About the Group
DRIVE Work Package 5 consists of experts from the University of Oslo and experienced partners who have been working on projects related to depression in children and young people for many years. The group has access to extensive datasets from large studies, which allows for research on the subject, spanning several decades.
Background
Depression is on the rise among young people, especially for girls. Depression leads to serious personal suffering, functional impairment, and societal costs. Children and young people's depression is often overlooked due to a lack of understanding of developmental differences in how their depression is expressed. This results in many youth not receiving necessary help and treatment. Better knowledge of possible developmental pathways is crucial to ensure that more young people get help for their difficulties.
Objectives
The objective of Work Package 5 is to increase the understanding of developmental pathways that can lead to depression, and to explore the development of depression across different time periods with various social challenges. Furthermore, the work package will focus on the relationship between genetic risk and neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood.
Projects
The working group will collaborate with researchers in the studies Little in Norway, the TOPP study, the BONDS study, and the BUPGen project.
Focus Areas
Work Package 5 will utilize longitudinal data from the ongoing and previous studies as described above. The research objective is to improve our understanding of depression in different time periods, prevalence, developmental trends, and the impact of societal changes from 1994 to the present. The research team will also analyze biological factors that can illuminate genetic risk for depression linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. Additionally, the group plans to gather data from the student clinic for children and young people at the Department of Psychology and collaborating clinics.
Collaboration
Collaboration has been established with The National Centre for the Implementation of Research-based Knowledge on Children and Young People (NUBU), and the BUPGen project at the K.G. Jebsen Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders.