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Research

The reciprocal relationship between psychiatric and substance use disorders is well-known, yet it remains largely unknown whether mental health morbidity causally leads to addictive behaviours. This paper utilises a fixed effects instrumental variables model, which is identified by time-varying sources of plausibly exogenous variations in mental health, and a nationally representative panel dataset from Australia to present robust evidence on the causal impact of mental distress on cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking behaviours.

Research

Few studies have examined associations between gender non-conformity (GNC) in childhood or adolescence and mental health outcomes later in life. This study examined associations between GNC and mental health over multiple time points in childhood and adolescence, and GNC in childhood and/or adolescence and mental health in adulthood.

News & Events

A study by researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia has found Aboriginal mothers are at a significantly greater risk of preventable death than other Australia

News & Events

A project that aims to understand and support the mental health of Australians with complex gender-affirmation experiences has received the $150,000 Embrace Big Idea Grant for 2024.

The Healing Kids, Healing Families team at The Kids Research Institute Australia strives to improve child and family mental health and wellbeing, especially after experiencing trauma or adversity.

Research

The vast and growing challenges for human health and all life on Earth require urgent and deep structural changes to the way in which we live. Broken relationships with nature are at the core of both the modern health crisis and the erosion of planetary health. A declining connection to nature has been implicated in the exploitative attitudes that underpin the degradation of both physical and social environments and almost all aspects of personal physical, mental, and spiritual health.

News & Events

Three outstanding young researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have been named Raine Fellows and received valuable Raine Priming Grants to support their child health research.

News & Events

The Kids Research Institute Australia warmly welcomes youth mental health researcher Associate Professor Kathryn Modecki.

Research

Globally, Indigenous peoples have incurred significant harm due to colonisation of their lands. Dispossession of culture, language, family and land, and the historical, systematic removal of children in Australia (the ‘Stolen Generation’), has resulted in evident ongoing negative outcomes in the contemporary lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Research

Transgender and gender diverse (“trans”) people are more likely to experience adverse mental health outcomes due to the social adversities that are commonly experienced. One ameliorating factor for poor mental health outcomes can be connection to community, often facilitated in online spaces such as TikTok.