Young Adulthood

Home > Studies > Top End Cohort > Young Adulthood

2013 - 2015 Young Adulthood

Young adulthood is a time of change. It is a time when people leave school and often move out of the family home. It is also an age where concerns about health, particularly mental health, are high but people do not engage with health services and health information remains sparse. Participants of both the TEC and ABC study underwent a comprehensive health assessment when they were aged 22-27 years.

People

Dr Gurmeet Singh, Belinda Davison, Jennifer Goodall, Sarah Whalan, Joseph Fitz, Katie Montgomery-Quinn and Methinee Intarapanya made up the core research team.

Data collected

The same core data including body size, shape and composition, cardiovascular measures and renal function, emotional status and lifestyle factors were once again assessed. These were expanded upon in this wave to include additional inflammatory markers, respiratory function and additional lifestyle markers such as major life events and stress biomarkers. 

Following the mandatory fortification of iodized salt in bread in 2009, repeat urine iodine was assessed to ascertain the impact of this national intervention on the iodine status of young people in the Top End. 

Findings

117 of the original cohort was seen at mean age 25 years.

Majority of people were in the healthy weight range.

The low prevalence of chronic disease markers in young adulthood suggests that there is still a window of opportunity beyond childhood to target interventions aimed at reducing the high burden of chronic disease in this high risk population. 

 

People involved in this study

Professor Gurmeet Singh
Senior Research Fellow and Director of Life Course Program
Jennifer Goodall
Project Officer
Joseph Fitz
Project Officer
Kathleen Montgomery-Quin
Research Assistant

Related publications

Year Study Citation View
2015
Aboriginal Birth Cohort

Singh, G. R., & Sayers, S. M. (2015). Application of a specific equation to calculate fat-free mass (FFM) in Australian aboriginals. European journal of clinical nutrition.

PDF icon PDF (60.08 KB)
2020
Aboriginal Birth Cohort, Top End Cohort

Davison B, Liddle R, Fitz J, Singh GR. Computerised emotional well-being and substance use questionnaires in young Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian adults. SAGE Open Medicine. 2020;8:2050312120906042.

PDF icon PDF (398.42 KB)
2014
Aboriginal Birth Cohort

Pearce, M. S., Mann, K. D., Singh, G., & Sayers, S. M. (2014). Birth weight and cognitive function in early adulthood: the Australian Aboriginal birth cohort study. Journal of developmental origins of health and disease, 5(03), 240-247.

PDF icon PDF (117.23 KB)

Related news

Post date: May 27, 2020

Check out the first Life Course Studies newsletters for the year, where you will read the latest

Post date: November 25, 2019

Members of our Life Course team hosted a very successful international meeting in Darwin this yea

Post date: February 06, 2018

The tireless research team of Gurmeet, Belinda, Joseph, Jennifer, Sarah, Katie, Methinee, Evan an