2000 Stories: Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study and Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study

2000 Stories is a landmark longitudinal study spanning more than 20 years, composed of the Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study (VAHCS) and the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS).

The VAHCS was established in 1992, with a group of around 2000 Year 9 students (14 – 15 years of age) recruited across Victoria, Australia. The ten VAHCS surveys have created one of the most comprehensive pictures of adolescent development to date. Aspects of teenage health and behaviour investigated include mental health, personality and behaviour, school, family, and drug and alcohol use. This information has been used to improve the health of future generations by influencing policy and informing prevention programs.

The VIHCS, launched in 2006, is one of the first prospective multi-generational studies in the world to look at how a parent’s (VAHCS participant) lifestyle, health and behaviour before pregnancy (including the teenage years), as well as during and after pregnancy, might influence their child’s health and development. It is one of the first longitudinal studies of childhood psychosocial development to be embedded within an existing longitudinal study of parent development and aims understand the processes that might influence many aspects of health and wellbeing across generations.

Below, data pertaining to each generation are separated into their own tab, VAHCS and VIHCS.




Study Summary
Study name 2000 Stories: The Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study (VAHCS)
Study abbreviation VAHCS
Current principal investigator/s Professor George Patton
Current project manager Rianna Chapman
Primary Institution Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Collaborating Institution/s The Royal Children’s Hospital
Major funding sources National Health and Medical Research Council
VicHealth
Australian Rotary Health Mental Health of Young Australians Research Grant
Australian Federal Government Department of Health and Ageing
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Study website www.mcri.edu.au/research/research-projects/2000stories/
Are data available to others outside study team? Yes. Anyone interested in collaborating on manuscripts using this data should contact the Principal Investigator or Project Manager.
Study focus (e.g. social development) The Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort (VAHCS) is an ongoing study of continuities, causes and sequelae of adolescent mental health problems and behavioural health risks.
Sampling frame VAHCS is a ten-wave cohort study which commenced in August 1992. At baseline, a representative sample of mid-secondary school adolescents (aged 14–15 years) across Victoria (Australia) were selected, using a two-stage cluster sampling procedure. At stage one, 45 schools were chosen at random from a stratified frame of government, Catholic, and independent schools, with a probability proportional to the number of students in each educational sector (aged 14–15 years) in the schools in each stratum. At stage two, a random number table was used to randomly choose one intact class within the year level from each participating school. 6 months later, a second class was randomly chosen from the same schools. One class entered the study in the latter part of the ninth school year (wave 1) and the second class 6 months later (wave two). School retention rates to year nine in Victoria in the year of initial sampling were 98%. One school did not continue beyond wave one, with a loss of 13 participants; thus, 44 schools remained in the study. Participants were subsequently reviewed at four 6-month intervals during the teenage years (waves three to six), with four follow-up waves in young adulthood at 20–21 years (wave seven), 24–25 years (wave eight), 28–29 years (wave nine), and 34-35 years (wave ten).
Study type (e.g. randomised control trial, cohort, case-control) Cohort
Year commenced 1992
Ongoing recruitment? No
Commencement sample (N) From a sample of 2032 students, 1943 (95.6%) participated at least once during the first six (adolescent) waves and were eligible for adult follow-up. Of these participants, 1761 (90.6%) took part at least once in the young adult phase.
Annual attrition rate 0.6% p/a
Intergenerational (e.g. offspring)? Yes
Imaging (e.g. fMRI, ultrasound, retinal photograph)? No
Linkage (e.g. BioGrid, VPDC, NAPLAN, Medicare)? National Death Index (NDI) in waves 7-10 (ages 20.7-35)
