Mothers’ and Young People’s Study
The Mothers’ and Young People’s Study is an Australian prospective cohort study initially designed to investigate women's health after childbirth. Over time our focus has expanded to include investigation of children and young people’s health and wellbeing, and the extent to which mothers and children's health are inextricably linked.
What is already known?
Maternal health is critical to the health and wellbeing of children and families, but is rarely the primary focus of pregnancy and birth cohort studies. Globally, poor maternal health and the exposure of women and children to family violence contribute to the perpetuation and persistence of intergenerational health inequalities.
What does this study add?
The study has collected detailed information on maternal and child health over a 20-year period. It is one of the few pregnancy cohort studies with prospectively collected data on common maternal health problems and repeated measurement of exposure to intimate partner violence spanning the period from early pregnancy to eighteen yearspostpartum. Evidence from the study has already highlighted the importance on ongoing primary care and support for mothers tailored to social context and extending well beyond the perinatal period.
What’s next?
The study responds to global calls from the World Health Organization and others for stronger evidence about the causes, consequences and costs of intimate partner violence, and specifically, impacts for children and young people. The study will provide evidence to inform: first line responses in health, education and social care; and strategies to promote resilience, healing and recovery across the lifecourse.
“I was really happy before because I have all these dreams and all these plans for my future, and now I am sad thinking about them.”
— Study Participant
The COVID-19 pandemic has been really challenging for young people
*Content notice - mental health and suicide*
Watch this short animation to find out what it was like for young people aged 14-17 during Victoria's second lockdown.
The Policy Briefs used to inform this animation are available below.
Where can I read more?
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Call to Action #1 Breaking intergenerational cycles of trauma and family violence
Current approaches to prevention of family violence, early intervention and crisis support are failing to safeguard the longer-term mental health and wellbeing of women, children and young people impacted by family violence.
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Evidence Brief #1
Intimate partner violence in the first decade of motherhood: implications for the health sector
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Patterns of health service utilisation of mothers experiencing mental healthproblems and intimate partner violence: Ten year follow-up of an Australian prospective mother and child cohort
Gartland D, Hegarty K, Papadopoullos S, Brown S. PLOS ONE;2022;17(6): e0269626
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Policy Brief #3
Young people’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic
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Policy Brief #4
Young people’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Policy Brief #5
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mothers’ mental health and wellbeing.
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Frequency of “Time for Self” Is a Significant Predictor of Postnatal Depressive Symptoms: Results from a Prospective Pregnancy Cohort Study
Woolhouse H, Small R, Miller K, Brown SJ. Birth; 2016;43(1):58-67
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Promoting resilience and wellbeing in children exposed to intimate partner violence: A qualitative study with mothers
Fogarty F, Woolhouse H, Giallo R, Wood C, Kaufman J, Brown S. Child Abuse and Neglect;2019:95:104039
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The Maternal Health Study: study design update for a prospective cohort of first-time mothers and their first-born children from birth to age ten
Brown SJ, Gartland D, Woolhouse H, Giallo R et al. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology; 2021;35(5):612-625
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Physical and mental health of women exposed to intimate partner violence in the 10 years after having their first child: an Australian prospective cohort of first-time mothers
Brown SJ, Conway LJ, FitzPatrick KM, Hegarty K, Mensah F. BMJ Open;2021;10(12):e034295
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Intimate partner violence and child outcomes at age 10: a pregnancy cohort
Gartland D, Conway L, Giallo R, Mensah F. et al. Intimate partner violence and child outcomes at 10: a pregnancy cohort. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2021;106(11):1066-1074.
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Intergenerational impacts of family violence - mothers and children in a large prospective pregnancy cohort study
Gartland D, Giallo R, Woolhouse H, Mensah F, Brown SJ. EClinicalMedicine, 2019;15:51-61.
