Project description
A closer look at the adolescent anxiety paradox
Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric conditions during adolescence – a ‘peak window’ for the onset of these debilitating disorders. While anxious adults typically lean toward avoidance, adolescents suffering from high levels of anxiety paradoxically engage in various forms of high-risk behaviour. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BRAVE project aims to investigate why this happens. It will investigate the influence of stress on decision-making processes under a biopsychosocial perspective. Using cutting-edge tools such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy and ecological momentary assessment, BRAVE merges laboratory precision with real-world data. The project seeks to identify early, scalable markers of maladaptive development, ultimately revealing a more complete picture of how anxiety and stress affect teenagers and informing targeted prevention strategies.
Objective
Adolescence is a pivotal developmental window characterised by profound neurobiological, social, and emotional changes. It is also the peak period for the onset of anxiety disorders, which affect 1 in 7 individuals across the lifespan and rank among the top global contributors to disease burden. Paradoxically, while anxiety in adults is typically associated with avoidance, many anxious adolescents engage in impulsive and high-risk behaviours. This clinical and conceptual paradox remains poorly understood. This Action will address this gap by adopting an integrated biopsychosocial approach to investigate how anxiety and stress jointly influence the anticipatory, choice, and feedback phases of risk-related decision-making in adolescence. Leveraging cutting-edge methods, including behavioural paradigms, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), autonomic psychophysiology (HRV, skin conductance), actigraphy, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA), I will bridge lab-based precision with ecological validity. I hypothesise that stress dynamically shifts neural and autonomic responses in anxious adolescents, producing divergent outcomes: maladaptive avoidance or excessive risk-taking. Individual differences, such as environmental sensitivity and physiological self-regulation, are expected to moderate these effects. The findings will produce early, scalable markers of maladaptive trajectories, informing targeted prevention. Through a unique combination of expertise and training opportunities offered during the outgoing (University of Connecticut) and return (University of Padua) phases, this fellowship will provide me with advanced interdisciplinary skills, expand my methodological repertoire, and consolidate my path towards independence as a leading researcher in developmental clinical neuroscience.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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35122 Padova
Italy
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