Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
www.aifs.gov.au/growingup
Links
Longitudinal Studies of Children
Australia and New Zealand
Australian Temperament Project (ATP)
The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) is a longitudinal study of children’s development that began in 1983 with the enrolment of a representative sample of over 2000 infants and their families from urban and rural areas of Victoria. The study investigates pathways to psychosocial adjustment across childhood and adolescence, and the influence of personal, family and environmental factors.
Christchurch Health and Development Study
The Christchurch Health and Development Study is a New Zealand longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1265 children born in Christchurch in mid-1977. The children have been studied from infancy into childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Recent research has focused on issues relating to the mental health and personal adjustment of cohort members as young adults.
Competent Children, Competent Learners
The Competent Children, Competent Learners longitudinal project of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research tracks the development of a group of children from near 5 through school. It analyses the impact of different experiences and resources on a range of competencies, and what can help narrow the gaps between children.
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study
The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study is a continuing study of the health and development of 1037 babies born in Dunedin’s Queen Mary Maternity Hospital between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973. The babies were studied at birth, then followed up and assessed through childhood and adolescence and into adulthood.
Life Chances Study
Conducted by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, the Life Chances longitudinal study commenced in 1990 in order to examine the life opportunities and life outcomes of a small group of children born in inner Melbourne. The study looks at the influences of social, economic and environmental factors in children’s lives, and compares the lives of children in families on low incomes with those in more affluent circumstances.
Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy and its Outcomes (MUSP)
The MUSP longitudinal study commenced between 1981-1983 through collaboration between the Mater Mothers Hospital in Brisbane, and the University of Queensland. The study began as a prospective study of 8556 pregnant women and has collected data on both mother and child after birth, through childhood and adolescence, and into early adulthood. The main focus of the study has been the assessment of the health and social outcomes for both mother and child.
Footprints in Time – The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC)
LSIC is collecting information about the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, covering areas such as health, culture, education, housing and family relationships. The study is designed to determine how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children develop resilience, what helps to improve their wellbeing and future, and to recognise links between early childhood experiences and later life outcomes. The study began in 2008-2009 with two cohorts of children – one aged between 6-18 months old and one between 3-4 years old.
Europe
Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)
Supported by the University of Bristol, ALSPAC originated in the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC). ALSPAC recruited more than 14,000 pregnant women with estimated dates of delivery between April 1991 and December 1992. These women, the children arising from the index pregnancy and the women’s partners have been followed up since then and detailed data collected throughout childhood. The study's main aim is to understand the ways in which the physical and social environments interact over time with genetic inheritance, to affect children's health, behaviour and development.
Danish National Longitudinal Study of Children
Young Children in Care Study
The Danish National Longitudinal Study of Children and the Young Children in Care Study are being conducted by the Danish National Centre for Social Research. The National Longitudinal Study of Children born in 1995 is a unique dataset which aims to monitor children from birth to adulthood. The study examines the health and development of children as well as the effects of non-institutional sources of learning and institutional welfare efforts. The Young Children in Care study focuses on children from the 1995 cohort who have been placed in care.
Danish National Longitudinal Study of Children - more details (Word doc)
European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC)
ELSPAC is a longitudinal, epidemiological study initiated by the World Health Organisation in the 1980s which aims to identify the factors influencing healthy development of children. Countries participating in the study are Great Britain, Isle of Man, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, parts of Croatia and Estonia and initially also Spain and Greece. Co-ordination and development work is carried out in Bristol at the Institute of Child Health (University of Bristol), which acts as a Central Survey Office.
Growing Up in Ireland
Growing Up in Ireland is a government study that aims to paint a picture of children in Ireland and how they are developing in the current social, economic and cultural environment. The information gathered from the study will contribute to the future design of policies and services to ensure all children can have the best possible start in life. The study includes two cohorts of children: 8500 nine-year-olds and 10,000 nine-month-olds. The first wave of data collection commenced in 2007 and the study plans to follow the two cohorts of children over seven years.
Growing Up in Scotland
Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) was launched in 2005 and is following the progress of 2 groups of Scottish children and their families - 5,000 born between June 2004 and May 2005 and 3,000 born between June 2002 and May 2003. The study aims to follow this national sample from infancy through to their teens. GUS is funded by the Scottish Government and is being carried out by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships at the University of Edinburgh and the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at Glasgow University.
Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), Centre for Longitudinal Studies
The first sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) took place between June 2001 and January 2003, gathering information from the parents of 18,818 babies born in the UK over a 12-month period and living in selected UK wards at age 9 months. The Centre for Longitudinal Studies heads the consortium conducting the study.
National Child Development Study (NCDS), Centre for Longitudinal Studies
The NCDS is a continuing, multi-disciplinary longitudinal study which takes as its subjects all those living in Great Britain who were born between 3 and 9 March 1958. At various stages the study attempts to trace all members of the birth cohort in order to monitor their physical, educational, social and economic development.
German Youth Institute longitudinal studies
The German Youth Institute (DJI) is Germany’s largest non-university research institute devoted to the study of children, youth and families. The institute conducts three major longitudinal studies:
- Family Survey: This survey has been conducted since 1986 and examines issues such as living arrangements, family patterns, network structure of families and relatives, dynamics of partnership, and careers and their impact on family life.
- Youth Survey: This survey has been conducted since 1992, and is based on regular representative polls of young people in Germany (aged 12 to 29). The survey examines issues such as living conditions and social and political orientation.
- Children’s Panel: The longitudinal study on ‘Childhood in Germany’ has been in operation since 2001. The study provides a differentiated description of children’s living situations and tries to identify the impact of different living conditions on the development of children’s personalities.
All Babies in Southeast Sweden study (Swedish website)
The ABIS study is a population-based cohort study in which newborn infants have been followed from birth and onwards with regular biological samples and questionnaires. See also Children's assent and participation in a longitudinal cohort study of child health.
The Generation R Study (The Netherlands)
The Generation R Study is a cohort study from fetal life until young adulthood in a multi-ethnic urban population. The study is designed to identify early environmental and genetic causes of normal and abnormal growth, development and health from fetal life until young adulthood. Almost 10,000 mothers with a delivery date between April 2002 and January 2006 were enrolled in the study.
North America
National Children’s Study (U.S.)
The National Children's Study examines the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. The goal of the study is to improve the health and well-being of children.
Statistics Canada's National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY)
The NLSCY is a comprehensive survey designed to examine a variety of factors thought to influence a child’s social, emotional and behavioural development. The study is following a representative sample of Canadian children from birth to early adulthood.
Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
From the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development, the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children began in 1975 with the recruitment of 267 first-time mothers in their third trimester of pregnancy. The overarching goal of the project is to trace the course of individual development and to understand factors that guide it toward good outcomes or poor outcomes.
Simmons Longitudinal Study: Adaptation and Development Across the Lifespan
Based at the College Graduate School of Social Work, Boston, MA, the Simmons Longitudinal Study (SLS) began in 1976 to follow one group of children entering kindergarten to adulthood. The study began as a broad-based effort to determine behavioural, health, and family factors that identify preschool youth at risk for poor academic performance and adjustment in the early school years. Data collection has focused on important developmental stages in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
US Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics
In 1997, the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan supplemented its core data collection for the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) with data on parents and their 0-12 year-old children, the Child Development Supplement. The objective of the study is to provide researchers with a comprehensive, nationally representative, and longitudinal database of children and their families with which to study the dynamic process of early human capital formation.
US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS)
The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) program includes three longitudinal studies that examine child development, school readiness, and early school experiences. Cohorts were selected at birth and kindergarten and will be followed through childhood and early adolescence.
US Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN)
LONGSCAN is a consortium of research studies operating under common by-laws and procedures, initiated in 1990 with grants from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect to a coordinating center at the University of North Carolina and five satellite sites. The goal of LONGSCAN is to follow children and their families until the children themselves become young adults. Comprehensive assessments of children, their parents, and their teachers are scheduled to occur through childhood and adolescence and into early adulthood.
US NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
Initiated by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in 1991, this comprehensive longitudinal study was designed to answer questions about the relationship between child care experiences and characteristics and children's developmental outcomes.
Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study
The CHILD study is a national study of 5000 children born in four provinces across Canada. The purpose of the study is to discover what factors in the environment may be related to children’s health and development.
Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) (U.S.)
CILS is a longitudinal study designed to study the adaptation process of the immigrant second generation which is defined broadly as U.S.-born children with at least one foreign-born parent or children born overseas but brought at an early age to the U.S. The original survey was conducted in 1992 with samples of over 5000 children in Years eight and nine. Two follow up surveys were conducted – just before the children finished high school and in early adulthood.
