It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, June 22, 2026
How H5N1 bird flu hid unrecognized for weeks in dairy cattle
Study reveals the biology of why the disease looked so different when it made the leap to cows, and offers a framework for spotting its next new guise more quickly
Microscopic image of bovine mammary gland tissue showing influenza virus receptors (yellow) on mammary epithelial cells. The study identified receptor patterns that may help explain the susceptibility of the bovine mammary gland to H5N1 infection and its ability to support viral replication.
Credit: Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH— When H5N1 bird flu first began infecting U.S. cattle in early 2024, diagnosis was elusive, because in cows, the disease looked completely different. Instead of affecting the lungs, as H5N1 does in other mammalian species, it caused severe infection in the cows' udders, largely sparing the lungs.
A study by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health researchers published today in Science Advances provides the first mechanistic explanation for this peculiar new guise for H5N1, which now affects more than 100 bird and mammal species globally. The study also establishes a new way to help scientists spot bird flu’s next surprise move more quickly, saving precious time in mounting public-health measures to stem the spread.
The disease first appeared in dairy cattle along the Texas Panhandle as stubborn cases of severe, necrotizing mastitis, a painful inflammatory condition that damages tissues in the mammary glands.
"Mastitis is a classic disease in milk-production animals, and veterinarians were dutifully looking to all the usual suspects for the source, like bacterial pathogens," said senior author Suresh Kuchipudi, Ph.D., chair of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Pitt Public Health. "When the real culprit turned out to be bird flu, everyone in the field was caught completely by surprise. We hadn't even remotely considered that cattle could be a host for H5N1.”
In the weeks before the virus was identified, it moved from herd to herd, sickening the cattle—and contaminating their environments.
"If a cow is infected, it sheds a lot of virus into the milk," said Kuchipudi. "This raised concerns about occupational risk for farm workers. Also, there is a habit of feeding raw milk to domestic pets, like cats, and there have been instances of cats dying, which we studied previously." He stressed that fortunately, pasteurization is effective at killing the virus, underlining the importance of avoiding raw milk.
Kuchipudi has been studying influenza viruses for his entire career, with a particular focus on how receptor biology determines which species—and which tissues—can be infected. Typically, such studies involve staining cells for the presence of receptors that are known to work in a lock-and-key relationship with influenza, a subset of sugar-based molecules known as glycans.
In initial studies by other groups, such experiments suggested that flu‑related glycan receptors were present in the noses, tracheas and lungs of cows. The fact that the animals were nonetheless not developing respiratory infections told the team there was more to the story.
"Glycan biology is very complex," said Kuchipudi. "We realized that, to understand what was really going on, we would need to use more innovative technologies and map out the fine‑detailed architecture that enables the virus to bind to cells." Kuchipudi collaborated on the study with Harvard Medical School's Lauren E. Pepi, Ph.D., an expert in the methodology for comprehensively cataloging the entirety of glycan structures, dubbed glycomics.
Using a multimodal approach that combined binding experiments, staining methods and ultra‑high‑resolution imaging, the team revealed that not all glycan receptors were functioning the same in animals infected with bird flu. Only a particular subtype, known as N‑linked sialic acid receptors, could bind to H5N1. These receptors were virtually absent in cow airway tissue, but pervasive in udders, making them a "perfect breeding ground for the virus," Kuchipudi said.
The research provides a framework other scientists can use to potentially predict not just whether H5N1 can jump to new hosts, but also how.
"We can preemptively screen different species and different tissues within them for susceptibility," said Kuchipudi. "For example, would they exhibit respiratory symptoms? Would they show only mastitis, as in cows? Or would they show neurological disease, as our team has shown in cats? The lessons learned could potentially help prevent us from being caught by surprise again."
Other authors on the study were Surabhi Srinivas, M.S., Shubhada K. Chothe, Ph.D., Santhamani Ramasamy, Ph.D., Sougat Misra, Ph.D., Noel Chandan Nallipogu, M.D., MPH, and Lindsey LaBella, all of Pitt; Yin-Ting Yeh, Ph.D., of Pennsylvania State University; May Wang, B.S., of Harvard University; and Heidi L. Pecoraro, Ph.D., and Brett T. Webb Ph.D., of North Dakota State University.