Biosamples (e.g. buccal, blood, hair)? Saliva
Ethics approvals or requirements (e.g. specific, extended, unspecified, other)? This project only (Specific consent)
Wave Year Age (mean, IQR) Achieved sample (not deceased, not withdrawn)
1 1992 14.9 (14.6-15.2) 898
2 1992 15.5 (15.2-15.7) 1727
3 1993 15.9 (15.6-16.1) 1697
4 1994 16.4 (16.1-16.6) 1628
5 1994 16.8 (16.5-17.1) 1575
6 1995 17.4 (17.1-17.6) 1530
7 1998 20.7 (20.4-20.9) 1601
8 2001-2003 24.1 (23.7-24.4) 1520
9 2006-2008 29.1 (28.7-29.4) 1501
10 2012-2014 35.1 (34.6-35.4) 1443
Study Summary
Study name 2000 Stories: The Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS)
Study abbreviation VIHCS
Current principal investigator/s Professor George Patton
Current project manager Rianna Chapman
Primary Institution Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Collaborating Institution/s The Royal Children’s Hospital
Major funding sources National Health and Medical Research Council
Australian Rotary Health Mental Health of Young Australians Research Grant
Colonial Foundation
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Study website www.mcri.edu.au/research/research-projects/2000stories/
Key reference for study (published study protocol) Manuscript in preparation
Are data available to others outside study team? Are data available to others outside study team? Yes. Anyone interested in collaborating on manuscripts using this data should contact the Principal Investigator or Project Manager.
Study focus (e.g. social development) In the past fifty years we have seen unprecedented changes in the pattern of transition from reproductive maturity (at puberty) to first parenthood. The average gap between reproductive maturity at puberty and first childbirth in Australian women is now almost 2 decades. This widening gap coincides with changes in young adult lifestyles, health problems and behavioural risks that have relevance, not only for an individual’s later life health, but for the start to life that she/he may give to offspring. This study explores the extent to which risks that emerge in these transition years of adolescence and young adulthood may predict pregnancy risks, birth outcomes, postnatal maternal mental health and maternal child attachment in the first year of life. The study has now been extended to further follow up offspring in childhood, allowing us to examine the extent to which preconception predictors may predict child and parental outcomes at age 8.
Sampling frame The sample frame comprised all active members of the Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort (VAHCS) who reported having a child between the recruitment phase (2006 and 2014). 1635 active study members were contacted at six-monthly intervals during the recruitment phase, via email, telephone and text message. Study members were invited to participate if they or their partner was pregnant or had a child born in the past 12 months.
Study type (e.g. randomised control trial, cohort, case-control) Cohort
Year commenced 2006
Ongoing recruitment? No
Commencement sample (N) The commencement sample comprises all infants for whom one or more interviews were completed during the recruitment phase (Waves 1-3), totalling 1026 children born to 662 parents
Intergenerational (e.g. offspring)? Yes. This nested intergenerational study is embedded within VAHCS (The Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study).
Imaging (e.g. fMRI, ultrasound, retinal photograph)? No
Linkage (e.g. BioGrid, VPDC, NAPLAN, Medicare)? VPDC linkage planned (consent underway 2015-2016)
NAPLAN linkage planned (consent underway 2015-2021)
Biosamples (e.g. buccal, blood, hair)? No
Ethics approvals or requirements (e.g. specific, extended, unspecified, other)? This project only (Specific consent)

Any future research (Unspecified consent) for saliva samples at 8 years.
Wave Year Age (mean, range) Eligible sample (not deceased, not withdrawn)
1 2006-2013 Antenatal: Mean gestational age 34 weeks, IQR 33-36 weeks 678
2 2006-2013 Postnatal: Mean age 10 weeks, IQR 9-12 weeks 877
3 2007-2014 Infancy: Mean age 55 weeks, IQR 53-57 weeks 960
4 2015-2022 Childhood: Approximately 8 years (wave ongoing) ~1021 eligible (wave ongoing)

Principal Investigator

Professor George Patton

Ph: +613 9345 6457
Email: george.patton@rch.org.au

Project Manager

Rianna Chapman

Ph: +613 9936 6527
Email: rianna.chapman@mcri.edu.au

Postal Address

Centre for Adolescent Health

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Royal Children’s Hospital
Parkville 3052
Victoria, Australia