STEER

Stressors of Anxiety and Depression in Young People : A cohort study to identify how psychosocial stressors contribute to children and adolescent well-being

Overview

STEER project is a longitudinal follow-up study nested within the SPRING cohort, which was established by Sangath in 2014 in Rewari, Haryana. Initiated on 1 October 2025, it is a 3-year research study that continues to follow the cohort as the children transition into adolescence, to examine the stressors and developmental pathways associated with anxiety and depression. STEER aims to prospectively follow mothers and their children to examine trajectories of development and well-being and make sense of these stressors in the context of Rewari in India and Quoc Oai, Hanoi, Vietnam for children over the years. The study will engage with community members with an emphasis on the lived experiences of young people with anxiety and depression in these unique contexts, and a Stakeholder Advisory Panel (SAP). The study will finally build toward a Theory of Change Workshop to inform preventative youth mental health interventions.

Rationale

Early life experiences, including childhood trauma, violence, conflict, and media access, are increasingly recognised as major determinants of child and adolescent mental health outcomes. While previous studies have examined these exposures independently, limited evidence exists on how cumulative and interacting early life stressors shape developmental pathways leading to anxiety and depression in youth, particularly in low- and middle-income settings. Hence, STEER will use a mixed-methods approach to look at the accumulation and interaction of these stressors. Moreover, the study will engage with the lived experience of community members and the role of culture, to make this research relevant and useful to the communities.

Collaborators

Prof. Sharat Chandran, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Dr. Tara Thiagarajan, Founder, Sapien Labs Center for Human Brain and Mind, Krea University, Institute of Financial Management and Research
Dr. Gareth McCray, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Global Health and Wellbeing, Keele University
Dr. Nhu Tran, Founder, Caring From Distance Center for Research and Community Development (CFD), Vietnam