This research was supported by Pitt Public Health, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (FP00039373/AWD00010780).
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About the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
Founded in 1948, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health is a top-ranked institution of seven academic departments partnering with stakeholders locally and globally to create, implement and disseminate innovative public health research and practice. With hands-on and high-tech instruction, Pitt Public Health trains a diverse community of students to become public health leaders who counter persistent population health problems and inequities.
Lead author Dr Angus Gale says the research gives scientists a new control mechanism for tiny quantum light sources, bringing them a step closer to being used in practical quantum technologies such as quantum computing, secure communication and ultra-sensitive sensing.
“You can measure these quantum emitters and see that they exist, but it’s hard to make them work in practice. This gives us a lever to get closer to that – a step towards the realisation of quantum technologies,” said Dr Gale.
In experiments, Gale and his colleagues were able to shift the colour and wavelength of the emitted light by a significant amount, with the size of the shift notable. Unlike many experiments where a device is made at one twist angle and left alone, they were able to pick up, twist and restack the material repeatedly, which was an unusual finding.
“We’re leveraging the fact that this material, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), is layered. We can pick it up, stack it, twist it, and use that twist to modify the emitters. You can’t really do that with traditional materials like diamond or silicon carbide.”
“The benefit is that we used this twistable platform to shift the emission by a very significant amount,” said Gale. “Often when you control these systems, the amount of manipulation is very limited, but in this case the shift was much larger than expected.
“Rather than trying to make hBN defects behave like a traditional solid-state hosts, we took advantage of hBN’s own strength: its thin, layered, twistable structure.”
Gale describes the material as similar to thinslices of cheese rather than a solid block.
“With a block of cheese, you can’t really get to the flavour in the middle. But with slices, you can peel away layers, put them back together and change how they interact,” he said.
Supervising author Professor Igor Aharonovichexplains that twisting layered materials is exciting because it can unlock new physics.
“You can take two layers that don’t do much on their own, put them together at a specific angle, and suddenly you have a completely different system,” said Professor Aharonovich.
“These materials could eventually be used for quantum computing communications and quantum sensing, which would help for applications such as healthcare, cybersecurity and improved GPS; and gives us more control over the building blocks needed to get there.”
Twist-controlled modulation of quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride
Article Publication Date
19-Jun-2026
Wider focus holds key to unlocking improvement in global injury care
University of Birmingham
Global health policymakers should focus on the way entire healthcare systems work together - improving one element does not always create better outcomes if the wider system is not ready.
Publishing their findings today (21 June) in BMJ Global Health, an international research team led by the University of Birmingham, Nottingham Trent University and Stellenbosch University reveals how well-intentioned changes to one part of a healthcare system can lead to worse patient outcomes.
In one of the first studies to capture the full complexity of a health system delivering injury care, researchers mapped how patients move through care, from seeking and reaching help, to receiving treatment, and remaining in care for recovery.
They found almost 1,000 interconnected factors that influence patient survival after injury in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which account for around 85% of injury-related deaths worldwide. However, health systems are highly complex and interconnected – improving one part can unintentionally create pressure elsewhere.
Researchers discovered that, among several possible interventions, enhancing trust in the healthcare system had the greatest impact on clinical outcomes. When trust is high more people seek care and outcomes can improve, but if too many people come in and services cannot cope, quality drops and trust can fall again.
Lead author, Justine Davies, Professor of Global Health Research at the University of Birmingham, said: “Our work clearly shows that improving care results in increased demand on the health system, but this must be matched by greater capacity and higher-quality services to prevent services becoming overwhelmed. Increased demand quickly can lead to delays, reduced quality of care, and declining trust, ultimately undermining the very improvements those changes were intended to achieve.”
