Research report no.8 2002
Children's health and development: new research directions for Australia
edited by Ann Sanson
About the authors
Professor Alan Hayes is Professor of Early Childhood Studies and Dean and Head of the Australian Centre for Educational Studies, a Division of Macquarie University, Sydney. The Division comprises the Institute of Early Childhood, School of Education, the Macquarie University Special Education Centre, and the Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre. Alan's research focuses on the development of children. His writings highlight the importance of family and community supports for children's development. In 1999, with Dr Jennifer Bowes, he completed a book entitled 'Children, Families and Communities: Contexts and Consequences', published by Oxford University Press. He is a member of the team that produced the report Pathways to Prevention for National Crime Prevention (Commonwealth Attorney General's Department). In 2000, with Frances Press, he co-directed the team that produced the Australian Background Report for the Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care, by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Currently he is a member of the Commonwealth Child Care Advisory Council and of the Board of Management of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. He is a Fellow of the Australian and American Psychological Societies and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow.
Professor Tony McMichael is the Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra. Previously he was Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. His research has encompassed occupational diseases, diet and cancer, social epidemiological research, and environmental epidemiology. During 1990-1992 he chaired the Scientific Council, International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO). He has a major interest in assessing the health risks from global environmental change. He is a member of the International Science Panel on Population and Environment. He has published (Cambridge University Press) 'Planetary Overload: Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species' (1993) and 'Human Frontiers, Environments and Disease: Past Patterns, Uncertain Futures' (2001).
Dr Jan Nicholson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Public Health Research at Queensland University of Technology. Her research interests include family and school predictors of children's mental health, and family- and school-based preventive interventions. She has 15 years research experience in child development, psychology, family studies and public health, including the coordination of longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials. Her research has involved the study of children's adjustment after parental divorce, and particularly during the transition into a stepfamily. She has evaluated the effectiveness of intervention programs designed to foster children's adjustment to living in a stepfamilies and to enhance stepfamily relationships. At present, she is conducting a longitudinal study of children's transition into formal schooling and an examination of how parents, schools and communities can work together to support children during this important time in their development. Over the last two years, Dr Nicholson has taken a leadership role in advocating for the establishment of a national longitudinal study of Australian children, and she is member of the Consortium Advisory Group and Design Team Leader (Family Functioning) for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. In 2001 she received acknowledgment for her early career achievements with the award of a Young Tall Poppy Award from the Australian Institute of Political Science.
Professor George Patton is Director of the Centre for Adolescent Health, at Murdoch Children's Research Institute. He is a member of the Departments of Paediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne and Department of Psychological Medicine at Monash University. He worked in psychiatric and developmental epidemiology in the UK and Germany before returning to Australia in 1991. His research interests include implementation of effective clinical care in primary care, epidemiology of adolescent depression and eating disorders, and population based prevention for common adolescent behavioural and mental health problems. He sits on the Expert Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs and chairs the AIHW committee on child and youth health indicators.
Dr Lynn Rempel is an Assistant Professor in the Nursing Department at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. In 2000 she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Health Research, Queensland University of Technology, where she conducted a review of Australian and international longitudinal studies of children in preparation for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Her research is focused on understanding and intervening in health behaviour decision-making, and she has a special interest in health promotion among expectant parents and young families. With over a decade of experience as a Public Health Nurse, Lynn has engaged in health promotion activities with individuals and groups across the lifespan. Her research has included understanding and predicting condom use and breastfeeding intentions and duration. She is currently beginning experimental research to test breastfeeding interventions based on the reasons model and the predictive results of a 15-month longitudinal breastfeeding study.
Associate Professor Ann Sanson is Deputy Director (Research) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and is the Project Director for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Ann's research interests revolve around the development of children in their family and community contexts. For 19 years, she has been involved in the Australian Temperament Project, an internationally-recognised longitudinal study following a large representative sample of Victorian children from infancy through childhood and adolescence, which has addressed many issues concerning children's social, emotional and educational development.
Mrs Diana Smart is a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and is the Project Manager for the Australian Temperament Project. Diana's research interests include pathways to psychosocial adjustment across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, and the influence of individual and family characteristics on development.
Professor Fiona Stanley AC is the Founding Director, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and Variety Club Professor, Department of Paediatrics, the University of Western Australia. The Institute is multi-disciplinary and researches prevention of major childhood illnesses. Her work involves conducting and supervising research in maternal and child health. Her main areas of research are analytical studies investigating the causes and prevention of birth defects and major neurological disorders particularly the cerebral palsies, the causes and lifelong consequences of low birth weight and other pre- and post-natal problems, patterns of maternal and child health in Aboriginal and Caucasian populations, and strategies to enhance health and wellbeing in populations.
Professor Graham Vimpani is Head of the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Newcastle. He has a background in community paediatrics and a longstanding interest in promoting child development through social justice strategies and early intervention programs that address the support needs of families with young children. His research interests have spanned childhood injury prevention, child protection, the impact of lead on child development, the evaluation of home visiting, health outcomes in adolescent boys, and the links between socio-economic inequality and child health. As well as being a member of several national paediatric committees, he is chairman of the Board of NIFTeY Australia (the National Investment for the Early Years) - a cross-sectoral advocacy body designed to promote greater awareness of the importance of the early years of life - and a member of the Ministerial Partnership for the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy and the Australian Council for Children and Parenting. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Research Alliance for Young Australians (RAFYA). He says the three months he spent in Alice Springs at the end of his training as a paediatrician changed his life.
Acknowledgment
The editor gratefully acknowledges the helpful comments and suggestions on drafts of this report by Professor Margot Prior, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Professor Michael Sawyer, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide, and Mr David Stanton, Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The editor and authors, of course, take full responsibility for any shortcomings.