YoungFirst
Across the Nordic countries, adolescent mental health diagnoses are rising. At the same time, educational inequalities are widening. But what is actually happening – and why?
YoungFirst addresses a central policy dilemma: Are increasing mental health diagnoses a sign of worsening well-being, better detection, improved awareness, or strained services? And how do these dynamics shape young people’s educational trajectories?
By uniting the NordForsk-funded ChildrenFirst and YoungEqual projects, YoungFirst brings together population-wide Nordic register data, harmonised longitudinal research designs and multidisciplinary expertise to examine how mental health and education interact over time and across countries.
University of Turku coordinates this two-year project (2025-2027) and it is carried out by a consortium of four universities (University of Turku, Aarhus University, University of Iceland, and University of Helsinki). The project is funded by NordForsk.
Picture: Mingjun He, Unsplash