WP2 Social Networks 

How do young people navigate their social worlds in emerging adulthood, and how do social relations with peers contribute to social and societal outcomes? Emerging adulthood is a transitional phase marked by increased independence, new social environments and is often accompanied by the transition to college.

Work package 2 investigates how young people’s peer relations shape their social, behavioural and neural development in the transition to college.  

Peer Relations and Sociocognitive Processes

In this work package, we specifically examine how peer relations develop, and how social dynamics in peer networks interact with sociocognitive processes such as self-regulation, empathy and reward processing. By studying these processes at both behavioural and neural levels, we can investigate the links between aspects of neural development, social connectedness, and societal outcomes.

Longitudinal Study Design

To understand these processes over time, we follow a network of 500 students aged 18-25 from the start of their student life. We collect longitudinal social network data every six months in behavioural visits, and neural data in two longitudinal MRI visits in a subsample of the network (n=170).

Timeline and Expected Outcomes

The first three behavioural waves and the first MRI wave have been completed in 2025. In the coming years, we will collect the next waves of behavioural and MRI data and begin publishing our first findings, which will provide insights into how social relations are shaped while they also shape the road to adult life.

WP2:

• Berna Güroğlu
• René Veenstra
• Christian Keysers
• Gert Stulp
• Anna van Duijvenvoorde
• Evelien Broekhof
• Lisa Schreuders
• Wouters Kiekens
• Lydia Laninga-Wijnen
• Ili Ma
• Neeltje Blankenstein
• Ivan Simpson-Kent
• Simone Dobbelaar
• Leonardo Cerliani
• Taylor Guthrie
• Francisca Ayres Ribeiro
• Pau Vila Soler
• Alexandra Pior
• Jiamiao Yang
• Miriam Dietz
• Guy Cloodt

WP1 Socio-Economic Status (SES) & Education 

Not all adolescents grow up with the same opportunities. Differences in family income, parental education, and the support available at home, within peer groups, and in the wider community shape how young people form social expectations and set long-term goals.

Work Package 1 investigates how differences in young people’s social and societal environments influence their social and academic development and how these factors interact with their neurobiological development.

Self-Regulation

Specifically, this project examines how such opportunities and challenges interact with adolescents’ developing capacity for self-regulation, including goal setting and the ability to delay short-term rewards in favour of longer-term outcomes. We study self-regulation both behaviourally and through brain imaging, which allows us to examine how neural development contributes to differences in social and academic development.

Longitudinal Study Design

To understand these processes over time, we follow two large groups of adolescents in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. In total, 800 young people aged 10 to 20 will be studied across three waves of data collection over a 10-year period.

Timeline and Expected Outcomes

The first wave will be completed in early 2026. In the coming years, the research team will prepare the next waves and begin publishing the first results, offering new insights into how early opportunities shape social and educational pathways and how inequalities can be reduced.

WP1:

Amsterdam Cohort:

• Lydia Krabbendam
• Barbara Braams
• Nienke van Atteveldt
• Hilde Huizenga
• Thijs Bol
• Mariët van Buuren
• Van Vu
• Tieme Janssen
• Brenda Jansen
• Ilya Veer
• Eddy Brummelman
• Maartje Overhaus
• Tatvan Todor
• Jule Schretzmeir
• Myrthe Vel Tromp
• Nathalie Aerts
• Zwanet Young

Rotterdam Cohort:

• Eveline Crone
• Nienke van Atteveldt
• Jeroen van der Waal
• Anna van Duijvenvoorde
• Ingmar Franken
• Loes Keijsers
• Suzanne van de Groep
• Anita Harrewijn
• Yara Toenders
• Lysanne te Brinke
• Kayla Green
• Miriam Hollarek
• Lotte van Rijn
• Lonneke Elzinga
• Ethell Dubois
• Coen Koevoet
• Yvette Grootjans

WP3 GUTSGO 

What factors contribute to the increased risk of antisocial behavior in youth, and more importantly, what explains why most of them desist when they grow older? In the Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) research program, we aim to answer these vital questions from a biopsychosocial perspective in a longitudinal cohort study.

Work Package 3, ‘GUTSGO’, focuses on predicting and understanding behavior that negatively affects society: antisocial behavior, In GUTSGO, we will connect brain science at the individual level with the societal context to identify whether and which self-regulatory mechanisms shape early developmental pathways, and how high risks can be reduced. 

Why Some At-Risk Youth Desist from Antisocial Behaviour

The GUTSGO cohort specifically focuses on youth at risk who have difficulties in pursuing personal and societal goals. The main objective of this study is to explore why, even though youth who have an early onset of antisocial behavior, amongst other initial high-risk factors, most adolescents do not continue to display antisocial behavior. We will examine the social, contextual, biological, and behavioural mechanisms involved in the persistence or desistance of antisocial behavior, with a focus on the role of self-regulation, empathy and trust. We aim to assess the impact on adolescents’ functioning in various societal contexts, including educational settings, social relationships, and adherence to societal norms.

