Exposure to Violence and Emotion Regulation in Adolescence

My current internship is called the “IU Brain Imaging Study”, we are affiliated with the IU School of Medicine’s department of Psychiatry. My supervisor is Dr. Leslie Hulvershorn who is a Clinical Psychologist whose research focuses on child and adolescent mental health and addiction. The ”IU Brain Imaging Study” is a longitudinal study that enrolls adolescents in the study at age 11 or 12. We are trying to see what brain mechanisms may be involved in risky decision making such as drug use engagement in risky sexual behaviors. Our primary focus is on adolescents with a diagnosis of ADHD, because these individuals tend to act impulsively. There are three different participant groups: low-risk, medium-risk, and high risk. Participants are assignment to their group based on their number of ADHD symptoms and family history of drug use. My role is the study was conducting phone screens, writing Clinical Summaries, and doing other recruitment tasks. Using the data we have collected, my focus for this report will be on whether there is a correlation between exposure to violence in the adolescent participants and their emotion regulation.

Supervisor: Dr. Leslie Hulvershorn
Department: Psychiatry