Lead supervisor:
Prof Donald Forrester 
Other supervisor(s):
- Dr Nell Warner
Start date: October 2023 (Full time)
Award: Collaborative
Subject Pathway:
Social Care, Social Work and Social Policy
Thematic Cluster:
Society and Well-Being Cluster
In partnership with:
Exploring the Impact of Substance Misuse on Longer Term Outcomes for High Risk Young People
My research will investigate the impact of substance misuse on outcomes for high risk young people. The aim of my research is to compare outcomes for high risk young people with different experiences of social care (grouped based on their placement type, age at entry to the care system etc.), whilst also determining which groups are more vulnerable to substance misuse issues.
Risk factors for substance misuse include poor mental health, exclusion from school, parental substance or alcohol misuse among many others, although it is sometimes difficult to establish whether these risk factors result in, or are consequence of, substance misuse. I will be using linked adminstrative data to complete this work. I will be working with SAIL datasets including social care, health and education data, which will allow me the opportunity to perform an in depth analysis of how substance misuse affects outcomes for high risk young people.
Research Impact
I hope that this research may offer some insight into the specific mechanisms at play between substance misuse in early life and poor outcomes later on. This project also offers an opportunity to understand more about how care experience may be an exacerbating factor in the context of substance misuse for some young people, whereas it may serve as a protective factor for others. Understanding more about the specifics of the care experience here will be key, which could have future policy implications.