Exploring Pathways to Children and Young People’s Mental Health (Pathline)

The Pathline interdisciplinary research network is a community of researchers from across the GW4 Alliance, at different career stages with a shared passion for improving the mental health and well-being of children and young people (CYP). The group aims to take advantage of the opportunities provided by longitudinal cohort study datasets and data linkage in the UK and overseas to achieve this goal.

The first research challenge is to achieve a better understanding of how to support the mental health of children and young people who experience an early or late onset of puberty compared to those for whom puberty is ‘on-time’ relative to their same-age, same-sex peers. An early onset of puberty is a risk factor for a wide variety of mental health outcomes in adolescence, including emotional and behavioural problems, disordered eating and substance abuse.

Example research questions that need to be addressed include:

• Is puberty a high-risk period for mental health problems for all CYP, or are those who experience off-time puberty at greater risk than their peers?
• How does CYP’s experiences of puberty impact their mental health, and how can they be better supported during puberty?
• Early puberty increases the risk for depression and its persistence into adulthood for girls, while late puberty may increase risk for depression in boys. Does early/late puberty increase risk for other difficulties, such as antisocial behaviour, substance use and eating disorders in both boys and girls?
• Do the findings for off-time puberty and mental health problems apply to different minoritized ethnic groups in the UK and overseas?

This interdisciplinary GW4 research community is well placed to answer these questions and identify further gaps, given the expertise, resources and connections shared across the network. Together, this team will innovate research on pubertal timing and mental health, thereby advancing theory and enabling a more targeted approach to the content and timing of prevention and intervention initiatives.

The GW4 Generator Fund grant supported a range of activities, including:

A networking event and dinner took place at the University of Cardiff on the 22nd July 2025, hosted by core member Dr Kelly Morgan. Details and images from the day can be found on the network website.

In September 2025, a two-day grant writing retreat organised by Dr Jennifer Allen and Jennifer Wilkinson (Bath) was held at Dartington estate to prepare funding bids for research on puberty and child and adolescent mental health. Details and images from the retreat can be found on the network website.

Dr Cassandra Lowe (Exeter), by Dr Jennifer Allen (Bath) and Professor Carol Joinson (Bristol) are leading a journal special edition in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology showcasing research on puberty and mental health in children and adolescents. Submissions are due by the 11th August, 2026: https://link.springer.com/collections/hjcihabbai

Dr Siobhan Mitchell and Dr Doretta Caramaschi (Exeter) worked with the Pathline Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG), school teachers, and mental health practitioners to develop illustrated parent and teacher posters on puberty and mental health in young people as free online educational resources on this topic. The poster and information booklet for parents can be downloaded for free on the Pathline website, as can the poster for teachers.

Research associate Ms Jiaxin Deng (Bath), Dr Jennifer Allen (Bath) and Dr Ahmed Elhakeem (Bristol) and the other Generator grant core members are preparing a data note on the calculation of peak height velocity (PHV), an objective measure of pubertal growth in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). We will share a new dataset including PHV in the MCS with the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at UCL and the UK Data Service (UKDS) as an open access resource for all researchers.