Experts warn of ‘dangerous’ rise in ADHD diagnoses as some children given unnecessary medication

Psychologists have issued a stark warning about the exponential rise in ADHD diagnoses in children, arguing that some childhood behaviours are being wrongly medicalised through a flawed and subjective diagnostic system.

The research, published in new book States of Mind, reveals that ADHD diagnoses in the West have surged dramatically in recent years, with experts questioning whether millions of children are being unnecessarily labelled as disordered, when they are instead responding to rigid educational environments.

The research, by charity States of Mind, comes from eight years of collaboration with secondary schools, sixth form colleges, community settings and supported housing organisations to examine the dynamic inter-relationship between teenagers and the education and mental health systems.

They found that young people are routinely left out of life-altering decisions, such as what environments would benefit their education and wellbeing. The authors argue these rigid systems alienate young people and leave them experiencing psychological or emotional distress – and the authors propose addressing this cause, rather than medicating the symptoms and marginalising children.

“Labelling individual children as ill or disordered does not investigate the deeper causes of psychological distress, nor enable meaning to emerge from the experience of suffering,” they explain. “Without thoroughly exploring the contextual triggers, it is not possible to genuinely consider or re-consider the core societal drivers that shape our young people’s mental health and wellbeing. In actuality, the expansion of mental health interventions, while helpful for some and likely well-meaning, are often nothing more than a sticking plaster. Unless we think together, with children and young people, about which aspects of their systemic contexts lead them to feel the way they do, our mental health provision will remain reactive and at best, marginally effective.”

One such example they cite is around diagnoses. The authors argue that the current diagnostic process for ADHD lacks scientific objectivity, relying instead on checklists that pathologise adaptive childhood behaviours, or behaviours shown in response to emotional distress.

The book highlights a fundamental flaw in the diagnostic process: children need only display symptoms in two contexts, typically home and school, to receive an ADHD diagnosis. Yet the same children may show no signs of inattention or hyperactivity when engaged in activities they enjoy, such as cooking, fishing or playing sport. This suggests, the authors argue, that the learning environment should change, not the child.

“We have met children and young people who are ‘off-the-wall’ in a classroom but can focus wholeheartedly for hours when cooking, fishing or playing sport,” the authors write. “Doesn’t this confirm that any perceived inattention or hyperactivity is triggered by one’s environment?”

The book also tackles neurodiversity, arguing that whilst the movement has made important strides in helping marginalised individuals gain a sense of security, it has inadvertently reinforced the biomedical paradigm by suggesting that some brains are fundamentally different from others.

“There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ brain, everyone is unique,” the authors argue. “Suggesting otherwise requires us to believe in a fanciful ‘average’ brain, against which forms of divergence can be measured.”

The research challenges the genetic basis often cited for conditions like autism, pointing out that no specific genes have been definitively identified despite widespread assumptions of heritability. The authors highlight significant flaws in twin studies commonly used to support genetic theories, noting that identical twins share more similar environments both in the womb and after birth than is typically acknowledged.

But above all, the authors question why children and families should require medical diagnoses to access support.

“It is extremely harmful that, at present, children, young people and families are often unable to access support without medical diagnoses,” the authors write, advocating instead for an approach where “people should be trusted to define themselves and co-construct what works in collaboration with their nearest and dearest.”

The research calls for a fundamental shift away from what it terms the “psychiatrisation of our consciousness”, arguing that educational and support approaches should be tailored to children based on who they and their families perceive them to be, rather than blunt psychiatric labels imposed by external authorities.

“There is not, and never can be, a single understanding of childhood as a stage of the human life cycle, nor a fixed way of instructing or nurturing. Pretending there is and cementing things in place, as we have done with schooling and the biomedical model of healthcare, create a disposition of the modern, Western mind. These decisions are political. They are not educational or scientific,” they argue.

“In sum, believing that we have discovered the universal way to educate, through schooling, is profoundly unreasonable. Believing that we can objectively label some people abnormal, then medicate them back to normality is delusional. In a desperate yearning for certainty we coerce and control, we marginalise and harm many children. And those children carry those harms into adulthood. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

The authors advocate for institutions that can respond to individual human beings without being dependent on psychiatric labels, considering instead how children think, feel and present in the world.

