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Alcohol, Substance Use, and Behavioral Addictions in Children and Adolescents:...
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Alcohol, Substance Use, and Behavioral Addictions in Children and Adolescents: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health and Wellbeing

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2026 | Viewed by 746

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Albert Espelt

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Departament de Psicobiologa i Metodologia de les Ciències de la Salut, Universtiat Autònoma de Barcelona, Plaça Cívica, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
2. CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Interests: social epidemiology; alcohol use; adolescent health; social inequalities in health; drug addiction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ainara Díaz-Geada

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Psychiatry, Radiology, Public Health, Nursing and Medicine, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: public health; substance use; student; cyberbullying; infirmary; social inequalities in health; consumption of additive substances; bullying

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Adolescence is a critical developmental period characterized by rapid physical, emotional, and social changes. During this time, young people are particularly vulnerable to experimenting with psychoactive substances and engaging with technologies and digital media that, while not inherently addictive, can lead to problematic behaviors and increase susceptibility to behavioral addictions later in life. Drug use and digital media among adolescents remain a significant public health and social concern, with far-reaching implications for mental health, cognitive development, family relationships, and long-term well-being. While a substantial body of research has been published since the start of the pandemic, the social and developmental circumstances affecting young people have evolved considerably. This underlines the importance of this Special Issue, which examines this critical developmental stage, during which behaviors are formed that influence not only the present, but often persist in adulthood.

This Special Issue aims to promote interdisciplinary research into the psychological, social, cultural and environmental factors that influence adolescents on social media and drug use. Additionally, this Special Issue places particular emphasis on research addressing prevention and intervention strategies, educational programs, and policy initiatives aimed at reducing substance use and media use and its associated harms among young people. Contributions to this Special Issue may include empirical studies, systematic reviews, and theoretical analyses addressing contemporary challenges and innovations in this field. The Special Issue has two objectives: firstly, to integrate diverse perspectives; and secondly, to advance evidence-based knowledge. It is hoped that, by achieving these objectives, more effective prevention, intervention, and treatment strategies for at-risk adolescents will be developed.

Dr. Albert Espelt
Guest Editor

Dr. Ainara Díaz-Geada
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • alcohol
  • cannabis
  • substance use
  • adolescence
  • childhood
  • social inequalities
  • mental health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 838 KB  
Article
An Exploratory Study of an fMRI Reward-Learning Paradigm in Developing Adolescents
by Sarah Yale, Jeffrey Engelmann, Michelle Loman, DaJhnae Gambrell Sanders, Mohit Maheshwari and Theresa Mikhailov
Children 2026, 13(5), 661; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13050661 - 9 May 2026
Viewed by 348
Abstract
Introduction: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDSs), also known as e-cigarettes or vapes, have shown popularity among the adolescent population. Compared to adults, less is known regarding the impacts of ENDS and nicotine on the adolescent brain. Adolescent research related to nicotine and other [...] Read more.
Introduction: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDSs), also known as e-cigarettes or vapes, have shown popularity among the adolescent population. Compared to adults, less is known regarding the impacts of ENDS and nicotine on the adolescent brain. Adolescent research related to nicotine and other illicit substances can be difficult due to the requirement of parent/guardian consent, adolescent hesitancy for disclosure of product use, and the continually evolving vaping and nicotine products on the market. Despite these challenges, further research is needed to explore the impact of ENDS on the developing adolescent brain. The objective of the study was to evaluate reward sensitivity and cognitive flexibility in the adolescent population using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) through a probabilistic reversal learning task. Methods: This pilot study recruited participants aged 13–19 years old to complete fMRI testing. We specifically adapted a probabilistic reversal learning task that was previously used to measure reward sensitivity and cognitive flexibility in adults (including nicotine users). We were unable to recruit enough ENDS users to complete the planned analysis; therefore, we evaluated non-users as proof of concept for the use of the probabilistic reversal learning task in adolescents to support future research. Participants completed four blocks of a probabilistic reversal learning task, each lasting 6 min. During each block of the task, blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI images were collected. The reward sensitivity and cognitive flexibility contrasts of parameter estimates were entered into a group analysis model. Due to the small sample size and exploratory nature of the study, we were interested in computing population-level estimates of brain activation that could be attributed to reward sensitivity (win-stay minus lose-stay trials) and cognitive flexibility (lose-shift trials minus lose-stay trials). Results: A total of twelve participants completed fMRI testing—ten non-users, one intermittent user, one regular user. Four of these participants (three non-users and one intermittent user) were excluded from the fMRI analysis due to excessive head movement and/or poor task performance. With the seven remaining non-users, we found no evidence of significant BOLD activation when strictly controlling the Type I error rate. Using a more liberal statistical threshold that did not control the Type I error rate, both contrasts resulted in suprathreshold clusters in occipital and posterior parietal regions, and the reward sensitivity contrast also resulted in suprathreshold clusters in the prefrontal cortex (bilateral middle occipital gyrus). Discussion/Conclusions: We did not find statistically significant BOLD activation, which is likely due to the small sample size. Suprathreshold clusters using the liberal statistical threshold may be feasible for use as regions of interest in future studies using this task. Notably, the prefrontal regions where the reward sensitivity contrast exceeded the liberal statistical threshold in our study were similar to those observed in previous studies of reward sensitivity in adults (including nicotine users) and adolescents. This pilot study explores the use of an fMRI reward-learning paradigm in the adolescent population, which can serve as a catalyst for future research related to nicotine use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alcohol, Substance Use, and Behavioral Addictions in Children and Adolescents: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health and Wellbeing)
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