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (U.S.)
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-95 school year. The Add Health cohort has been followed into young adulthood. Add Health combines longitudinal survey data on respondents’ social, economic, psychological and physical well-being with contextual data on the family, neighbourhood, community, school, friendships, peer groups, and romantic relationships, providing opportunities to study how social environments and behaviours in adolescence are linked to health and achievement outcomes in young adulthood.
Other Australian Longitudinal Studies
Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA)
ALSA is a cross-disciplinary prospective study of adults aged 70 years and over that began in Adelaide, Australia in 1992 and is being conducted by the Centre for Ageing Studies at Flinders University. It is a population based bio-psycho-social and behavioural study of 2087 older adults residing in the community and in residential care.
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA)
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey is a major longitudinal panel survey of Australian households which began in 2001. The primary objective of the HILDA survey is to support research around three inter-related objectives: income dynamics, labour market dynamics, and family dynamics.
Life at School Project, Australian National University
The Life at School Project is a longitudinal and multidisciplinary study of school bullying and building capacity to regulate safe school communities. The project started in 1996 when 32 primary schools in Canberra were asked to participate in distributing self-completion questionnaires to children and their parents about the quality of school life. The focus of the research was school bullying, who was most likely to be a victim or a perpetrator of bullying, how well were schools dealing with bullying, and what should be done to manage the problem better. Since 1996, versions of the Life at School Survey have been conducted in Bangladesh, Canada and South Korea. In 1999, a follow-up was conducted to investigate status of original children in relation to bullying and victimization. Longitudinal information can now be obtained on continuity and change in children's experiences of bullying and victimization from middle childhood to young adulthood.
Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA)
The LSIA is the most comprehensive survey of immigrants ever to be undertaken in Australia. There are a number of LSIA surveys, surveying migrants arriving in Australia (or being granted their visa) at different points.
Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY)
The LSAY study the progress of several groups of young Australians as they move from school into post-secondary education and work. The oldest group in the project was born in 1961 while the youngest were born between 1987 and 1988. Issues investigated in the LSAY project include school achievement and school completion, participation in vocational and university education, gaining and maintaining employment, and household and family formation.
Negotiating the Life Course, Australian National University
The Negotiating the Life Course Project is designed to study the changing life courses and decision-making processes of Australian men and women as the family and society move from male breadwinner orientation in the direction of higher levels of gender equity.
The PATH Through Life Project, Australian National University
The Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Project is a longitudinal study of an adult community sample (7485) randomly selected from the Electoral Rolls of Canberra and Queanbeyan. Adults were 20-24 (young), 40-44 (midlife) and 60-64 (older) at the beginning of the study. The study aims relate to clinical outcomes that constitute the major burden of disease within the Australian community and the mental-health related impact of various personal, social and lifestyle transitions and events.
Wollongong Youth Study
The Wollongong Youth Study (WYS) is a longitudinal study of over 800 teenagers in Wollongong, New South Wales and metropolitan Sydney. With the support of the Australian Research Council (2004-2006) and the on-going support of the Wollongong Catholic Diocese, the WYS commenced in 2003 when students entered high school. The broad aim of this research is to identify the key psychological factors that put adolescents at risk of poor emotional, social, behavioural, and academic well-being. Students are currently surveyed once a year.
Women's Health Australia
The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health commenced in 1996 and conducts surveys with over 40,000 Australian women who were aged 18-23, 45-50 and 70-75 when the study began. The study collects information on women’s physical health, mental health, psychosocial wellbeing and sociodemographic factors and other factors. The study is being conducted by researchers from the University of Newcastle in collaboration with the University of Queensland. The study was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. Women's Health Australia is designed to follow young, mid-age and older women for up to 20 years and will explore factors that promote or reduce health in women who are broadly representative of the whole Australian population.
Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study
The Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS) is the most extensive observation study of classroom practices conducted in Australia. It was commissioned by Education Queensland (EQ) and conducted by researchers from the School of Education, The University of Queensland, from 1998 to 2000. The researchers made detailed observations and statistical analyses of 975 classroom lessons offered in 24 EQ schools over three years. The Study sought to investigate possible relationships between school-based management practices and enhanced student outcomes, both academic and social.
Canberra Longitudinal Study
The Canberra Longitudinal Study is a 12 year study into the health and memory of older people which commenced in 1990, with subsequent waves in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
