Adolescent Health
Making a difference to young people’s health and wellbeing by advancing knowledge, policy, and practice.
We aim to improve the health and wellbeing of all young people, locally and globally, through innovative, integrated and world-leading research, education, and knowledge dissemination.
We have led the way locally, nationally and globally in studies of the health of young people. We have been the first to document patterns of adolescent health across the globe. Locally we have undertaken internationally unique studies of the factors influencing health as children pass through puberty and how young people move through the transitions of leaving school, getting a job, leaving home, getting married and having a family of their own. These studies have moved on to the next generation, where they are considering the influence of the health and well-being of parents prior to pregnancy on the healthy start to life for newborns.
Our prevention studies have addressed questions about how schools and local neighbourhoods can become healthier and more nurturing places for adolescents. We have been particularly concerned with the health of young people who are socially marginalised including young indigenous people, young offenders and those who leave school early.
Our global work has included leading two series for the Lancet. The group is currently leading the Lancet Commission in Adolescent Health and Well-being in partnership with Columbia University, the University of Washington, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University College London.

Our projects
2000 Stories
The 2000 stories project (Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort) is a landmark longitudinal study spanning almost 30 years. The project began in 1992 with around 2000 Year 9 students (14-15 years of age). They completed 6 assessments during school (from Years 9 – 12), 3 interviews in young adulthood (aged around 21, 24 and 29) and were interviewed at 35 and 41 years of age.
We’re now also speaking to participants and their children about their experiences of pregnancy and parenthood as part of a parallel study, ‘2000 stories: the next generation'. This is one of the first prospective multi-generational studies in the world to look at how a parent’s lifestyle, health and behaviour before pregnancy might affect their parenting and their child’s health and development. Together, these studies provide one of the most comprehensive pictures of health, growth and development across the adolescent and young adult years, and how these years affect not only their own well-being as adults but that of partners and children as well.
LongSTEPPP Project
LongSTEPPP stands for the Longitudinal Study of Teenagers with Endometriosis, Period and Pelvic Pain in Australia and is a 5-year study starting in 2022.
CATS Study
The Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS) is a unique longitudinal study of young people in metropolitan Melbourne. The study began in 2012 and recruited over 1,200 children from grade 3 (8-9 years of age). This group of young people has been contacted every year for ten years, as they made the transition through puberty and from primary to secondary school. We have learned about the experiences of young people and their families, their changing social context as they move through secondary school and the biological changes of puberty. We have followed this group of young people as they navigate the challenges of COVID-19 lockdowns, and will continue to stay in touch as they transition from secondary school and into further education or into the workforce.
Communities That Care
Communities That Care is a facilitated process that uses community training and technical resources to promote the healthy development of children and young people.
International Youth Development Study (IYDS)
The International Youth Development Study (IYDS) is a long-term study that looks at the development of healthy and problem behaviours among young people in the state of Victoria, Australia, and the state of Washington, United States. IYDS is one of the first studies designed to examine whether differences in Australian and American cultures and schools affect youth development. The study began in 2002 and is ongoing. The original sample included approximately 1,000 students at each of the three-year levels in both Victoria and Washington, giving nearly 6,000 participants. Participants continue to be followed into young adulthood.
Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 (ATP Gen3)
The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) is a longitudinal study of the psychosocial development of a large and representative sample of Australian children born in the state of Victoria, Australia, between September 1982 and January 1983. One of the longest-running studies of social and emotional development in Australia. Assessing parental emotional health, the parent-child relationship (including observational assessments of infant attachment and parental caregiving behaviour), and offspring social and emotional development.
Centre for research excellence in driving global investment in adolescent health
Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council have funded an Australian Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) in “Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health”, from March 2020 through to March 2025. Its purpose is to generate research to drive investment in neglected areas of adolescent health, including groups experiencing significant discrimination or disadvantage specifically, Indigenous young people and young people in contact with the justice system. Neglected areas include mental health, non-communicable disease risk, injury and violence, and substance abuse.
The Lancet Standing Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing
Mortality After Release from Incarceration Consortium (MARIC) study
The MARIC study is a consortium of 28 longitudinal studies from around the world, each of which has examined mortality in people after they have been released from incarceration (which includes both prison and jail in the USA).
