Youth of Utrecht

YOUth is a large-scale longitudinal cohort study following children from the city of Utrecht and its surrounding areas in their development from pregnancy until early adulthood. The YOUth cohort focuses on neurocognitive development involved in two core characteristics of behavioral development: social competence and behavioral control. YOUth includes children from the general population to cover the whole range of variation in behavioral development, ranging from uncomplicated development, through problem behavior, to psychiatric disorders. To understand why some children develop problematic behavior, and others show resilience, YOUth measures a broad range of biological, child-related and environmental determinants.

YOUth conducts repeated measurements at regular intervals (i.e. 'waves'). Specifically, the study has two inclusion moments: YOUth Baby & Child and YOUth Child & Adolescent. YOUth applies a flexible longitudinal design to the cohorts, meaning that children are measured at broader age ranges (3-year age ranges) at each wave. The main benefit of the flexible age design is that it provides more detailed information on the neurodevelopmental curves over time.

An extensive data set is generated, including 3D-ultrasound sweeps of the fetal brain, eye tracking, EEG, (f)MRI, computer tasks, cognitive measurements and parent-child observations. We also collect a broad range of questionnaires on behavior, personality, health, lifestyle, parenting, child development, use of (social) media and more. Finally, (umbilical) blood samples, buccal swabs, saliva and hair samples are collected at each visit, and stored in the UMC Utrecht Biobank.

Alternate title
    YOUth, YOUth cohort, YOUth cohort study
Purpose To understand brain and behavioral development of children, we measure a broad range of biological, child-related and environmental determinants. Specifically, we investigate how these determinants influence the development of social competence and behavioral control, and how this relationship is mediated by the developing brain.
Data access information
YOUth encourages and facilitates extensive and appropriate use of its data by bona fide research organizations and bona fide researchers. To request access, please make use of our online data request system.
https://www.uu.nl/en/research/youth-cohort-study/data-access
Publisher
Principal investigators
Kemner, Chantal
Utrecht University
Contributors
Scholten, Ron
Utrecht University
Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke
Utrecht University
Bos, Dienke
Utrecht University
Veldkamp, Coosje
Utrecht University
Pas, Pascal
Utrecht University
van Wielink, Lilli
Utrecht University
Witsenboer, Marije
Utrecht University
Bekker, Mireille
University Medical Center Utrecht
van den Boomen, Carlijn
Utrecht University
Gehring, Ulrike
Utrecht University
Hessels, Roy
Utrecht University
Huijding, Jorg
Utrecht University
Junge, Caroline
Utrecht University
Leemans, Alexander
University Medical Center Utrecht
Peeters, Margot
Utrecht University
Raemaekers, Mathijs
University Medical Center Utrecht
Schnack, Hugo
Utrecht University
de Zwarte, Sonja
University Medical Center Utrecht
Language NL
Funding information
Dutch Research Council
024.001.003
Funder identifier
https://ror.org/04jsz6e67
Funder identifier type
ROR
Funder identifier type URI
https://ror.org/
Funder award title
Gravitation program
Funder award URI
Contact information
Datamanagement FSW
Utrecht University
datamanagement.fsw@uu.nl
References
Time method Longitudinal
Universe YOUth stands for Youth Of Utrecht, as we aim to include a population-based sample from Utrecht and its surrounding areas in the Netherlands. The region from which the participants are recruited is a densely populated region that combines both urban and rural areas, and covers the province of Utrecht and a few cities on the borders of this province. The catchment area of YOUth represents approximately 7.6 % of the Dutch population of currently over 17 million inhabitants in the country. Approximately 16 % of the inhabitants of the province of Utrecht are 0–10 years old. Compared to the rest of the Netherlands, inhabitants of the province of Utrecht are relatively highly educated; In 2015 approximately 38 % of the population was highly educated compared to 28 % in the rest of the country.
You can also access this dataset using the API (see API Docs).