Overview

Maternal health is critical to the health and wellbeing of children and families, but is rarely the primary focus of pregnancy and birth cohort studies.

The Mothers' and Young People's Study is a multi-wave, prospective cohort study initially designed to investigate women's health after childbirth. Over time, the study has expanded to include an investigation of children's and young people's health and wellbeing and the extent to which mothers' and children's health are inextricably linked. Over 1,500 women were recruited to the study from six Melbourne metropolitan hospitals between 2003-2005. 

Mothers' and Young People's Study - young people’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic 

In the early years of the study, the focus was on women's health and recovery after childbirth. Women taking part in the study completed questionnaires and telephone interviews in early and late pregnancy and at three, six, nine, 12 and 18 months postpartum. The study was then extended to include follow-up at four, ten, and eighteen years postpartum. 

We have collected data on common maternal physical and psychological health problems, including incontinence, sexual health problems, depression, anxiety and intimate partner violence, and on a range of child health and developmental outcomes. We have also collected information regarding the social context of women and children and changing life circumstances as the children grow up. Evidence from the study has already highlighted the importance of ongoing primary care and support for mothers extending well beyond the first year after childbirth.

In 2020, we invited mothers and their first-born children (aged 14-17 years) to take part in a COVID sub-study to tell us about their experiences during repeated periods of lockdown. Currently, we are following up mothers and young people in the study as the young people turn 18 years of age.

More resources

• Stronger Futures Centre of Research Excellence

Information for participants

We are beginning 18-year follow-up in 2022. We will contact mothers and young people soon after young people in the study turn 18 years of age.

Please let us know if your contact details have changed, so that we can email you information about this stage of follow-up.

Research team

Lead researcher

• Professor Stephanie Brown

Study investigators

• Dr Deirdre Gartland
• A/Professor Rebecca Giallo
• Professor John Carlin
• Dr Ali Fogarty
• Dr Fiona Mensah
• Dr Margarita Betancur
• A/Professor Lisa Gold, Deakin University
• Prof Lena Sanci, University of Melbourne
• Prof Helen Herrman, University of Melbourne
• Prof Harriet MacMillan, McMaster University, Canada

Study staff

• Dr Kelly FitzPatrick
• Ms Manisha Dona

Funding

• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Collaborations

• The University of Melbourne
• McMaster University, Canada
• Deakin University
• Berry Street
• Tweddle Child and Family Health Service

Publications

Woolhouse H, Small R, Miller K, Brown SJ. Frequency of “Time for Self” Is a Significant Predictor of Postnatal Depressive Symptoms: Results from a Prospective Pregnancy Cohort Study. Birth, 2016;43(1):58-67.

Fogarty A, Woolhouse H, Giallo R, Wood C, Kaufman J, Brown S. Promoting resilience and wellbeing in children exposed to intimate partner violence: A qualitative study with mothers. Child Abuse and Neglect,2019:95:104039.

Brown SJ, Gartland D, Woolhouse H, Giallo R, McDonald E, Seymour M, Conway L, FitzPatrick KM, Cook F, Papadopoullos S, MacArthur C. The maternal health study: Study design update for a prospective cohort of first-time mothers and their firstborn children from birth to age ten. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 2021:35:612-625.

Brown SJ, Conway LJ, FitzPatrick KM, Hegarty K, Mensah F. Physical and mental health of women exposed to intimate partner violence in the 10 years after having their first child: an Australian prospective cohort of first-time mothers. BMJ Open;2021;10(12): e034295.

Gartland D, Conway L, Giallo R, Mensah F, Cook F, Hegarty K, Herrman H, Nicholson J, Reilly S, Hiscock H, Sciberras E, Brown SJ. Intimate partner violence and child outcomes at 10: a pregnancy cohort. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2021; 106:1066-1074.

Gartland D, Giallo R, Woolhouse H, Mensah F, Brown SJ. Intergenerational impacts of family violence - mothers and children in a large prospective pregnancy cohort study. EClinicalMedicine, 2019;15:51-61.

Policy Briefs

Fogarty A, Giallo R, Gartland D, Mensah F, Brown SJ. Mothers’ and Young People’s Study Policy Brief #3: Young people’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, June 2021.

Fogarty A, Giallo R, Gartland D, Mensah F, Brown SJ. Mothers’ and Young People’s Study Policy Brief #4: Young people’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, June 2021.