The Center for the Study of Adolescent Risk and Resilience (C-StARR) was initially funded in 2003 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as one of several exploratory research centers. Like its sister centers across the country, the Duke center was, during this initial period of funding, called the Transdisciplinary Prevention Research Center (TPRC). The goal of the C-StARR during this period was to support new interdisciplinary research on the role of regulation, broadly construed, in problem behavior and its prevention. In particular, Center leadership worked to bring together the perspectives and research of behavioral scientists, social scientists, biological scientists (particularly in neuroscience and genetics), developmental scientists, and policy scientists in an effort to pinpoint regulatory processes ranging from internally emergent cognitive and biological processes, to the socialization influences of parents and peers, to the influence of broad social and educational policies, that might account for the emergence of undercontrolled behaviors in adolescents. The Center supported the work of interdisciplinary teams of investigators through the provision of funding and hands-on support provided through three “cores,” which are collections of expertise, support personnel, equipment, and facilities designed to support multiple research projects. The Administrative Core and Data Core were complemented by a Practice Core, which was directed at beginning to examine the translational efforts that might spring from the Center’s scientific endeavors and to connect it with the public institutions (like schools and social services for examples) that might best deploy the translated science of the Center. Although the Center was, at this time, only a beginning effort to spur Duke’s efforts in these pursuits, it was a successful one that met and exceeded its stated aims. In short it did promote the very collaborations that augured well for the development of novel multidisciplinary research approaches. And it was successful in beginning to target a number of essential factors at play in undercontrolled behavior among developing adolescents.

The Center received an additional five years of funding in 2008, transitioning from an exploratory center to a mature “cores-only” center. Although translational efforts focused on prevention continued, the primary focus of the C-StARR shifted from prevention to etiology, though the commitment to a multidisciplinary, multilevel approach continued. This shift reflected significant strengths among funded researchers at Duke in genetic, biological, and contextual factors that predispose or cause individuals engage in drug and alcohol use and other health-risk behaviors. The Center was “leaner” during this period of funding, operating with only two cores, an Administrative Core and a Methodology and Statistics Core. The latter focused on new methods, measurement strategies, and statistical approaches for the multidisciplinary study of problem behavior. As during the first period of funding, the primary activity of the C-StARR was the funding and support of cutting-edge, integrative science on the regulatory processes implicated in problem behavior and its prevention. Through its funding of small pilot studies, the Center helped lay the groundwork for a number of federally funded projects involving faculty members and early-career scholars affiliated with the Center. During this funding period, the focus of the C-StARR narrowed and its identity became clearer. Rather than attempting to study the full array of regulatory processes implicated in problem behavior, the focus converged on self-regulation—the mechanisms by which people manage their own thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Although Center-supported research continues on development from childhood through emerging adulthood, the primary focus is now late adolescence, the period during which the capacity for effective self-regulation emerges.

The C-StARR received a new round of funding—this time as a National Institute on Drug Abuse “Center of Excellence”—in 2013. The Center continued its focus on the etiology of problem behavior, with a particular focus on late adolescence and a sharper focus on genetic and neurobiological causes and consequences of self-regulation failure as evidence in health risk behavior. In addition to the Administrative and Data Cores, the Center added project support through a Biological Methods Core, which supported the integration of biological and behavioral data in studies of self-regulation and problem behavior. The Center continued its efforts at translating research findings in order to influence policies and practices aimed at curbing problem behavior during adolescence and emerging adulthood.

The Center received an addition five years of funding in 2019, followed by extensions that kept core functions active through June 2026 when NIH funding ended. Continuing as a Center of Excellence, the scope of the Data Core was expanded as reflected in a new name, Contextual Data Acquisition & Analysis Core. Leadership and staff managing the activities of this core supported C-StARR scientists in added a focus on the role and relevance of digital contexts (e.g., social media, mobile phone enabled communication) in adolescent social experience and decision making. The Biological Methods Core was renamed the Biological Data Acquisition & Analysis Core and its activities re-oriented to developing manuscripts and grant applications using accumulated biomarker data from prior work supported by the Center. Additionally, the focal age range increased to include emerging adulthood with the aging of several large samples followed by the Center and by C-StARR-affiliated investigators. A sharper focus on substance use during this final period of funding resulted in multiple publications leveraging C-StARR-managed data sets to study the multiple factors that influence use across a ranges of substances.

Although C-StARR no longer receives federal funding for core activities, it continues to operate as a group of researchers primarily focused on the role of digital technology in the lives of adolescents and young adults.