The study analyses interactions which span multiple pathways of care and their interactions including: patient and community factors, such as beliefs, ability to pay, and trust; health service factors, including quality of care, staffing, and funding; and wider societal context, such as poverty, infrastructure, and policy.
Senior author Antuela Tako, Professor of Operations Research at Nottingham Business School, said: “Patient trust, perceptions of care quality, and people’s willingness to seek treatment were among the most influential factors shaping health outcomes. However, addressing these factors in isolation is not enough. For example, increasing trust can encourage more people to seek care earlier, improving recovery and reducing mortality and disability.”
The research calls for a fundamental shift in how health systems are understood and strengthened through multi-sector approaches, linking health policy with investments in workforce capacity, transport, education, communities, and economic development.
Kathryn Chu, Professor of Global Surgery at Stellenbosch University, said: “Conventional approaches are insufficient to deliver sustained improvement. Things can only be truly improved through a whole-system approach that consider wider social and economic factors and places patient trust, system design and equity at the centre of reform.”
The research involved researchers from the UK and South Africa – including University of Aberdeen, UK; Umeå University, Sweden; University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; National Health Service (NHS), Grampian, UK; University of York, UK; Western Cape Government, South Africa; University of Cape Town, South Africa; and South African Medical Research Council.
The study was supported by a prestigious two-month residential team fellowship awarded by the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies (STIAS) to Professor Justine Davies, Professor Kathryn Chu, Dr Lucia D’Ambruoso (University of Aberdeen), Professor Laura Bojke (York University) and Professor Antuela Tako.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Tony Moran, International Communications Manager t.moran@bham.ac.uk or +44 (0)7827 832312
Helen Breese, PR and Research Communications Manager, helen.breese@ntu.ac.uk or +44 (0)115 848 8751
‘A systems approach to understand injury care in LMICs using causal loop diagrams’ - Justine I. Davies, Kathryn Chu, Lucia D’Ambruoso, Laura Bojke, Rene English, Heike Geduld, Sa’Ad Lahri, Hassan Mahomed, Richard Matzopoulos, and Antuela A. Tako ispublished in BMJ Global Health.
Notes for editors
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 40,000 students from over 150 countries.
England’s first civic university, the University of Birmingham is proud to be rooted in of one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the country. A member of the Russell Group and a founding member of the Universitas 21 global network of research universities, the University of Birmingham has been changing the way the world works for more than a century.
About Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Business School (NBS) at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a leader in experiential learning and personalisation of business, management and economics education and research - combining academic excellence with positive impact on people, business and society. NBS has an unrivalled level of engagement with business, public and voluntary organisations. With more than 8,500 students, NBS is also one of UK’s largest business schools.
NBS is part of the 1% of business schools worldwide to hold the Triple Crown of accreditation from EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB. It is also accredited by Small Business Charter, providing support and development for SMEs, and is a PRME Champion - held up as an exemplar and beacon by the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME).
In The Guardian University Guide 2026, all NBS subjects were ranked in the UK Top 20. Areas covering Accounting and Finance, Business and Management, Economics and Marketing and PR were all recognised for excellence in teaching, high student satisfaction and strong graduate career prospects.
About Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has been named UK ‘University of the Year’ five times in six years, (Times Higher Education Awards 2017, The Guardian University Awards 2019, The Times and Sunday Times 2018 and 2023, Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023) and is consistently one of the top performing modern universities in the UK.
Students have voted us the best university in the UK and 1st in the UK for student employability (Uni Compare 2025).
NTU is 4th in the UK for number of undergraduate students (HESA 2023-24) with over 36,000 students and more than 4,000 staff located across six campuses. It has an international student population of 6,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
NTU owns two Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for outstanding achievements in research (2015, 2021). The first recognises NTU’s research on the safety and security of global citizens. The second was awarded for research in science, engineering, arts and humanities to investigate and restore cultural objects, buildings and heritage. The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU was awarded GOLD in the national 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment.
NTU is a top 10 for sport (British Universities and Colleges Sport league table 2025) and was named as Sports University of the Year (Daily Mail University Guide 2025). It has also been ranked as 25th in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2026.
