Mental health in the moment: A developmental study of adolescent mental health and its influences in daily life

Adolescence is both a critical period of development for mental health and a time of rapid change.

To illuminate the evolving influences on, and manifestation of, mental health issues over this period thus necessitates creative methodologies that capture rich data on multiple timescales.

The current study will use a multi-timeframe measurement burst accelerated cohort study to capture rich data on the daily life experiences of adolescents in relation to their mental health over 5-years.

This will allow us, for the first time, to understand how daily life experiences coalesce into long-term changes in mental health, as well as how long-term developmental changes impact the daily life manifestations of ,and proximal influences on, mental health issues.

This can inform better preventive interventions by identifying new and optimal ‘daily life’ targets at different developmental stages.

It can also provide invaluable information for the further development of promising and increasingly popular ecological momentary (smartphone-based) interventions at these developmental stages.