Research to support an inquiry into young people’s future health prospects

In July 2017, the Association for Young People’s Health and UCL Institute of Child Health were commissioned to undertake research to understand better the assets, opportunities and protective factors that develop as young people approach adulthood, and to assess how various wider determinants of health (including employment, housing, relationships and habits) experienced during the transition to adulthood impact on their future health prospects as they age.

Context

The factors that shape long term wellbeing and health exert their influence early in life, and though much is known about the importance of the early years on future outcomes, less is known about the impact of experiences and opportunities leading up to and around the age of transition to adulthood (taken as aged 25). The Health Foundation’s Young People’s Inquiry seeks to understand the wider social and economic determinants that impact on young people’s longer-term prospects for wellbeing and health.

Aim

To build a rich picture of the assets, opportunities and protective factors developed by young people between the ages of 12 and 24, the social determinants of health among young people as they transition to adulthood, the possible future health trajectories of young people, and areas for action that could improve these prospects.

Approach

The work has been divided into two work packages. Work Package 1 will consist of a scoping review of available data to provide an initial quantitative description of the wider determinants of health in the lives of young people aged 12-24. Work Package 2 will draw upon a range of longitudinal datasets and models to map how the current experiences of the social determinants of health of today’s young people could be shaping their longer-term health trajectories in the decades that follow.

Contact details

For further information about the project, please email Ann Hagell, Research Lead, Association for Young People’s Health.