Growing Up in New Zealand: A Prebirth Cohort Study of Child Wellbeing and Development

Abstract

Growing Up in New Zealand is the contemporary prebirth longitudinal cohort study established to understand what shapes developmental trajectories for the current generation of New Zealand children in the context of their diverse families and broader social environments. The study provides population-relevant evidence relevant to the Developmental Origins of Health and Adult Disease paradigm by collecting detailed social and biological information to understand what shapes early development to understand what works to give every child the best possible start to life.

The cohort of 6853 children engaged in the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study from before their birth are broadly generalisable to all contemporary births in New Zealand. Of particular importance is that the cohort of children represent the ethnic diversity of the current generation of New Zealand children and the socio-demographic characteristics of their diverse families.

From the development phase onwards, Growing Up in New Zealand has created partnerships with policymakers across multiple government sectors to facilitate the collection of relevant information and enable the timely translation of the research findings. Policy relevance and utility is a key goal for Growing Up in New Zealand, and to date the evidence from the cohort has informed policies in the perinatal period in areas such as maternity care, breastfeeding, immunisation and parental leave and return to work in the postnatal period.

Appendix: Domain-Specific Research Questions for Growing Up in New Zealand

• 1. What are the developmental pathways that determine the health status of children across the life course from antenatal development to early adulthood?

• 2. How does an individual’s biological profile, and the environment in which they grow, mutually interact over time to influence development?

• 3. What are the key determinants of the developmental trajectories that lead to behavioural, emotional and social competence in childhood and adolescence, and what precipitates either continuity or change in these trajectories?

• 4. What biological and environmental factors impact on cognitive ability, and how do these factors influence developmental outcomes and trajectories over the life course?

• 5. How do the multiple levels of self, family, environment and educational context and composition influence and affect educational and developmental outcomes over time?

• 6. What factors influence academic motivation, perceived academic competence and educational achievement across the life course, in particular at key transition points?

• 7. How does the quality of family/whānau dynamics including sibling, parent-child, inter-parental and relationships with extended family influence children’s development over time?

• 8. How do children’s experiences of family/whānau life vary, and what factors confer resilience or present risks to their development, in diverse family forms and during periods of family transition?

• 9. How involved are fathers in children’s lives, and what are their influences over time on children’s development?

• 10. How are culture and ethnic identity understood and ‘shaped’ for children and their families, and what developmental trajectories are associated with cross-cultural parental and child ethnicities across the life course?

• 11. What influences do the physical, social and cultural environments have on children and their families’ cultural experiences and identities in terms of holistic development?

• 12. What are the key features (social networks, infrastructure and physical environment) of neighbourhoods and communities which impact on an individual’s development over time?

• 13. What role do neighbourhoods and communities have in mediating the associations between family circumstances, dynamics and social conditions (SES) and child development? How does geographic mobility influence this effect?

• 14. How important is engagement of the family and child with key social services and institutions—including health, education and social service providers—in affecting child outcomes? What factors in the social and family environment facilitate effective engagement?

• 15. How are diverse social and economic contexts expressed in family values, practices, beliefs and resources? How are child outcomes shaped by the effect of these social contexts on family values, practices, beliefs and resources?

• 16. How are child outcomes affected by the nature of their parents’ workforce participation, and what factors both internal and external to the family modify these effects?

• 17. What effects do mass media, communications and new technologies have on children’s health and development, and what factors in the family and social environment modify these effects?

• 18. How do New Zealand policies affect the social and economic positioning of the cohort families/whānau, what stressors or enablers do they create and how do they impact on child development?