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Australian Research Council
- Australian Rotary Health
- Invergowrie Foundation
- Sidney Myer Fund
- The University of Melbourne Strategic Initiative Fund
Collaborations
- World Health Organization Collaborating Centre
- Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing
- Centre for Research Excellence in driving global investment in adolescent health
- University of Washington IHME, SDRG
- University College London
- Columbia University
- Kings College London
- Public Health Foundation of India
- International Centre for Women’s Research, Washington DC
- American University of Beirut
- Deakin University
- Institute of Child Health London
- Telethon Kids Institute
- National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
- University of Queensland Centre for Youth Substance abuse
Featured publications
- Psychosocial interventions for self-harm in low-income and middle-income countries: systematic review and theory of change. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 2021
- Bringing a Wider Lens to Adolescent Mental Health: Aligning Measurement Frameworks With Multisectoral Actions. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Key recommendations to strengthen public-private partnership for adolescent health in resource constrained settings: Formative qualitative inquiry in Mongolia, Myanmar and the Philippines. The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific. 2021
- Global Health in Young Adulthood. In I. Kickbusch, D. Ganten, & M. Moeti (Eds.), Handbook of Global Health (pp. 1043-1087). Cham: Springer International Publishing. 2021
- Health and Welfare Outcomes for Adolescents Following Release from Prison in Queensland, Australia: A Prospective Cohort Study. Adolescents, 1(2). 2021
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- Commentary on Victor et al: Preventing overdose deaths following release from incarceration—context is crucial. 2021
- The psychosocial profiles of children aged 11-12 years who have self-harmed: A prospective cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2021
- The epidemiology of all-cause and cause-specific mortality following release from prison in 11 countries. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2021
- Mental health of adolescents in Myanmar: A systematic review of prevalence, determinants and interventions. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 2021
- Increasing Data and Understanding of Adolescent Mental Health Worldwide: UNICEF's Measurement of Mental Health Among Adolescents at the Population Level Initiative. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Increasing Data and Understanding of Adolescent Mental Health Worldwide: UNICEF’s Measurement of Mental Health Among Adolescents at the Population Level Initiative. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Young-adult compared to adolescent onset of regular cannabis use: A 20-year prospective cohort study of later consequences. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2021
- Incarceration among adults living with psychosis in Indigenous populations in Cape York and the Torres Strait. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2021
- Uniting for adolescents in covid-19 and beyond. 2021
- Causal inference in multi-cohort studies using the target trial approach. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2021
- Moving beyond more: towards a healthy balance of daily behaviours. The Lancet. 2021
- Systems-Level Change to Alleviate Barriers to Cancer Clinical Trial Access for Adolescents and Young Adults in Australia. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology. 2021
- Integrated care to address child and adolescent health in the 21st century: A clinical review. JCPP Advances. 2021
- A Novel Graphical Method for Data Presentation in Alcohol Systematic Reviews: The Interactive Harvest Plot. Alcohol Alcohol. 2021
- Youth Experiencing Homelessness During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Unique Needs and Practical Strategies From International Perspectives. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Growth and adrenarche: findings from the CATS observational study. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2021
- Gender-based clinical differences in evidence-based treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa: analysis of aggregated randomized controlled trials. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. 2021
- Cohort profile: the St Vincent’s Melbourne Arthroplasty Outcomes (SMART) Registry, a pragmatic prospective database defining outcomes in total hip and knee replacement patients. BMJ Open. 2021
- The Importance of Mental Health Measurement to Improve Global Adolescent Health. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Priority Areas for Adolescent Health Measurement. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Strategies and interventions for healthy adolescent growth, nutrition, and development. The Lancet. 2021
- Life-course predictors of homelessness from adolescence into adulthood: A population-based cohort study. Journal of Adolescence. 2021
- Adolescent Antecedents of Young Adult Homelessness: a Cross-national Path Analysis. Prevention Science. 2021
- Preventing a Rebound in Youth Homelessness After COVID-19. Pursuit Uni Melb. 2021
- Cannabis and tobacco use prior to pregnancy and subsequent offspring birth outcomes: a 20-year intergenerational prospective cohort study. Scientific Reports. 2021
- Longitudinal prediction of periconception alcohol use: a 20-year prospective cohort study across adolescence, young adulthood and pregnancy. 2021
- Epigenetic programming underpins B-cell dysfunction in peanut and multi-food allergy. Clinical & Translational Immunology. 2021
- Supporting every school to become a foundation for healthy lives. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2021