NTU is a holder of the University Mental Health Charter recognising the commitment an institution has shown towards continuous improvement in the area of mental health and wellbeing.
NTU is the most environmentally sustainable university in the UK and second in the world (UI Green Metric University World Rankings, 2024).
Journal
BMJ Global Health
Method of Research
Data/statistical analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
A systems approach to understand injury care in LMICs using causal loop diagrams
Article Publication Date
21-Jun-2026
Road to specialist physician jobs in Canada not always smooth
Despite the need for specialist physicians, the road to securing a job is not easy, particularly in specialties without the ability to practice in private offices or clinics, such as critical care and some surgical specialties, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.251882.
“This study sheds light on the complex and often opaque nature of the hiring process for physicians applying to resource-intensive jobs in Canada,” writes Dr. Nada Gawad, a general surgeon at The Ottawa Hospital and assistant professor, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, with coauthors.
Barriers include a perceived lack of full-time jobs, lack of access to job listings, desire to stay near family, need for spousal employment, and lack of resources like funding and operating room time.
This study of physicians in Canada by specialists at the University of Ottawa and the University of Alberta provides insight into the lived experiences of physicians seeking work across the country. The research team interviewed trainees, recent graduates, program directors, and division chiefs from across Canada between 2021 and 2022 to understand hiring decisions for resource-intensive specialties and to develop suggestions to help people navigate the hiring journey.
The researchers identified 5 themes from the interviews: the process is difficult to navigate and poorly defined, hiring decisions emphasize perceived fit of the candidate and lack transparency, bias and inequity occur, mentors who take active steps to help with employment influence success, and perspectives differ across the different groups of interviewees.
“Although proactive and networked candidates were more likely to succeed, the emphasis on ‘fit’ in hiring decisions introduced an additional layer of complexity,” explained the authors. The emphasis on fit was particularly problematic as it is vague and subjective, and can work against equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). “Our findings, along with previous research in this area, suggest that reliance on ‘fit’ risks undermining EDI efforts. Specifically, fit may disadvantage candidates from diverse or underrepresented backgrounds, perpetuate homogeneity, and limit the pool of innovative perspectives and skills.”
Participants also pointed out that job postings were often formalities only, with a preferred candidate already identified. “Institutional preference for current hiring practices may contribute to applicant frustration and unintentionally result in inequitable and noninclusive physician hiring,” the authors write.
“These findings highlight the opportunity for improvement at the individual, program, institutional, and national levels to promote transparency and equitable access to employment opportunities among physicians.”
To help navigate the hiring process,
Trainees should consider their career goals early and network, contact institutions where they may want to work, and find mentors;
Training programs should host sessions on the job-hiring process and give advice on how to build a strong job application;
Hiring institutions should post future jobs once the need is identified and describe the type of candidate being sought;
National resident associations and speciality societies should host job hiring information sessions and create best-practice guidelines for job hiring.
“Addressing the challenges cited by participants requires a multilevel approach, including integrating formal career-planning curricula into residency; establishing transparent, best-practice hiring guidelines; and developing centralized job repositories,” the authors conclude.
explores the motivation for Canadian physicians to engage in advocacy and how they integrate into their professional identities to improve the health and lives of people in Canada.
Mount Sinai Health System experts will lead discussions on innovative community-based approaches to youth mental health and emerging scientific advances that are transforming how we understand healthy aging and healthspan at the 2026 Aspen Ideas: Health and Aspen Ideas Festival.
The conversations at the festivals, from Monday, June 22, to Wednesday, July 1, in Aspen, Colorado, will explore how collaboration, research, technology, and personalized care can improve health and well-being for people across communities and throughout life.
