Synopsis: Amid growing concerns about a youth ‘mental health crisis,’ understanding of how common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, evolve across adolescence is crucial to inform contemporary responses. While cross-sectional studies provide valuable snapshots, few longitudinal studies have comprehensively tracked the course of these conditions during this critical developmental period.

This seminar will present findings from the Child to Adult Transition Study (CATS), a Melbourne-based longitudinal cohort study. CATS has measured depressive and anxiety symptoms annually over eight waves, following participants from age 10 to 18 years. The presentation will delve into the prevalence of clinically significant symptoms, their recurrence across adolescence, and the likelihood of recovery, offering novel insights into the persistence and variability of CMDs in young people. This presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor Susan Sawyer AM and Professor Nicola Reavley.

Questions this event will address:

• What insights can longitudinal studies provide in comparison to cross sectional ‘snapshots’ in time?
• Are adolescents’ experiences of anxiety and depressive symptoms short-lived or more persistent?
• Does the data from Child to Adult Transition Study support concerns of a ‘youth mental health crisis’?
• What next steps are required to understand and respond better to concerns of a ‘youth mental health crisis’?

Speaker: Dr Ellie May Robson

Ellie is an early-career post-doctoral researcher from the United Kingdom (UK) working on the Child to Adult Transition Study (CATS) within the Centre for Adolescent Health at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI). Ellie’s research focuses on life-course epidemiology, specifically adolescent mental health and wellbeing.

​Date: Thursday 5 December 2024

Time: 1:00 to 2:00 pm AEDT

Register to attend here.

Advancing Adolescent Health in the Asia Pacific: A virtual community to share knowledge and support collaboration

Despite one in two of the world’s adolescents living in the Asia-Pacific region, adolescent health is a relatively new field of endeavour in Australia as well as the region. It is a field that spans policy makers from multiple sectors, researchers from different disciplines, and practitioners working in health services, schools and communities and encompasses a multitude of health topics and concerns. Despite this, there are few opportunities to come together to share, showcase and build capacity to improve adolescent health and wellbeing in the region.

This seminar series aims to provide opportunities for researchers, policy makers, practitioners, implementers, young advocates – indeed, anyone interested in the health and wellbeing of adolescents – to enhance their understanding of adolescent health and wellbeing, with a focus on research.

This series is supported by the Centre of Research Excellence for Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health. Led by a team at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, it brings together leading Australian research groups including the University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of South Australia, and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.

Read more about the series here