The chief goal of the contract is to facilitate development of an international collaborative workgroup conducting basic research on the developmental, genetic, and biological components of mood and anxiety disorders and comorbid medical disorders based on a project that was developed at the NIMH IRP at the Genetic Epidemiology Research Unit (Dr. Kathleen Merikangas, P.I.). This project examines the roles of daily activities and rhythms in the onset of mood disorders and the environmental contexts of symptom
expression for diverse mental disorders as part of the NIMH Family Study. Following the screening from a larger population of young adults in Washington, D.C., over 400 participants have been followed intensively using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Information concerning daily life behaviors and symptoms were collected several times a day for a two-week period by portable devices. Joel Swendsen, Ph.D., a
collaborator on this study since its inception in 2005, has developed, supervised and overseen the data management and analysis of EMA data in the family study. IMBD will now assume responsibilities in the scientific exploitation of the EMA component to this study as well as supervision of different team members in the development of data analytic plans and manuscript preparation.

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