Longitudinal Study Design

To understand these processes over time, we follow a large high-risk cohort in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Flevoland, as well as smaller municipalities, to get a good overview of the society. In total, 200 young people aged 10 to 16 will be studied across three waves of data collection over a 10-year period.

Timeline and Expected Outcomes

The first wave will be completed at the end of 2026. In the coming years, the research team will prepare the next waves (2028 and 2030), and begin publishing the first results, offering new insights into how early opportunities shape social and educational pathways and how inequalities can be reduced.

WP3:

• Lucres Nauta-Jansen
• Arne Popma
• Valeria Gazzola
• Eveline Crone
• Jeroen van der Waal
• Christian Keysers
• Ilse van de Groep
• Michelle Achterberg
• Carmen Silva Sergiou
• Nick Adrian
• Carmen Mendes de Leon
• Anouk van Zwieten

Factors contributing to the development of self-regulation abilities in youth include genetic and environmental factors: together, they orchestrate inter- (and intra-) individual differences in brain development and lie at the basis of our cognitive skills and behavioural traits. They also determine our risk for mental disorders linked to self-regulation problems.

Understanding Self-Control in Adolescence

While we do not yet have much information about the genetic and environmental factors for self-regulation development in youth, and we still need the GUTS longitudinal study, we can also use existing large-scale data sets, such as the ABCD study. These data allow us to develop models to predict and understand the mediating and moderating factors of self-regulation. We can later test these in the new GUTS longitudinal cohort.

In Work Package 4, we aim to identify genetic and environmental factors associated with self-regulation abilities and outcomes using existing datasets.

Longitudinal Study Design

This work is currently ongoing, and the first findings are being published. In addition, we contribute to the collection of genome-wide genotyping data, various hormonal physical characteristics, and brain structure and function phenotypes in the longitudinal GUTS cohort to study the dynamics of those influences on self-regulation and their interplay.

Timeline and Expected Outcomes

The first wave will be completed at the end of 2026. In the coming years, the research team will prepare the next waves.

WP4:

• Hilleke Hulshoff Pol
• Barbara Franke
• Mark de Rooij
• Eveline Crone
• Ingmar Franken
• Lucres Nauta-Jansen
• Sonja de Zwarte
• Marieke Klein
• Janita Bralten
• Jalmar Teeuw
• Vera Goossens
• Barbara Sakic

WP5 Integrative Modelling

Understanding how human development is shaped by many different factors acting together, including biological, social and environmental influences, requires analytical methods that can integrate insights from different disciplines.

In this context, Work Package 5 focuses on developing a new method for analysing multidisciplinary data, called Stacked Domain Learning (SDL).

How SDL Works

SDL integrates different disciplinary perspectives on a shared outcome by translating theories from each discipline into statistical models and combining them within an overarching meta-model. This approach produces weights that indicate the relative contribution of each disciplinary perspective to predicting the outcome.

Integrate the diverse data collected across the consortium

The goal of developing SDL within GUTS is to provide a general framework for integrating the diverse data collected across the consortium. By doing so, it enables a more comprehensive assessment of the influences that are relevant to the challenges young people face today and to their engagement in an increasingly complex society.

Recent Progress and Future Directions

Recent progress includes the completion of an introductory SDL paper with an empirical application to data from the ABCD Study, a project comparable in scope to GUTS. Building on this foundation, future work will focus on extending SDL by incorporating interactions and integrating a wider range of modelling techniques.

WP5:

• Mark De Rooij 
• Hilde Huizenga
• Nienke van Atteveldt
• Gert Stulp
• Marjolein Fokkema
• Zino Brystowski

WP6 Overall program management

WP6 supports the GUTS consortium in the overall management of the program, ensuring high standards of data management and research integrity. It also coordinates training, co-creation, and dissemination activities.

The work package ensures that research is conducted with high standards of data management and research integrity, and that scientific insights are usable for professional and societal partners.

Progress 

WP6 has established procedures for data management and preregistration, which have been implemented and communicated across the consortium. Training activities have started, including skills development for early-career researchers.

In parallel, WP6 has strengthened collaboration efforts, both academically and societally. We actively communicate science through workshops, guest lectures at high schools, and public lectures, and we co-create research questions with our stakeholders.

WP6 has initiated a systematic stakeholder analysis to better connect GUTS research to the needs of policymakers, practitioners, and youth, and to explore a more coordinated approach to knowledge dissemination within the youth ecosystem.

Future plans 

WP6 will further develop its training program for PhD candidates and postdocs, focussing on team science, research integrity, and interdisciplinary communication. As data analysis starts, we will implement the co-pilot procedures.

WP6 will also intensify dissemination efforts to ensure that GUTS findings are accessible and relevant to society. This includes strengthening collaboration with youth partners, organising events to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing, and developing a university-based knowledge platform to enhance visibility, usability, and societal impact of GUTS research.

WP6:

• Barbara Braams
• Kitty de Vries
• Yolijn Aarts