“We suggest that people should be trusted to define themselves,” the authors conclude, “and this does not require submission to the dubious jurisdiction of the biomedical paradigm.”

The authors instead argue for education and mental health systems to have authentic and participatory feedback mechanisms in place for improving the system and supporting one another’s health and wellbeing.

States of Mind have demonstrated that an approach grounded in ‘liberation dynamics’, where young people are active participants, rather than passive recipients, provides space for the co-design of meaningful solutions that genuinely address their needs.

“Anyone can do this work and what is needed is not extra resources or extraordinary expertise, but a shift in our imagination about who we are and what is possible. It starts with recognising that something needs to change, then becoming the change ourselves,” they conclude.

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DOI

10.4324/9781003645085 

Nearly 60 Percent of College Students with a Psychosis Diagnosis Are Not Receiving the Recommended Mental Health Treatment

Although the majority of students sought and received therapy or counseling in the past 12 months, less than 40 percent received the recommended combination of therapy/counseling and antipsychotic medication, suggesting potential barriers to accessing this medication.

Despite a low overall prevalence of psychosis in the United States, affecting three percent of the population, this condition is a serious public health concern because people often delay seeking care for an average of 74 weeks from the time symptoms begin. As psychosis tends to emerge in early adulthood, it’s important to understand the reasons why young adults who experience psychosis seek—or do not seek—mental health treatment. 

A new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher examined the perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes that influenced college students’ with a diagnosis of psychosis to seek help for their mental health and found that while a majority of these students believed they needed mental health treatment, 60 percent of students did not meet current recommended guidelines for combined antipsychotic medication and therapy. 

Published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, the study found that nearly 8 in 10 surveyed college students with psychosis reported needing mental health support. While 8 in 10 students did seek therapy or counseling within the past 12 months, only 4 in 10 students reported taking antipsychotic medication. 

“This high identified need for help but low utilization of services indicates potential barriers to accessing this care,” says study lead and corresponding author Clara Godoy-Henderson, a PhD student in health services and policy research at BUSPH. “Early intervention and access to services such as therapy and medication in this population are important because it improves outcomes related to overall quality of life, school involvement, employment, symptom severity, and relapse rate.”

The study is among the largest to assess the use of antipsychotic medication, therapy/counseling, and informal support among college students with psychosis. As the average age of onset of psychosis is about 20 years old, understanding college students’ perceptions and behaviors around treating this condition can help identify opportunities for earlier interventions that could improve psychosis outcomes.

For the study, Godoy-Henderson and colleagues at BUSPH and the University of Minnesota analyzed national survey data from the Healthy Minds Study, the nation’s largest survey of student mental health, conducted by the Healthy Minds Network. The researchers examined responses from 2,819 college students with a diagnosis of psychosis, provided between 2015-2024, about their 12-month history with therapy/counseling and antipsychotic medication, as well as whether informal support from various groups around them (friends, loved ones, roommates, campus staff, religious counselors, or support groups) motivated them to seek or utilize these services.

Overall, the majority of students—nearly 60 percent—believed that they needed help for their psychosis condition. Students who did not believe they needed mental health help—or who believed that therapy/counseling and medication would not be helpful in treating their condition—were less likely to seek and receive these services. Still, the high identified need for help, but low utilization of antipsychotic medication, may indicate that students are encountering barriers to care, such as stigma—an issue that is also the focus of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month, an awareness campaign held each May by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 

The findings also suggested that college students who believed they needed mental health treatment were more likely to have received informal support from health professionals or friends, and were more likely to take antipsychotic medication and/or receive therapy/counseling if they were encouraged—versus being pressured or forced to seek help, as is often the case when patients can be institutionalized for their mental health.

"Support systems play a crucial role in identifying early psychosis symptoms and help navigate mental health services, which may be an important factor in treatment initiation,” says Godoy-Henderson. “However, future research should examine the long-term outcomes of individuals who are encouraged by their support systems to seek help for their mental health versus being mandated to treatment.”

Future research should also aim “to better understand the barriers to antipsychotic medication to improve poor outcomes, such as delayed care, and high relapse rates in individuals with psychosis,” she says.

The study’s senior author is Dr. Sarah Lipson, associate professor of health law, policy & management at BUSPH and a principal investigator of the Healthy Minds Network.

