A Future at Risk — and a Generation Worth Protecting
What’s at Stake
This is an unprecedented time for Ukrainian youth and their families. Over 14 million Ukrainians (~35% of the population), mostly women and youth, have been forced to be internally or externally displaced due to the Russo-Ukraine war. Displacement is not a short-term event; it is a prolonged upheaval disrupting a generation’s emotional, social, and cognitive development.
Early studies show alarmingly high rates of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation among Ukrainian adolescents. However, these studies are often one-time surveys and too limited to reveal the deeper trajectory of recovery or risk. They cannot answer critical questions:
- How does stress accumulate and affect youth and families over days, weeks, and years?
- Why do some youth show resilience despite extreme adversity?
- What family and caregiver behaviors and factors may contribute to youth mental health?
- How does real-time stress affect subsequent emotion regulation, sleep, and mental health?
- How does daily stress during war shape long-term development and health, and what protective factors are most important to intervene upon?
A First-of-Its-Kind Longitudinal Study of Youth and Family Resilience
Why This Work Matters
Adolescents are the future of Ukraine and central to the rebuilding of the nation. Their mental health will shape the nation’s ability to recover, rebuild, and thrive. But the world currently lacks high-quality, longitudinal, multidimensional data that can guide national strategy, global humanitarian investment, and local mental-health programming.
To fill this gap, we have partnered with Ukrainian scientists and community organizations to create one of the largest and most rigorous studies ever conducted in a war-affected youth population.
Our Cohort: 1,200 Adolescents & 1,200 Caregivers
We are following 1,200 youth and 1,200 parents/caregivers, tracking their mental health, daily experiences, exposure to stress, and patterns of adaptation. This is not just survey research—this is real-world, real-time science with the potential to reshape how nations care for young people during crisis and recovery.
We aim to understand:
- Prevalence of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicide risk
- Trajectory of mental health, and multi-level factors that affect youth psychological health trajectory including:
- Individual resilience factors (e.g., emotion regulation, sleep)
- Family and caregiver behaviors, communication, and relationships with youth
- Peer dynamics, school changes, and community supports
- Impact of war exposure and displacement on psychological and cognitive development of youth
- Multi-level factors that protect and negatively affect caregiver mental health
- The dyadic relationship between youth and caregiver/parent
Collecting Multi-Dimensional Data for Deep, Actionable Insights
To understand youth well-being with nuance and precision, we will combine traditional assessment approaches with cutting-edge digital health tools.
1. Wearable Sensors (Sleep, Activity, Heart-Rate Variability)
Sleep is one of the most sensitive markers of stress and trauma. Activity patterns often provide early warning signals of emotional distress. Heart-rate variability helps us understand autonomic nervous system functioning and resilience. These data create a continuous picture of how stress “gets under the skin.”
2. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)
Youth and caregivers receive brief smartphone-based surveys multiple times per day, capturing real-time emotion, stress, social interactions, and coping responses. EMA reveals what no retrospective survey can show, such as How does a difficult moment at 3pm shape sleep that night or mood the next morning?
3. In-Depth Interviews & Narrative Data
We conduct qualitative interviews with youth and caregivers to understand their lived experience, identity shifts, trauma narratives, and hopes for the future. These narratives humanize the statistics and guide intervention development.
4. Neurological and Behavioral Measures
Behavioral and neurocognitive tasks allow us to capture deeper, more objective indicators of how stress affects the brain.
5. Multi-level Contexts
We integrate data on school environments, peer connectedness, socioeconomic conditions, war-exposure intensity, displacement trajectories, and family functioning.
Our Vision: A Generational Investment in Recovery
In 3-5 years, this study will provide:
- The largest dataset on war-affected youth mental health ever collected
- New models for predicting risk and identifying protective factors
- Nuanced profiles of youth and family mental health needs and trajectories
- Digital screening tools for real-world impact
- A scientific foundation for national mental health policies
- Trained Ukrainian scientists, mental-health researchers, and students
- A roadmap for protecting youth in future global crises