Programme Themes
- Health (In)Equalities in Youth
- Gender Differences in Young People's Health and Health Behaviours
- Family Life and Health
- School and Peer Group Influences on Health
- Youth Lifestyles, Youth Culture and Health
- Substance (Mis)Use
- Obesity and Dietary Habits
- Mental Health and Mental Disorder
- Stress in Young People
Youth and Health
The Youth and Health programme aimed to increase our understanding of young people's current and future health, and reduce later health inequalities. In order to do this, it used three studies of young people in the West of Scotland, spanning two decades, together with related in-depth research.
This programme formally ceased at the end of March 2010 with the retirement of Patrick West, Programme Leader, but team members have continued to analyse data and prepare publications based on the studies of young people.
Patrick West, Helen Sweeting and Robert Young (l-r)
The programme's objectives were to describe and explain:
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health (particularly mental health) and health risk behaviours (particularly smoking) from childhood through adolescence to adulthood;
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the relationship of health and health behaviours with social class over this period, with particular reference to health in adolescence and health inequalities in adulthood;
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the gender patterning of health and health behaviours from childhood to adulthood, with particular reference to changes in adolescence;
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the role of the family in relation to health, lifestyles and life chances, and the extent to which family influences cut across class;
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the influence of the school, peer group and youth culture on health, health behaviours and lifestyles, and the extent to which these are separate from class, gender and the family;
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variation in levels of stress between social classes, schools and peer group positions;
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changes in young people's health and health behaviours, and their social patterning, over time.
The programme's principal sources of data were:
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the youngest cohort of the Twenty-07 Study, first surveyed at age 15 in 1987 (n=1,009) and followed up at ages 16, 18, 21, 23 and 30.
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the West of Scotland 11 to 16/16+ Study, first surveyed at age 11 in 1994 (n=2,586) in the last year of primary school, and followed up in secondary school to age 15 (1999), and then again (as the 16+ Study) at age 18. At 15 and 18, psychiatric data were collected via a computerised (Voice) version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children.
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the Peers and Levels of Stress (PaLS) study, surveyed at age 15 in 2006 (n=3,204). This study includes measures of peer group, stress, and mental health and disorder.
Feedback of results to schools, parents and respondents was a continuous feature of this programme, reflecting a policy of disseminating to a wide range of audiences.
Publications
Young R. Can Neds (or Chavs) be non-delinquent, educated or even middle class? Contrasting empirical findings with cultural stereotypes. Sociology (in press).
Jackson CA, Sweeting H, Haw S. Clustering of substance use and sexual risk behaviour in adolescence: analysis of two cohort studies. BMJ Open 2012;2:e000661.
pubmed open accessMarkham W, Young R, Sweeting H, West P, Aveyard P. Are the relationships between value-added education and teenage substance use explained by school-level and pupil-level school ethos indicators? a cohort study [epub ahead of print]. Social Science & Medicine 2012.
pubmedYoung R, Sweeting H, West P. Associations between DSM-IV diagnosis, psychiatric symptoms and morning cortisol levels in a community sample of adolescents. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2012;47:723-33.
pubmed open accessKasengele KM. Do social comparisons matter in relation to health and wellbeing? [PhD]. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. Glasgow: Law, Business & Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, 2011.
open accessSweeting H, Jackson C, Haw S. Changes in the socio-demographic patterning of late adolescent health risk behaviours during the 1990s: analysis of two West of Scotland cohort studies. BMC Public Health 2011; 11:829.
pubmed open accessSweeting H, West P, Young R, Kelly S. Dimensions of adolescent subjective social status within the school community: description and correlates. Journal of Adolescence 2011; 34:493-504.
pubmed open accessYoung R, McCafferty E, Metcalfe J, van Beinum MA. Evaluating the Glasgow adolescent self-harm service: a seven-year retrospective investigation. Final project report. Glasgow: Chief Scientist Office, 2011.
Young R, Sweeting H, Ellaway A. Do schools differ in suicide risk? The influence of school and neighbourhood on attempted suicide, suicidal ideation and self-harm among secondary school pupils. BMC Public Health 2011; 11:874.
pubmed open accessParkes A, Wight D, Henderson M, West P. Does early sexual debut reduce teenagers' participation in tertiary education? Evidence from the SHARE longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescence 2010; 33:741-54 .
Sweeting H, West P, Young R, Der G. Can we explain increases in young people's psychological distress over time? Social Science & Medicine 2010; 71:1819-30.
pubmed open accessWest P, Sweeting H, Young R, Kelly S. The relative importance of family socioeconomic status and school-based peer hierachies for morning cortisol in youth: an exploratory study. Social Science & Medicine 2010; 79:1246-53.
pubmed open accessWest P, Sweeting H, Young R. Transition matters: pupils' experiences of the primary-secondary school transition in the West of Scotland and consequences for well-being and attainment. Research Papers in Education 2010; 25:21-50.
open accessYoung R, West P. Do good values lead to good health-behaviours?: Longitudinal associations between young people's values and later substance-use. BMC Public Health 2010; 10:165.