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Journal

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

DOI

10.1007/s00127-026-03102-7#Sec13 

Is listening to music while studying a helpful habit or hidden distraction?

 New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has shed light on why so many students listen to background music while studying, and whether it helps or hinders their focus. 

The study, led by Dr Lindsey Cooke, surveyed more than 220 university students about whether they listen to music while reading for studying purposes.  

The findings suggest that the impact of music on study performance is not universal and instead shaped by individual differences in how people engage with music. 

More than half of the students (54 per cent) reported regularly listening to music when reading for study, while 46 per cent preferred silence.  

Among those who listened to music, almost all believed it helped their reading. 

Students described using music to boost motivation, enhance focus, or block out external noise, with Classical and Rock emerging as the most common genres. Many preferred non‑lyrical, slow music to support concentration. 

“Many students feel music helps them get into the zone, especially when they’re studying in noisy or distracting environments,” Dr Cooke said. 

Dr Cooke said the findings challenge long‑held assumptions about the cognitive impact of music during study. 

“There’s a widespread belief that music automatically drains cognitive resources, but our data shows the story is far more individual,” she said. 

The study found that a student’s working memory capacity or tendency to mind wander (daydream) did not influence whether they chose to listen to music or how distracted they felt by it.  

Instead, a student’s music engagement, i.e. how personally involved and emotionally connected they are with music, was strongly linked to whether they perceived background music as helpful and whether they chose to use it while studying. 

Dr Cooke said this highlights the importance of personal preference in study environments. 

“For some students, music genuinely supports their reading experience. For others, it gets in the way. The key is understanding your own relationship with music rather than assuming one-size-fits-all advice,” she said. 

The next phase of Dr Cooke’s research will test students’ actual reading comprehension when listening to different types of music, not just perceptions. 

The study ‘Music as a distraction during reading: Music listening habits of university students’ is published in the journal Psychology of Music. ECU authors Lindsey Cooke, Ross Hollett & Craig Speelman. 

- ends - 

 

Tori Pree, Senior Media Adviser (08) 6304 2208, t.pree@ecu.edu.au 

or   

ECU Public Relations, (08) 6304 2222, pr@ecu.edu.au  

 

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Journal

Psychology of Music

DOI

10.1177/030573562614212 

Teen attitudes to exercise shape fitness years later

Teenagers who see exercise as fun, social and good for their health are significantly fitter by late adolescence than those driven by competition, pressure or fear of judgement, new research led by Flinders University shows.

Tracking more than 1,000 young people from age 14 to 17, researchers found early attitudes to physical activity strongly predict measurable aerobic fitness three years later.

The national study, using data from the long‑running Raine Study, was led by Flinders University in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame Australia, and has been published in Child: Care, Health and Development journal.

Researchers examined how teenagers’ beliefs about physical activity relate to aerobic fitness in late adolescence, measured using a standard laboratory cycling test at age 17.

The findings show that intrinsic motivations - such as enjoying physical activity, feeling healthy, keeping fit and spending time with friends - consistently matter most between the ages of 14 and 17.

Teenagers who value these factors are significantly fitter at 17 than those motivated primarily by winning, external rewards or pressure from others.

Senior author Associate Professor Mandy Plumb, a clinical exercise physiologist at Flinders University, says the results underline the importance of understanding what genuinely motivates young people.

“When adolescents see physical activity as enjoyable, social and good for their health, they are more likely to develop lasting fitness into later adolescence,” says Associate Professor Plumb, who is based at Flinders’ Rural and Remote Health NT.

Participants reported both how important they believed different outcomes of physical activity were, and how likely they thought those outcomes were to occur, including enjoyment, health benefits and appearance.

While most motivational factors remained relatively stable across adolescence, improving appearance was the only factor that increased in importance for both boys and girls by age 17.

Associate Professor Plumb says this reflects normal adolescent development.

“As teenagers get older, they become more aware of their bodies and how they are perceived by others, which is why appearance becomes more influential in later adolescence,” she says.

The study also identified clear gender differences in how motivation relates to fitness outcomes.

Boys tended to have higher aerobic fitness at 17 when motivated by competition, winning and external rewards.

Girls, by contrast, were fitter when motivated by enjoyment, feeling healthy, weight control and supportive social environments.

