Summary

YouthCHAT, one of the digital youth wellbeing tools developed by Kekeno, continues to contribute to collaborative research with the University of Auckland. A new study from the University of Auckland research team has recently been published in Dialogues in Health. The study examines how lifestyle and mental health concerns co-occur among adolescents aged 15 and under in Aotearoa New Zealand. It analysed 11,244 de-identified YouthCHAT screens completed in primary care settings between 2019 and 2024.

Open-access full text

Co-occurrence of lifestyle and mental health issues in adolescents: A cross-sectional study of the YouthCHAT cohort in Aotearoa New Zealand

Key findings:

Most adolescents fell into the Minimal Issues cluster. Around 1 in 6 were in a Distressed cluster, characterised by stress, anxiety, depression, and eating/body-image concerns. Smaller groups were identified with Substance Misuse and High Risk profiles. Females were overrepresented in the Distressed cluster, while Māori youth were disproportionately represented in the High Risk and Substance Misuse clusters. Commonly co-occurring concerns included stress, behaviour, eating/body-image concerns, anxiety, anger, and physical inactivity.

What this means for practice

Overall, the paper is less about prevalence alone and more about demonstrating that adolescent wellbeing issues frequently exist as interconnected patterns.

For nurses and clinicians working with young people in primary care, this means a presenting concern may not be the whole picture. Stress, behaviour concerns, substance use, body-image issues, anger, anxiety, or low physical activity may reflect broader patterns of distress or risk rather than isolated problems.

The findings support holistic screening approaches that help clinicians identify overlapping concerns early and prioritise what the young person is ready to address. This is especially relevant in busy primary care settings, where structured tools such as YouthCHAT can help start a broader, more informed conversation before the consultation begins.

We’re grateful to the University of Auckland research team — FanZhen Zhou, Prof. James Warren, and Prof. Felicity Goodyear-Smith — for undertaking this work.

Kind regards,

The YouthCHAT Team

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