Our Future Health will collect information from up to 5 million volunteers from across the UK to create one of the most detailed pictures we’ve ever had of people’s health. Researchers will be able to use this information to discover more effective ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases. As part of the programme, genetic information will be extracted from blood samples collected from the volunteers, using a new genetic test which will give information on over 600,000 genetic variants (DNA which may vary from person to person). Before it can be used, however, the test will require preliminary accuracy checks and other comparisons on a collection of samples where the correct genetic information is already known. We propose to conduct these checks on a set of 1800 samples from the ALSPAC cohort, which have established cell-lines for DNA extraction and whole genome sequence information as part of the UK10K programme. These samples will be tested by the supplier of the genetic test, and the results sent to Our Future Health for comparison against the reference genetic information. For any genetic variants that do not meet our pre-specified level of accuracy, this part of the test will be re-designed by the supplier and the assessments repeated. This work will help to ensure that the Our Future Health genetic tests are as accurate as possible, and through the Our Future Health programme will contribute to research to prevent, detect and treat disease for decades to come.

Air pollution, road transport noise and other environmental exposures in pregnancy and early life may affect many aspects of a child's development and have long-term effects tracking into adult life. However, there are few studies on the impact of very early life exposures to environmental pollution. This study will focus on effects of environmental exposures in early life on mental health and cognition in childhood. The analyses will form part of a large European study with over 30 participating institutions. The answers will help develop environmental policies to protect children's health and development.

Congenital anomalies complicate over 2% of births, with congenital heart disease (CHD) the most common accounting for approximately one third. However, understanding of potential causes is limited, with only 20% related to known genetic, chromosomal or teratogenic factors. Greater knowledge of maternal risk factors and causative mechanisms is essential. Assessing the maternal metabolome offers an opportunity to achieve these goals. Metabolomics describes the study of small molecules and substances created by the processes of the body. It reflects how the body functions and is influenced by genetics, our environment and other factors such as health conditions and pregnancy. This project will perform large scale metabolomic analysis utilising the Children-OMACp, ALSPAC and Surgical-PEARL cohort studies based in the South-West of England. Firstly, case control study will compare metabolomic profiles of non-pregnant mothers of children with CHD to controls with no congenital anomaly. Further study will then compare metabolomic profiles in pregnant mothers of fetuses with CHD and controls with no congenital anomaly. This research aims to elucidate potential maternal metabolic risk factors and causative pathways for fetal CHD. It will also allow us to greater understand the role the fetus has in influencing maternal metabolomic profiles in pregnancies complicated by CHD. This can be compared to underlying maternal metabolic variation that could represent a causative pathway for fetal CHD. This understanding could revolutionise care for women before and during pregnancy. Furthermore, it offers an exciting opportunity for primary prevention of CHD.

I am PI for an exsting project (B3770) which uses ALSPAC data to explore whether a seletion of candidate genes (known to influence the brain's ability to respond to injury) are related to the presence or absence of brain-related vision problems.

In this add-on project, a medical student will examine some additional data from ALSPAC, to see whether the results of a task (the Bike Drawing task; BD) the ALSPAC children carried out at age 11 are in agreement with the results of the brain-related vision tests already requested and in use in B3770. The BD task is an adaptation (for ALSPAC) of a standard neuropsychology assesment called the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT), which assesses visuoconstructive skills and visual memory. This project will therefore be a learning exercise for the student and will provide useful preliminary data as to whether the BD task may be useful in clinical paediatric ophthalmology practice.

This project will investigate the relationship between gratitude and meaning in life. There is a large body of evidence demonstrating a positive association between gratitude and wellbeing (Sansone & Sansone, 2010; Wood et al., 2010). However, research into the relationship between gratitude and specific aspects of wellbeing, namely eudaimonic wellbeing, is lacking. Eudaimonic wellbeing refers to the extent to which someone is fully functioning, focusing on meaning and self-realisation (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Meaning in life is a key indicator of eudaimonic wellbeing, therefore by investigating the predictive relationship between gratitude and meaning in life, this study will enable insights into the relationship between gratitude and eudaimonic wellbeing. In addition, this study aims to investigate whether the relationship between gratitude and meaning in life is stronger in some individuals than others, such that this study will investigate the moderating role of gender, qualification, and childhood socioeconomic status. The potential moderating role of these variables will be investigated because there is evidence suggesting that gender moderates the willingness to express gratitude, with men being less likely to feel and express gratitude than women (Kashdan et al., 2009). Additionally, there is evidence that measures of childhood socioeconomic status are associated with wellbeing, with more disadvantaged childhood socioeconomic status being associated with worse mental wellbeing at middle-age (Wood et al., 2021). Finally, there is mixed evidence regarding the relationship between educational attainment and wellbeing (Nikolaev, 2018). Time permitting, this study will also explore how the relationship between gratitude and eudaimonic wellbeing differs to the relationship between gratitude and hedonic wellbeing. Hedonic wellbeing focuses on pleasure and happiness (Ryan & Deci, 2001), and will be measured by subjective happiness and life satisfaction. Overall, this study will provide implications for gratitude interventions, which are increasingly being advocated to improve wellbeing (Rash et al., 2011). This research will enable conclusions to be made regarding who is likely to receive the optimum benefit from gratitude interventions, based on the findings of the moderation analysis.