Associate Professor Plumb says these findings show youth sport and physical activity programs need to be more targeted.

“One‑size‑fits‑all approaches don’t work, particularly for girls during adolescence,” she says.

The research also highlights the damaging impact of negative social experiences, especially for teenage girls.

Girls who believed others would make fun of them for being physically active were significantly less fit by age 17.

“Fear of judgement can directly reduce participation in physical activity, leading to poorer long‑term fitness outcomes,” says Associate Professor Plumb.

Importantly, the study shows that attitudes formed in early adolescence influence later health outcomes - not just behaviour at the time.

“What teenagers believe about physical activity at 14 continues to shape their fitness several years later,” says Associate Professor Plumb.

The authors say the findings have clear implications for parents, schools, coaches and policymakers.

“Programs that prioritise fun, friendship and feeling healthy may be more effective than those focused on competition or performance alone,” says Associate Professor Plumb.

“Reducing pressure, bullying and overly competitive environments could help more young people stay active throughout adolescence.”

The authors say that schools and community sports organisations are well placed to apply the findings to help reverse declining physical activity levels among teenagers.

The paper, Perceptions of the Likelihood and Importance of Physical Activity Outcomes at 14 Years Affects Physical Fitness at 17 Years by Amanda Timler, Paola Chivers, Helen Parker, Elizabeth Rose, Jocelyn Tan, Beth Hands and Mandy S. Plumb was published in Child: Care, Health and Development journal. DOI: 10.1111/cch.70276

Teaching with food boosts preschoolers’ science knowledge and vocabulary

Using food in the classroom can help preschoolers learn more about science and increase their vocabulary skills, according to new research from North Carolina State University and East Carolina University.

It also might get preschoolers to taste, or at least touch, the green vegetables on their dinner plates.

Food-based learning is defined as the use of food as a tool to improve children’s dietary behaviors and academic learning related to knowledge (e.g., science, mathematics and literacy) and skills (e.g., gross motor, fine and physical).

Researchers explored whether putting food at the center of learning could spark young children’s interest in science while also learning about nutritious foods grown in North Carolina. They also looked at whether this approach could help teachers explain science concepts more effectively.

“We want to encourage kids to get excited about science and be curious about the world around them. We saw food as a way to get kids excited about learning, because you can also use food as a way to teach so many different concepts, like science, mathematics and language.” said Virginia Stage, an associate professor of agricultural and human sciences at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the study.

“Our work also teaches teachers how you can build those positive experiences with food while you’re also meeting the other learning standards that have to be addressed to get preschoolers ready for kindergarten,” Stage added. “In the meantime, we are also teaching kids about nutritious foods by giving them opportunities to explore food as they learn more about where it comes from, how it looks, smells, feels, tastes, and sometimes, even how it grows, before ever having to eat the food. This method can be particularly helpful for foods that young children are often hesitant to try, like fruits and vegetables.”

After conceiving and implementing an innovative food-based-learning program – called “More PEAS Please!” – for Head Start children in three North Carolina counties, the team examined the program using both quantitative and qualitative methods. It compared more than 125 students who received the intervention with almost 150 who did not.

One of the classroom units for the intervention was learning about seeds, the building blocks of fruits and vegetables. Children looked at and played with different seeds, examined how a seed germinates, tested how seeds grow in different environments – with and without sun and water, for example – and then made a “seed salsa” recipe made with tomatoes and corn.

The results were positive, showing that children receiving the food-based learning intervention increased their understanding of scientific concepts four times more than the group without the intervention. Their vocabulary increased, too, by almost 20% at the end of the school year, while the group without the intervention increased their vocabulary by 6%.

Moreover, the qualitative portion of the study showed that teachers learned a lot about communicating science and nutrition through food.

“We feel like teacher perspectives are critical, because we could be missing something really important about what teachers need to be successful. If we don’t have that context to understand what’s happening in the classroom, we won’t really know how to make the program more effective in the future. We’re investing in the teachers so that they can practice those skills and invest in their kids,” Stage said.

Intervention teachers attend an all-day workshop early in the school year and then receive supplemental resources throughout the year. YouTube whiteboard videos provide additional training. One example: how to talk about science with a four-year-old.

