PhD project: Adolescent mental health and cognitive development in the SCAMP cohort: investigating multifactorial pathways to better understand

在英国，每六个15-19岁的青少年中就有一个表现出精神疾病的症状，其中一半的成人精神疾病表现在青春期，这是一个精神脆弱的时期。重要的是，造成这种情况的原因还没有得到很好的理解。SCAMP是一项前瞻性的青少年队列研究(目前平均年龄为15岁)，旨在调查数字社会环境是否与青春期的认知、行为、教育、身体和心理健康结果有关。SCAMP参与者在年龄、性别、社会经济地位和种族方面代表了整个伦敦的普通学校人口。SCAMP的研究收集了大量关于社会、教育、荷尔蒙、环境和生活方式对青春期身心健康的风险因素的数据。这个项目的主要目的是研究具体的科学问题，例如：(A)研究青少年的数字社会环境与心理健康之间的关系，包括与身体健康、体力活动、睡眠和肥胖的相互作用；以及(B)研究青春期激素谱与认知因素(如认知控制、情绪反应和精神化)之间的复杂相互关系，以加深我们对青春期心理健康韧性和脆弱性的理解。鉴于数字社会环境中的同伴关系以及其他因素对青少年大脑的发育至关重要，这是一个令人兴奋的机会，可以进行分析，调查多因素途径，以更好地了解青春期心理健康韧性和脆弱性的发展。在这个项目中，学生有机会专注于他们最感兴趣的方面。

One in six 15-19 year-olds in the UK show symptoms of mental illness, with half of adult mental illness manifesting during adolescence, a time of mental vulnerability. Importantly, the reasons for this are not well understood. SCAMP is a prospective adolescent cohort study (current average age 15), established to investigate whether digital social environments are associated with cognitive, behavioral, educational, physical and mental health outcomes during adolescence. SCAMP participants are representative of the general school population across London in terms of age, gender, socio-economic status and ethnicity. The SCAMP study has collected a rich array of data on social, educational, hormonal, environmental and lifestyle risk factors on mental and physical health during adolescence. The principal aim of this studentship is to investigate specific scientific questions such as: (A) to examine the relationships between adolescent's digital social environments and mental health, including the interplay with physical health, physical activity, sleep and adiposity; and (B) to examine the complex inter-relationships between pubertal hormone profiles, and cognitive factors such as cognitive control, emotional reactivity and mentalising, to further our understanding of both mental health resilience and vulnerability during adolescence. Given that peer relationships in digital social environments, together with other factors, are critical to the developing adolescent brain, this is an exciting opportunity to undertake analysis investigating multifactorial pathways to better understand the development of mental health resilience and vulnerability during adolescence. Within this project, there is scope for the student to focus in on the aspects of most interest to them.