{"id":3702,"date":"2020-10-30T11:13:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T01:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/?p=3702"},"modified":"2020-10-30T11:13:02","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T01:13:02","slug":"adolescence-and-the-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/2020\/10\/30\/adolescence-and-the-next-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Adolescence and the next generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Melbourne Children\u2019s Campus, at the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital hosts some of the longest running and most respected longitudinal studies of development anywhere in the world. The ATP Generation 3 Study<\/a>, and the Victorian\u00a0Intergenerational Health Study<\/a>, are the oldest and are now following offspring in the next generation which is rewriting our understanding of human social development. Much of the conceptual thinking behind this work has been published in an article in the February 2018 edition of Nature<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i>This fascinating paper argues\u00a0that tackling health problems including obesity, mental health, poor nutrition and substance abuse in young people before they become parents is essential for the best possible start to life for their future children.<\/p>\n

Paper Overview<\/h2>\n

The paper brought together data from around 200 countries and from more than 140 recent research papers.\u00a0It considered mechanisms other than genes for how health and growth was transmitted between generations, including changes in a father\u2019s sperm or a mother\u2019s ovum, maternal influences around the time of conception and in later pregnancy, and parenting in the first two years after birth. (A model of potential pathways is provided in the figure to the right).<\/p>\n

In high and middle income countries, the paper highlighted three main areas for action in adolescence: mental health, obesity and substance abuse.\u00a0Both depression in pregnancy and after birth are generally a continuation of pre-pregnancy mental health problems that date back to adolescence. There is a rapid increase in obesity across adolescence and young adulthood. Maternal obesity during pregnancy predicts later childhood obesity, poorer cognitive skills and greater childhood behavioural problems. Smoking, alcohol and drug use also rise steeply in adolescence\u00a0with consistent and clear evidence that persisting maternal tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and other illicit drug use in pregnancy adversely affects offspring growth and development. Stopping use when a woman recognises she is pregnant may be too late to address the early effects on a baby.<\/p>\n

For many lower income countries, recommendations include ending child marriage, delaying first pregnancy through contraception and girls staying in school, and tackling under-nutrition.\u00a0The paper questioned the age range of adolescence suggesting that physical and neurological growth continues into the 20s. This, combined with social changes such as the later adoption of adult roles, meant adolescence was better considered to range between 10 and 24.<\/p>\n

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The changing nature of adolescence<\/strong><\/h3>\n