely, Ph.D. (Statistics & Artificial Intelligence)
California State University-Northridge
Jonathan Martinez, Ph.D. (Psychology)
Representative articles:
- Li, J. J., Zhang, Q.*, & Lu, Q. (2020). RDoC mechanisms of transdiagnostic polygenic risk for trajectories of depression: From early adolescence to adulthood. Preprint doi: doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.01.020495.
- Li, J. J. (2019). The positive end of the polygenic score distribution for ADHD: A low risk or protective factor? Psychological Medicine. ePub ahead of print. doi: 10.1017/S0033291719003039
- Li, J. J. (2019). Assessing phenotypic and polygenic models of ADHD to identify mechanisms of risk for longitudinal trajectories of externalizing behaviors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60, 1191-1199. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13071
- Morrison, R. A.*, Martinez, J. I., Hilton, E. C.*, & Li, J. J. (2018). The influence of parents and schools on developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviors in Caucasian and African American youths. Development and Psychopathology, 31, 1575-1587. doi: 1017/S0954579418001335
- Li, J. J. (2017). Assessing the interplay between multigenic and environmental influences on adolescent to adult pathways of antisocial behaviors. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 1947-1967. doi: 10.1017/S0954579417001511
- Li, J. J., Berk, M. S., & Lee, S. S. (2013). Differential susceptibility in prospective models of gene-environment interaction for depression. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 991 – 1003. doi. 10.1017/S0954579413000321
- Li, J. J. & Lee, S. S. (2010). Latent class analysis of antisocial behavior: Interaction of serotonin transporter genotype and maltreatment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 789-801. doi: 10.1007/s10802-010-9409-y