Which life events matter most to young people
The Jacobs Center's Risk and Resilience research area (PI: Prof. Lilly Shanahan), alongside the Digital and Mobile Health Team, co-published a new z-proso study led by Drs. David Bürgin and Christina Haag (funded via a UZH PRC seed grant). As one of the world's first large-scale longitudinal studies using automated language processing on open-ended text, it preserves young people's perspectives in their own words.
The Risk and Resilience research area of the Jacobs Center (PI: Prof. Lilly Shanahan), together with the Digital and Mobile Health Team and co-funded by a UZH Population Research Center seed grant, published a new paper with the z-proso study, led by Drs. David Bürgin and Christina Haag. The study is among the first large-scale longitudinal studies worldwide to use automated language processing to analyze young people's open-ended responses – keeping their perspectives visible in their own words.
Analyzing open-ended written responses at ages 15, 17, 20 and 24, the team found that 83% of the events mentioned were positive. School, training and apprenticeships accounted for nearly half of all mentions, followed by friendships and romantic relationships, personal development, and travel.
"Our results show that youth is not primarily composed of crises," says David Bürgin. Lilly Shanahan adds: "Stable relationships, positive experiences and opportunities to experience self-efficacy are just as important" as coping with stress.
Still, participants with more anxiety and depression symptoms mentioned conflicts, loss and failures more often. Priorities also shifted with age, from school and friends toward work, independence and family.
Publication: Bürgin, D., Haag, C., et al. 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