PIPages
Labs

Tracie Canada

Duke University, NC·Social Science·Early-career

Why do young people take risks that could injure their brains, and how do those choices shape their futures? Concussions and other brain trauma are a real danger for teenagers and young adults.

Fields

Social Science

Public Health & Epidemiology

Topics

risk assessment

risk-taking

decision-making

Grants
1 known grant, through Jun 2030

What they work on

  1. Identify the factors that shape how adolescents and young adults judge their risk of concussion and brain trauma, using qualitative research in educational and clinical settings.
  2. Follow one group of young people over four years with life histories and clinical tracking of brain trauma, to see how risk judgments change over time.
  3. Build a data-driven framework linking young people's assessments of brain injury risk to their behavior and future goals.

More about the research

Yet little is known about how they weigh that danger when they make decisions. This project studies the science of risk-taking by looking at how youth judge their own risk of injury, especially concussion. It also asks how those judgments affect their behavior and long-term goals.

Why it matters

Brain injuries such as concussions can affect young people's health and futures. A clearer picture of how youth decide whether to risk injury could help agencies working to prevent injuries design better safety measures. The findings will also inform teaching about risk and injury for students and the public.

Known grants

From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.

CAREER: The Science of Risk Assessment

NSF · Jul 2025 – Jun 2030

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The school

Duke University: 61 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 417 research doctorates a year.

More about Duke University

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