Study co-author Jocelyn Dixon, assistant director and research project coordinator for the Feeding & Eating Education Lab in NC State’s Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences, said that non-pressuring exposures to healthy foods outside of mealtime are an important aspect of the “More PEAS Please!” project.

“We try to reframe what success looks like in this field of working with healthy foods in the preschool space,” she said. “Because we often trap ourselves into thinking that success means that a child ends up eating some broccoli or spinach. But if the last time you did an activity, the child only touched the spinach with a fork, and today the child is open to touching it and tearing it with their fingers – that’s a huge win.

“That’s really the crux of what ‘More PEAS Please!’ is all about. I’m at lunch, and there’s an expectation that I need to eat this spinach, but rather, how can I explore spinach like a scientist as something that we grow in our garden or as an example of a living thing?”

Qiang Wu, Tammy D. Lee and Archana V. Hegde from East Carolina University co-authored the paper, as did Savannah Baldwin and Ashleigh Schmitt from Telamon Corporation Head Start. The paper is open access and is published in the Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

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Journal

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

DOI

10.1016/j.jneb.2026.04.004 

Adolescents’ knowledge of legal capacity to independently consent = higher STI/HIV testing

 A new study found that adolescents who were aware of their state’s minor consent laws were more likely to seek and receive testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, suggesting that teens’ accurate knowledge of their legal capacity to consent to healthcare services may be more important than the laws providing this right.

Confidentiality concerns and limitations are significant reasons why adolescents do not seek sexual healthcare. Adolescents who can consent independently to testing, treatment, and prevention services for sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV are more likely to receive these services, according to a new study led by a researcher at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH).

Furthermore, adolescents who are aware of their legal capacity to consent to STI and HIV services without permission from guardians are even more likely to receive them. The findings were published in the journal Pediatrics.

At the time of the study, which occurred from December 2022-April 2024, all US states and Washington, DC had laws that allowed minors to consent independently to testing and treatment for HIV and certain STIs, depending on age. These laws were implemented to increase access to these services for minors who were hesitant or unwilling to involve their parents or guardians. However, the study found that more than 60 percent of adolescents in the study did not know about their ability to independently consent to these services.

The study is the largest to examine minor consent laws and included at least 50 adolescents in every US state, plus Washington, DC. The findings suggest that adolescents’ accurate knowledge of their state’s minor consent laws may be even more influential in their STI/HIV testing than the laws themselves. Access to this testing is especially important for this age group, as US youth ages 13-24 have disproportionately higher rates of STIs and HIV, compared to older adults, and currently, adolescent STI/HIV testing rates are lower than the goal rates set in Healthy People 2030, the federal government’s 10-year plan for public health.

“These findings indicate that having these laws on the books is not enough—teens need to know about them for the laws to be helpful,” says study lead and corresponding author Dr. Kimberly Nelson, associate professor of community health sciences at BUPSH, and who also recorded a video abstract that is included at the top of the study. Pediatrics also published an invited commentary about the findings.

For the study, Dr. Nelson and colleagues collected survey data on minor consent laws and STI/HIV services, with input from nearly 6,000 adolescents ages 13-17 across the country. The team assessed participants’ knowledge about their ability to consent to receive testing and treatment for STIs and HIV, HIV preventative treatment, and the HPV vaccine. Participants’ legal capacity to consent was determined using a comprehensive dataset the study team created, available at LawAtlas.org, which captures more than 170 years of minor consent laws in each state. 

Participants who could independently consent to STI and HIV services were more likely to have received STI and HIV testing within the past year. Among the adolescents who said they knew whether they could or could not independently consent, almost half reported guessing. But those who had accurate knowledge of their ability to independently consent were even more likely to have been tested for STIs and HIV within the past year.

The study also found that teens who learned about minor consent laws from reputable sources such as healthcare providers or at school—as opposed to family and friends or an online source—were also more likely to have received an STI or HIV test within the past year.

“Increasing the amount of healthcare providers or schools who inform teens about their ability to independently consent to these services could increase testing rates among teens,” Dr. Nelson says. 