Mount Sinai is an Official Presenting Sponsor of the Aspen Ideas Festival and Aspen Ideas: Health, and the only underwriter to support both events
“We are excited to return as a health care sponsor to Aspen Ideas: Health and the Aspen Ideas Festival. Mount Sinai’s thought leaders will engage in timely conversations on some of the most important issues shaping the future of health and medicine,” said Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS, Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai. “This year’s discussions will explore innovative approaches to healthy aging, longevity, mental health, personalized care, healthcare costs, the use of psychedelics in healthcare, artificial intelligence, and the future of medical education. Aspen provides a unique forum for bringing together leaders, innovators, and changemakers, and we look forward to contributing ideas that can help advance health and improve quality of life for people around the world. We invite attendees to join these conversations and explore the breakthroughs and solutions that will define the future of care.”
Featuring discussions on festival themes that include artificial intelligence, digital health, neuroscience, mental health, longevity, and other emerging areas of medicine, Mount Sinai’s programming highlights how scientific discovery, collaboration, and innovation are helping advance health and improve lives. Event time and location details are subject to change; visit www.mountsinai.org/aspen for the most up-to-date details.
Kicking off Mount Sinai’s events during this year’s festival, Dr. Carr will moderate a panel with Russell Wilson and Sandra Brunson and key Mount Sinai physicians on how creative expression, sports, and community engagement can strengthen youth mental health, build resilience, and improve well-being. The panel will take place on Monday, June 22, from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm MDT in the East Lawn Tent. Panelists will include leaders from medicine, community-based programs, and professional sports. The conversation will explore how sports, play, and creative arts can serve as powerful, evidence-based interventions to build psychological safety, foster trust, reduce stress, and strengthen resilience. Panelists will also discuss how Mount Sinai and its partners are scaling culturally relevant, community-driven models—from locker rooms to clinics—that meet young people where they are. Panelists include:
Sandra Brunson, Co-Founder and CFO of the Second Round Foundation, Inc.
Sidney Hankerson, MD, MBA, Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Community Engagement in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Russell Wilson, philanthropist, Super Bowl champion, and Founder of the Why Not You Foundation
Sarah Wood, MD, Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine, Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai will also host a panel discussion on how advances in genomics, imaging, cardiovascular science, neurology, and data-driven health monitoring are helping translate scientific discovery into healthier aging and longer healthspan. This session will also be moderated by Dr. Carr, who will be joined by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai participants Fanny Elahi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine; Eimear E. Kenny, PhD, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine), and Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and Founding Director of the Institute for Genomic Health; Anuradha (Anu) Lala-Trindade (Lala), MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), and Population Health Science and Policy, and Director of Heart Failure Research; and Zahi A. Fayad, PhD, Founding Director of the BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Radiology, and Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, and Medicine (Cardiology). Panelists will examine how these innovations can bridge discovery and delivery by powering smarter clinical trials, enabling more continuous and personalized care models, and accelerating interventions designed not only to extend lifespan, but also to add years of strength, clarity, and independence. This program will take place on Monday, June 29, from 11 am to 11:50 am MDT in the Koch Building, Booz Allen Hamilton Room.
Other activities in which Mount Sinai Health System experts are participating include:
Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS, will participate on a panel titled “Reducing Health Care Costs” on Thursday, June 25, 9 am to 9:50 am MDT in the Doerr-Hosier Center, McNulty Room.
Kenneth L. Davis, MD, Executive Vice Chairman of the Mount Sinai Boards of Trustees, who served as Mount Sinai’s Chief Executive Officer for 20 years until 2024, will participate on a panel titled “Reimagining Medical Education” on Tuesday, June 23, 1:40 pm to 2:30 pm MDT in the Doerr-Hosier Center, McNulty Room
Fanny Elahi, MD, PhD, will participate on a panel titled “Life, Optimized: What We Gain (and Lose) When AI Takes Over” on Friday, June 26, 11 am to 11:50 am MDT in the Koch Building, Lauder Room.
Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Chemers Neurstein Family Professor of Trauma and Resilience and Director of The Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing at Mount Sinai, will participate on a panel titled “Are We Ready for Psychedelics?” on Wednesday, June 24, 9 am to 9:50 am MDT in the Greenwald Pavilion.
