THE University of Sydney’s School of Rural Health will go looking for money to continue its potentially ground-breaking research into the role of hormones in the health, behaviour and well-being of hundreds of adolescents in Dubbo and Orange.
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The research, taking place under the banner of the ARCHER Study, is being made possible by about 170 students from diverse backgrounds in each city.
Their contribution may lead the way to better support of adolescents as they navigate their way towards early adulthood.
ARCHER Study manager Karen Paxton this week told of “so many gains in early childhood across the globe”.
“If we don’t try to guarantee those gains during adolescence, that’s where it all falls apart,” she said.
Ms Paxton confirmed the decision to pursue funding for an extension of the study , the only “longitudinal” of its kind in the world and running since 2011.
“It would be just such a tragedy to get three years worth of information and not be able to follow them to the end of high school,” she said.
The ARCHER Study has drawn participants from school years 5, 6 and 7, essentially students aged between 10 and 12.
Their involvement includes an annual blood and three-monthly urine tests, along with the completion of comprehensive questionnaires.
“We try to capture everything that’s happening in their lives,” Ms Paxton said.
“Once we get to the end for each student we can unpick it and see what sort of patterns are developing.”
The wash-up could be the development of tools and screening models to identify young people at risk of either physical or mental illness.
The ARCHER Study is in its “discovery” phase but gaining insight.
“We think that the children that have an earlier puberty and a more rapid transition through puberty are more likely the ones at greater risk of mental illness,” Ms Paxton said.
She said “further down the track” they might also be more susceptible to risk factors associated with chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease.
The ARCHER Study is seeking understanding of why some youngsters growing up in “difficult circumstances” get to adulthood without a hiccup and make a “healthy contribution” to their society, while others who have “everything handed to them” falter.
Then there are the adolescents who run into trouble but with support “come out the other side”.
“We want to know what keeps them sailing on a good trajectory,” Ms Paxton said.
The study received pilot funding from Australian Rotary Health.
It was developed with the support of the Sydney Medical School Foundation and has received National Health and Medical Research Council funding.
The ARCHER Study has informed state and national conferences that:
One-third of its cohort spends greater than two hours a day on “small screen recreation” compared with 44 per cent of primary and 61 per cent of secondary students who took part in the NSW Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey;
89 per cent of the cohort has pets compared with 63 per cent of the Australian population, and
Many of the young people in the cohort report that the positive aspects of living in regional communities include feeling “supported and safe’’, while “distance from extended family and friends” is classed as a negative experience.
