Editorial: Studying child development in a changing world.

Abstract

In this editorial, I reflect on the implications of social, technological and cultural change for children and young people. Whilst we have a reasonably good understanding of trends in certain aspects of child development (e.g. height, weight, cognitive attainment), there are many unanswered questions. We do not know what explains the steep rise in mental health problems among young people, nor are we in position to evaluate and predict the consequences of different societal trends for current and future generations of young people. This is in part due to a reliance on older life course cohorts without adequate measurement of important aspects of children's lives (e.g. their online experiences). There are also some broader questions which require attention - what does it mean to be a child today? How is childhood changing? I consider possible implications and priorities for developmental research; in particular, the importance of listening to young people's perspectives, innovation in measurement in future life course cohorts, and developing more efficient real time monitoring of mental health at a population level.