The project will investigate the impact that the transition to parenthood has on wellbeing. In particular, the project will focus on understanding how becoming a parent impacts individuals’ happiness, life satisfaction and meaning in life using a longitudinal design.
Research investigating the impact of parenthood on wellbeing produces mixed findings. Some findings indicate that parenthood is associated with detrimental effects on wellbeing (Stanca, 2012), whilst others have suggested that parenthood is associated with improved aspects of wellbeing (Nelson et al., 2013). However, the research investigating the effects of parenthood on wellbeing is difficult to summarise, due to the varying definitions of wellbeing that are used within the literature and the different means of operationalising the term. For example, studies have measured wellbeing by examining symptoms of depression, alcohol abuse, happiness, life satisfaction and frequency of positive and negative emotions. Therefore, this study aims to look at how parenthood effects different aspects of wellbeing individually as there may be differential effects of parenthood on happiness, life satisfaction, and meaning in life. Prior studies have found that parents have higher levels of meaning in life than non-parents (Nelson et al., 2013). However, there are more mixed findings regarding happiness and life satisfaction (Umberson & Gove, 1989). Therefore, the findings regarding the relationship between parenthood and wellbeing do not represent one construct and making concluding statements about parenthood and wellbeing would fail to acknowledge the discrepancies among how wellbeing has been measured and defined.
Previous research has suggested that the relationship between parenthood and wellbeing differs depending on gender, relationship status and financial strain on the parent. It has been reported that mothers experience poorer wellbeing in comparison to fathers (Nelson et al., 2019). Parents who are married may have better wellbeing in comparison to single parents because of the proposed benefits such as division of labour in the home and for parenting tasks (Cunningham & Knoester, 2007). Stanca (2012) also reported that parenthood negatively impacts life satisfaction due to a lack of financial satisfaction and increased financial strain associated with parenthood. Whether the individual is a first-time parent may also be important to investigate because experiences of parenting might not match prior expectations with consequences for mental health in new parents (Harwood et al., 2007).

This project will investigate the relationship between the Big 5 personality traits and social media usage of individuals in the ALSPAC cohort. The Five Factor Model of personality has been used extensively in psychology to predict attitudes and behaviour. The Big-Five personality traits act on a spectrum and consist of the following: Openness to Experience (characterised by one’s willingness to try new things as well as engage in imaginative and intellectual activities); Conscientiousness (associated with organisation, thoughtfulness and impulse control); Extroversion (characterised by the tendency and intensity to which someone seeks engagement with their environment); Agreeableness (concerned with how people tend to treat relationships with others) and Neuroticism: (associated with one’s overall emotional stability). With the recent rise in people using social media, there is growing interest in the association between personality and social media use. So far, this association has only been explored in US, Asian and Australian populations, with less focus on this association in a UK population. Further, past meta-analyses of the association between personality and social media use have arrived at different conclusions about which traits are associated with social media use and the effect size of these associations. This is likely due to varying definitions of social media use.
Current research has primarily focused on single platform use, but as the majority of people using social media use more than one platform, there is the need to investigate the relationship with multi-platform use. Most studies examining the relationship between social media use and the Big Five personality traits have measured social media usage by using the most popular site, Facebook and a few studies have focused on general use of platforms. Understanding the link between personality and social media use is important because Neuroticism is associated with anxiety and depression, therefore it may be a confounding variable that future studies should take into account when exploring the association between multiple social media usage and anxiety/depression. There is also evidence of a link between multiple platform use and mental health difficulties, so it is important to understand the link between personality and social media use within the context of more than one social media platform. Taking this into consideration, this study aims to elucidate the associations between personality and social media use by concentrating on just a single definition of social media use (frequency of visits to a social media site) and examining this by focusing on one specific platform as well as multi-platform use of social media.
Exploratory analyses will also be run to examine potential moderators of the association between personality and social media use, such as gender and ethnicity, to help further explain the relationship.

Depression is a complex and multifaceted disease, that will commonly onset during adolescence. Those who experience an episode during adolescence are much more likely to experience future episodes throughout adolescence and later adulthood. Equally, they are much more likely to experience deficits in educational attainment, social functioning, along with a greater likelihood of poorer physical and mental health (including co-morbidities with other psychiatric traits and substance misuse). The overarching aim of this project is to quantify the burden of adolescent depression using the prospective data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). As a society, it is important to establish any links between depressive symptoms in childhood/adolescence and later deficits in early adulthood in order to inform public policies. This will help identify those who are at higher risk of encountering particular physical, psychosocial or economic problems in early adulthood and to ensure the necessary resources are in place for support.

Using existing dataset B3837
Children exposed to trauma during their early childhood are at a higher risk of early onset of mental disorders. Bereavement is one of the most prevalent adversities that children face. Empirical literature has highlighted child bereavement to be associated with lower emotional, behavioural, and social wellbeing during adolescence. Early to mid-adolescence is a critical developmental period for the onset and maintenance of psychopathology. A combination of personal attributes, family circumstances, and the nature of supportive networks outside the immediate family are found to be crucial for resilience when faced with early life trauma such as loss. Yet, little research has examined protective factors for children that have experienced bereavement and of those that have, there is limited understanding of the role of amenable maternal factors in improving mental health outcomes. Identifying modifiable maternal factors that may contribute to the development of resilience in children who have been exposed to childhood loss provides opportunity for early intervention. Therefore, the current study aims to examine whether modifiable maternal factors mediate the relationship between child bereavement and internalising or externalising problems during adolescence and early adulthood.