Mount Sinai clinicians will be onsite to provide complimentary dermatologic screenings, body scans, grip strength assessments, and bio-age retinal scans at the Mount Sinai Healthspan Experience, located in The Grove at Aspen Meadows. Screenings will be available from June 22 through July 1. Sessions can be reserved in advance starting on Tuesday, June 16, by calling 929-829-2881 or sending an email to aspen@mountsinai.org. For more information about Mount Sinai’s speakers, events, and activities at the Aspen Ideas: Health and Aspen Ideas Festival, visit www.mountsinai.org/aspen.
Media interested in speaking with any of the panelists before, during, or after Aspen Ideas may submit requests to: newsmedia@mssm.edu
About the Mount Sinai Health System Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and leading schools of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care from conception through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 10 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida.
The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked the No. 1 hospital in New York on Newsweek’s “World’s Best Hospitals” list and recognized by Newsweek as the No. 1 Best Smart Hospital in New York. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals,” “Best in State Hospitals,” “World’s Best Hospitals,” and “Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2025-2026.
Which major life events matter to young people? A recent study by the University of Zurich (UZH) shows that adolescents and young adults primarily cite positive, everyday developmental steps as formative events, for example school and apprenticeships, friendships, first relationships, travel and moving out of their parents’ home. UZH researchers evaluated open-ended written responses from 1,442 participants in a long-term study. Each participant was surveyed at the ages of 15, 17, 20 and 24.
Eight out of ten events mentioned are positive
The results paint a different picture than many classic studies on life events, which tend to focus on stressful experiences. Overall, 83% of the events mentioned were positive. The participants talked about school, training and apprenticeships particularly often, with these topics accounting for almost half of all mentions. Friendships and romantic relationships came in second place, at around 12%. Personal development and mental well-being accounted for about 8%, while travel and stays abroad stood at approximately 7%.
“Our results show that youth is not primarily composed of crises. Many young people primarily mention positive developmental steps such as education, relationships and personal achievements,” says David Bürgin, clinical developmental psychologist and first author of the study. Lilly Shanahan, co-leader of the study, adds: “Support services should therefore not only focus on how to cope with stress. Stable relationships, positive experiences and opportunities to experience self-efficacy are just as important.”
Nevertheless, the researchers found that psychological stress was still part of the equation. Adolescents and young adults with more severe symptoms of anxiety and depression mentioned stressful relationship experiences, conflicts, loss and personal failures significantly more often. Correspondingly, they referred to positive events such as travel, educational achievements and sports activities less frequently.
Changing priorities
The study also revealed that clear changes occur between adolescence and early adulthood. While school, friendships and leisure time were paramount in middle adolescence, education, work, relationships and independence grew in significance later on. Topics such as sport and going out were mentioned less frequently as the participants became older, while work, housing and having children became more important over time. The researchers also found differences based on gender, social background and experiences of migration. However, broadly speaking, the most important topics were very similar across social groups.
Modern language processing reveals patterns
The research team used automated language processing methods to evaluate thousands of open-ended written responses according to topic. “Our analyses show how freely formulated responses from large longitudinal studies can be processed in such a way that they provide a structured picture of young people’s experiences. This allows their perspectives remain visible in their own words,” says first author Christina Haag, who is now at the University of Cambridge. The study is one of the first large-scale, long-term studies in the world to use such methods to analyze open-ended responses from young people.
References
David Bürgin, Christina Haag, Lynn Alison Büeler, Laura Bechtiger, Clarissa Janousch, Elena Feldmann, Denis Ribeaud, Manuel Eisner, Viktor von Wyl, Lilly Shanahan. Personally meaningful life events from adolescence to young adulthood: A longitudinal natural language processing analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 22 June 2026. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.70169
The study is a collaboration between the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development and the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute at the University of Zurich. The project was supported by the UZH Population Research Center as part of its Seed Grants Program.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Lilly Shanahan Department of Psychology / Clinical Developmental Psychology Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development University of Zurich +41 44 634 06 09
