Youth Mental Health: A Public Health Crisis in need of Investigation

Dr Niamh Dooley   RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences & King’s College London

The mental health of adolescents and young people (aged 12-20) has reached crisis point in Ireland. The scant evidence shows disturbingly high rates of self-harm, particularly among young women, unprecedented rates of suicide attempt by age 18, and struggling health services. These alarming trends align with the global rise in depression and anxiety among young people over the past decade. A major challenge is the lack of epidemiological data on mental health of young people in Ireland. The last time such data was collected was 2018/9, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and prior to many cultural, technological, and economic shifts over the past 5 years.

Dr Dooley’s research proposes to use ongoing surveys of adolescents across Ireland to establish the prevalence of mental health problems, and changes in prevalence since 2018. The Planet Youth surveys cover Western and North Eastern regions in Ireland, and will have captured responses from ~25,000 young people by the end of 2024. This data has not yet been used to estimate the rates of mental health problems among young people (e.g., depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidality), which is crucial information for service planning, mobilising funds, and intervention design. Further, Dr Dooley proposes to publicly share new waves of this survey data on a national data archive.

Dr Dooley will investigate the contributing factors to youth mental health problems in adolescents. Four complimentary types of data will be used to answer this question: longitudinal data from Ireland (Growing Up in Ireland study), repeated cross-sectional survey data from Ireland (Planet Youth project), electronic patient records from the UK, and qualitative input from youth and parent groups with lived experience of youth mental health issues. Each  dataset will be used to answer slightly different research questions, with the overall aim of better understanding reasons for poor mental health in young people today.

Dr Dooley will prioritise public dissemination of findings from the studies above. Key target audiences include policy makers, Governmental committees, and specific communities. Dr Dooley will implement dissemination channels to include the press, social media, and policy briefings, in addition to more traditional forms of scientific dissemination in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

Dr Dooley will be mentored by Professor Mary Cannon, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences and Professor Louise Arseneault, King College London.