Understanding social transitions in emerging adulthood and pathways to later health outcomes

As adolescents become adults, they transition out of education and into work and family relationships. In previous generations, if these transitions happened early or closely together, they were often related to worse health and behaviours, for example, becoming obese or smoking more. We know little about typical transition patterns for today's young people, which patterns are most harmful to health, or why certain patterns cause poorer health (for example, to what extent the relationship between early life transitions and weight gain could be explained by extra psychological stress). I will try to answer these questions using three large European datasets, and sophisticated analysis methods. I will also see if findings vary for different groups of people, for example, between men and women. The findings will help us understand the best way to support young people moving towards young adulthood, to optimise their health later in life.