Young R. Trauma, attempted suicide and morning cortisol in a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Traumatic Stress 2010; 23:288–91.
pubmed open accessHunt K, Sweeting H, Sargent J, Lewars H, Dal Cin S, Worth K. An examination of the association between seeing smoking in films and tobacco use in young adults in the West of Scotland: cross-sectional study. Health Education Research: Theory and Practice 2009; 24:22-31.
Lonie D. Musical identities and health over the youth-adult transition [PhD]. MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2009.
Sweeting H, West P. Drug use over the youth-adult transition in a West of Scotland cohort: Prevalence, pathways and socio-demographic correlates. Addiction Research & Theory 2009; 16:474-94.
Sweeting H, Young R, West P. GHQ increases among Scottish 15 year olds 1987-2006. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2009; 44:579-86.
West P. The changing evidence base: further challenges for smoking prevention (Commentary). Addiction 2009; 104:651-2.
Williamson LM, Buston K, Sweeting H. Young women’s continued use of oral contraceptives over other hormonal methods: findings from a qualitative study. Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 2009; 35:167-72.
pubmedWilliamson LM, Buston K, Sweeting H. Young women’s perceptions of pregnancy risk and use of emergency contraception: findings from a qualitative study – Authors’ Reply. Contraception 2009; 80:591-2.
Williamson LM, Buston K, Sweeting H. Young women’s perceptions of pregnancy risk and use of emergency contraception: findings from a qualitative study. Contraception 2009; 79:310-5.
Sweeting H, West P, Young R. Obesity among Scottish 15 year olds 1987-2006: prevalence and associations with socio-economic status, well-being and worries about weight. BMC Public Health 2008; 8:404.
Sweeting H. Gendered dimensions of obesity in childhood and adolescence. Nutrition Journal 2008; 7:1.
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Glendinning A, West P, Popkov IV. Young people's mental health in context: comparing life in the city and small communities in Siberia. Social Science & Medicine 2007; 65:1180-1191.
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Sweeting H, West P, Der G. Explanations for female excess morbidity in adolescence: evidence from a school-based cohort in the West of Scotland. BMC Public Health 2007; 7:298.
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Sweeting H. Measurement and definitions of obesity in childhood and adolescence: a field guide for the uninitiated. Nutrition Journal 2007; 6:32.
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West P, Sweeting H, Young R. Smoking in Scottish youths: personal income, parental social class and the cost of smoking. Tobacco Control 2007; 16:329-335.
Young R, Sweeting H, West P. A longitudinal study of alcohol use and antisocial behaviour in young people. Alcohol and Alcoholism 2007; 43:204-14.
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Young R, Van Beinum M, Sweeting H, West P. Young people who self-harm. British Journal of Psychiatry 2007; 191:44-49.
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Pearson M, Sweeting H, West P, Young R, Gordon J, Turner J. Adolescent substance use in different social and peer contexts: a social network analysis. Drugs, Education, Prevention and Policy 2006; 13:519-536.
Steglich C, Snijders T, West P. Applying SIENA: An illustrative analysis of the co-evolution of adolescents' friendship networks, taste in music, and alcohol consumption. Methodology: Journal of Research Methods for the Behavioral and Social Sciences 2006; 2:48-56.
Sweeting H, Young R, West P, Der G. Peer victimization and depression in early-mid adolescence: A longitudinal study. British Journal of Educational Psychology 2006; 76:577-594.
pubmedSweeting H. Alcohol units at pocket money prices (e-letter). British Medical Journal 2006; 333:825-b.
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Turner K, West P, Young R, Gordon J, Sweeting H. Could the peer group explain school differences in pupil smoking rates? Social Science & Medicine 2006; 62:2513-2525.
pubmedYoung R, Sweeting H, West P. Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study. British Medical Journal 2006; 332:1058-1061.
pubmed open accessHenderson M, West P, Raab G. School effects on health behaviours. Education and Health 2005; 23:57-60.
Ross N, Hill M, Sweeting H, Cunningham-Burley S, Morton S. Relationships between grandparents and teenage grandchildren. CRFR Briefing 23 2005.
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Ross N, Hill M, Sweeting H, Cunningham-Burley S. Grandparents and teen grandchildren: exploring intergenerational relationships. Edinburgh: ESRC, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, 2005.
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Turner K, Gordon J, Young R. Cigarette access and pupil smoking rates: a circular relationship. Health Promotion International 2004; 19:428-436.
Young R, Sweeting H. Adolescent bullying, relationships, mental health and gender atypical behaviour: a gender diagnosticity approach. Sex Roles 2004; 50:525-537.
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Pearson M, West P. Drifting smoke rings: social network analysis and Markov processes in a longitudinal study of friendship groups and risk taking. Connections: bulletin of the International Network for Social Network Analysis 2003; 25:59-76.
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Pearson M, Michell L. Smoke rings: social network analysis of friendship groups, smoking and drug-taking. Drugs Education, Prevention & Policy 2000; 7:21-37.
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