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Wellbeing and Mental Health

The ARU is running several research projects investigating the role of social factors in the aetiology of common mental disorders. The research adopts a lifecourse, ecological approach and considers family and community influences on health and well-being. Two specific projects are described below:

 

Welfare receipt, social exclusion and mental health

This project examines the relationship between social disadvantage and mental health, and considers social circumstances such as poverty, deprivation and welfare dependency across the life course. The research aims to inform contemporary social policy in areas such as welfare reform and pension provision.

 

PATH Through Life Study

The Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life project is a large (N=7485), ongoing, population-based, longitudinal cohort study of young (20-24 years at baseline), midlife (40-44 years at baseline), and older (60-64 years at baseline) adults randomly selected from the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan regions in Australia. The project aims to track and define the lifespan course of depression, anxiety, substance use and cognitive ability, identify environmental risk and protective factors within these domains, and examine the relationships between depression, anxiety and substance use with cognitive ability and dementia. Three waves of data have been collected to date (1999/2002; 2003/2006; 2007/2009).

• Mental disorder and predictors of depression

  ARU staff are working on PATH to investigate wellbeing and mental disorders across the lifespan. These projects include the examination of vascular risk factors of depression, correlates between brain atrophy and depression, predictors of suicidality, and the outcome and risk factors of cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment.

For further information please visit the PATH Through Life Project webpage.

 

ARU staff and students working on Wellbeing and Mental Health

• Professor Kaarin Anstey
• Dr Peter Butterworth
• Dr Tim Windsor