Nicola Grissom on Why Altering Gender Data in the Major U.S. Brain Development Study Could Jeopardize Mental Health Research on Millions of Children

In comments shared in an interview with The Transmitter, Nicola Grissom, faculty, spoke out about a controversial change in the reporting of gender variables in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset, which is the largest long-term study on child health and brain development in the United States. In its latest release of data, the ABCD study removed gender-identity variables. 

Grissom shared her concerns about how this change was not based on scientific evidence, but rather on a worldview that contradicts the reality of development. She emphasized that accurate data on sex and gender is essential for understanding the complex factors that shape mental health and brain development in children, as it represents an important reality of how children grow, think, and develop mentally. Collecting this data is essential to accurately understanding mental health development. According to Grissom, without this data, the ABCD study risks missing the very insights scientists need to understand how children’s brains develop and what supports optimal growth.

Composed by Madison Stromberg, communications assistant.