However, she says, it is also important for clinicians to recognize that the state/s in which they practice could potentially revoke minor consent laws, and advocate for these laws accordingly. For example, between 2023 and 2024, Montana, Indiana, and Tennessee passed laws that significantly reduced minors’ capacity to consent independently to healthcare. In 2023, Montana repealed a provision that had allowed minors to consent independently to nonemergency care “for conditions that will endanger the health or life of the minor if services would be delayed” by parental consent. The state narrowed the law's language, stating that minors in Montana can only consent independently to general healthcare when they need “immediate healthcare” and the doctor believes “that the giving of aid is the only alternative to probable death or irreparable physical damage"—which effectively eliminates minors' access to most care. In 2024, Tennessee enacted a law that allows minors to consent only for emergency treatment, and Idaho passed a similar law specifying that, with the exception of a life-threatening emergency or “imminent, irreparable physical injury,” minors cannot seek or receive healthcare services without prior consent from a parent “except as otherwise provided by court order."

“As this is the first time in US history that the ability for minors to independently consent to care is being revoked, it is critical that researchers assess the effect of these reversions on clinical practice, access to care, and health outcomes among minors,” says Dr. Nelson.

Future research should explore whether disseminating information about minor consent laws in various environments affects adolescents’ knowledge of these laws and their decision to obtain STI/HIV services, the research team says. 

“For minor consent laws for HIV and STI services to be effective for their intended purpose—to make HIV and STI services more accessible to minors—the law must be known by minors, known and trusted by clinicians, implemented by individuals and organizations, and attentive to barriers like cost and confidentiality protections,” Dr. Nelson says. “Additional research assessing every step in the operationalization and implementation of these laws is critical for understanding how these laws are being used, or are not being used, in practice and what the continued barriers are to successful implementation.”

Student wellbeing drops after move to high school

The move from primary to secondary school is a major transition for many children, marked by new environments, new peers and increasing expectations. But while the jump signals growing up and greater independence, it also triggers a significant decline in student wellbeing, according to new research from Adelaide University.

In a study tracking more than 20,000 South Australian students as they moved from primary to secondary school, researchers found wellbeing declined across every measured domain, including happiness, optimism, perseverance, emotional regulation, cognitive engagement and life satisfaction, while sadness and worry increased.

Researchers also found that negative impacts could persist for more than two years after the move, with some student cohorts – females and students residing in remote areas – experiencing greater declines than their male and city counterparts. 

Importantly, because the study tracked two cohorts of students who simultaneously started secondary school in 2022 – one transitioning at Year 7 and the other at Year 8 – researchers were able to show that the wellbeing decline was independent of the developmental changes often associated with adolescence.

Published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the study analysed more than 104,000 wellbeing records collected through the South Australian Well-being and Engagement Collection census between 2019 and 2025.

Lead researcher and PhD candidate Adelaide University’s Mason Zhou said the study challenges the long-held belief that poorer wellbeing is a simply a natural part of the teenage years.

“People often assume that declines in wellbeing are simply a normal part of growing up, but our findings suggest the transition to secondary school plays a much larger role than previously understood,” Zhou said.

“We know the move to a new school can be challenging. Students are adapting to unfamiliar environments, navigating new social structures, and meeting more demanding academic expectations while often leaving behind close friends and familiar adults.

“But too often, poor wellbeing in the early teenage years is dismissed as part of normal development. Our research suggests the transition itself is a major driver of these wellbeing declines.

“The findings are clear: every aspect of student wellbeing is affected by the move from primary school to secondary school, with poorer wellbeing persisting well beyond the first year of high school.”

Researchers said the findings highlight the need to rethink how schools support students transitioning into high school, particularly as many programs focus heavily on the first few weeks or months of secondary school.

Co-researcher Adelaide University’s Professor Dot Dumuid said the transition to high school should be viewed as more than just an academic milestone.

“Transition support cannot end after orientation week,” Prof Dumuid said.

“Our findings show that for many students, wellbeing challenges don’t disappear after the first term or even the first year of high school. In some cases, students may continue to struggle for two years or more after starting secondary school.

“That means schools need to think about transition support as an ongoing process, rather than a short-term program delivered at the beginning of Year 7.

“We need continued monitoring and support throughout the early years of secondary school, particularly for students who may be more vulnerable to declining wellbeing.

“If schools, families and policymakers can recognise these risks early and work together to respond, we have a much better chance of protecting young people’s mental health over the long term.”