Purpose

The Study of Toddler to Teenager Anxiety and Resiliency (STTAR) is a longitudinal follow-up to the Duke Preschool Anxiety Study that took place a decade ago at Duke Primary Care. This study is designed to understand how adolescents are influenced by their early life experiences. In particular, we are interested in understanding how experiences in early childhood affect a teenager’s emotionality and emotion regulation. In the original study, we analyzed anxiety in preschool children at Duke Primary Care, and now we hope to expand on our previous findings. This study involves both caregiver and adolescent participation to gain a well-rounded view of the child’s development, mood, feelings, thoughts and behaviors. This study also includes structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which will be used to gain a better understanding of the link between cortical development and emotionality.