Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) - A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood

Aug 27, 2026

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Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) is a long-term, 10-year team science program aimed at identifying which combinations of measures best predict adolescent and young adult societal trajectories. The initiative tests a central hypothesis that self-regulation is crucial for navigating contemporary societal demands, using socio-economic, questionnaire-based (including experience sampling), behavioral, brain imaging (fMRI, sMRI, EEG), hormonal, and genetic data. Four large cohorts include test/replication designs, a full social network, and an added cohort targeting youth with early antisocial or delinquent signs to map developmental pathways into and out of delinquency, supported by citizen science involvement throughout study design, data collection, and interpretation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction to Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS)

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 67 (2024) 101403 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience journal [homepage:](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dcn)[ www.elsevier.com/locate/dcn](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dcn) | Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS): A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood
Eveline A. Cronea, b, *, 1 , Thijs Bol c, 1 , Barbara R. Braamsd, 1 , Mark de Rooij b, 1 , Barbara Frankee, 1 , Ingmar Franken a, 1 , Valeria Gazzolaf, 1 , Berna Güro˘glu b, 1 , Hilde Huizenga g, 1 , Hilleke Hulshoff Pol h, 1 , Loes Keijsers a, 1 , Christian Keysers f, 1 ,
Lydia Krabbendamd, 1 , Lucres Jansen i, 1 , Arne Popmai, 1 , Gert Stulpj, 1 , Nienke van Atteveldtd, 1 , Anna van Duijvenvoordeb, 1 , Ren´e Veenstraj, 1
a Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands b Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, the Netherlands
c Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
d Department of Clinical, Neuro, and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands e Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Departments of Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Genetics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
f Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (KNAW) and University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands g Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
h Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
i Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Psychosocial Care, AmsterdamUMC and Research Institute Amsterdam Public Health, Amsterdam, the Netherlands j University of Groningen, Department of Sociology / Inter-University Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, Groningen, the Netherlands | | --- | | A B S T R A C T | | Our society faces a great diversity of opportunities for youth. The 10-year Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) program has the long-term goal to understand which combination of measures best predict societal trajectories, such as school success, mental health, well-being, and developing a sense of belonging in society. Our leading hypothesis is that self-regulation is key to how adolescents successfully navigate the demands of contemporary society. We aim to test these questions using socio-economic, questionnaire (including experience sampling methods), behavioral, brain (fMRI, sMRI, EEG), hormonal, and genetic measures in four large cohorts including adolescents and young adults. Two cohorts are designed as test and replication cohorts to test the developmental trajectory of self-regulation, including adolescents of different socioeconomic status thereby bridging individual, family, and societal perspectives. The third cohort consists of an entire social network to examine how neural and self-regulatory development influences and is influenced by whom adolescents and young adults choose to interact with. The fourth cohort includes youth with early signs of antisocial and delinquent behavior to understand patterns of societal development in individuals at the extreme ends of self-regulation and societal participation, and examines pathways into and out of delinquency. We will complement the newly collected cohorts with data from existing large-scale population-based and case-control cohorts. The study is embedded in a transdisciplinary approach that engages stakeholders throughout the design stage, with a strong focus on citizen science and youth participation in study design, data collection, and interpretation of results, to ensure optimal translation to youth in society. | 1. Introduction to Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) Societal contribution is defined as the capacity to contribute to goals for self (well-being and mental health) and o

FAQs

What is the main goal of the GUTS program?

To determine which combination of measures best predicts societal trajectories during adolescence and young adulthood, including outcomes such as school success, mental health, well-being, and belonging in society.

What hypothesis does the program primarily test?

Self-regulation is proposed to be key to how adolescents successfully navigate the demands of contemporary society.

How does GUTS structure its study cohorts?

It uses four large cohorts: two designed for test and replication of self-regulation trajectories across socioeconomic groups, a social-network cohort to study how neural and self-regulatory development relates to interaction patterns, and a cohort focused on youth showing early antisocial or delinquent behavior to examine pathways into and out of delinquency.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Sarah