- Antidepressant use and interpersonal violence perpetration: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2021
- Prevalence of co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder, and association with overdose: a linked data cohort study among residents of British Columbia, Canada. 2021
- Periods of altered risk for non-fatal drug overdose: a self-controlled case series. The Lancet Public Health. 2021
- Bridge study protocol: an international, observational cohort study on the transition of healthcare for adolescents with chronic conditions. BMJ 2021
- The ratio of morning cortisol to CRP prospectively predicts first-onset depression in at-risk adolescents. Social Science & Medicine. 2021
- Family-based treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa: Outcomes of a stepped-care model. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 2021
- Borderline personality disorder traits in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Brain and Behavior. 2021
- Effectiveness of a Multifaceted Intervention for Prevention of Obesity in Primary School Children in China: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatrics. 2021
- Increased maternal mental health burden in a representative longitudinal community cohort coinciding with COVID-19 lockdown. Australian Journal of Psychology. 2021
- Exploring Perinatal Indicators of Infant Social-Emotional Development: A Review of the Replicated Evidence. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. 2021
- Adult Gambling Problems and Histories of Mental Health and Substance Use: Findings from a Prospective Multi-Wave Australian Cohort Study. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2021
- Risky youth to risky adults: Sustained increased risk of crash in the DRIVE study 13 years on. Preventive Medicine. 2021
- Mediation effects that emulate a target randomised trial: Simulation-based evaluation of ill-defined interventions on multiple mediators. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 2021
- Social networking and symptoms of depression and anxiety in early adolescence. Depression and Anxiety. 2021
- Nutrition in adolescent growth and development. The Lancet. 2021
- Nourishing our future: the Lancet Series on adolescent nutrition. Lancet. 2021
- A job for life: How the transition from education to employment predicts early mortality. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. 2021
- Connecting ages and stages in human development. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 2021
- A rapid review of early guidance to prevent and control COVID-19 in custodial settings. Health & Justice. 2021
- A Lancet Commission on 70 years of women's reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health in China. The Lancet. 2021
- Evaluating quality in adolescent mental health services: a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2021
- Gender norms and the mental health of boys and young men. The Lancet Public Health. 2021
- Online, Group-Based Psychological Support for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors: Results from the Recapture Life Randomized Trial. Cancers (Basel). 2021
- Patterns and Predictors of Healthcare Use among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors versus a Community Comparison Group. 2021
- Psychosocial Assessments After COVID-19. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Comprehensive Adolescent Health Screening in Africa. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2021
- Making every school a health-promoting school. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 2021
- Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa presentations to an Australian tertiary paediatric hospital. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 2021
- The developmental origins of stress reactivity: an intergenerational life-course perspective. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 2022
- Preventing postnatal depression: a causal mediation analysis of a 20-year preconception cohort. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2021
- Abstract 11650: Global, Regional and National Time Trends in Mortality for Congenital Heart Disease, 1990-2019 an Age-Period-Cohort Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. 2021
- Creating the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) to advance maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and nutrition: a new approach. BMJ Global Health. 2021
- Continuities in maternal substance use from early adolescence to parenthood: findings from the intergenerational cohort consortium. Psychological Medicine. 2021
- Early childhood social-emotional profiles associated with middle childhood internalizing and wellbeing. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 2021
- THuman Papillomavirus Vaccination After COVID-19. JNCI Cancer Spectrum. 2021
- The effects of puberty and its hormones on subcortical brain development. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021
- Global, regional, and national mortality among young people aged 10–24 years, 1950–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet. 2021
- Pediatric Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders: Parent Acceptance Influences Recovery. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2021
- Violence-related morbidity among people released from prison in Australia: A data linkage study. Drug and Alcohol Review. 2021
- Circumstances and toxicology of violence-related deaths among young people who have had contact with the youth justice system: a data linkage study. BMC Public Health. 2021
- Violence-related deaths among people released from incarceration: protocol for a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2021
- Educational and Employment Outcomes among Young Australians with a History of Depressive Symptoms: A Prospective Cohort Study. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2021