A longitudinal study of kiwi children from before birth into adulthood.

Welcome to Growing Up in New Zealand

Growing Up in New Zealand is a longitudinal study that provides an up-to-date, population relevant picture of what it is like to be a child growing up in New Zealand in the 21st century. Approximately 7,000 children and their families are taking part in a study that aims to provide a complete picture of the pathways that lead to successful and equitable child development, therefore improving outcomes for all children - now and into the future.

Our Second Report

Our second report, Now we are born, was released on 23 March 2012. This report is especially exciting because it is the first to provide a truly longitudinal perspective on the development of our children, rather than just a cross-sectional snapshot of their lives. The information is collated from face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews with the mothers and partners of the Growing Up in New Zealand children over a 12 month period. It also presents information about the children's birth and immediate postnatal period, which has been brought together from multiple routine data sources to add to the information provided by the parents.

Now we are born provides details about the beginning of the children's journeys, in the context of their families and their wider environments. The children are not yet one year old, but already their developmental pathways are being established. We know how critical the first 1000 days of life (from the beginning of pregnancy until two years of age) are for ensuring that all children have a good start in life and therefore can look forward to a healthy future. Our second report details how our children are doing at the halfway point in this important developmental period.

The information provided in Now we are born represents the collective voices and stories of the diverse families of the new generation of children over their first months of life after birth. We are extremely privileged within Growing Up in New Zealand to be able to bring those collective voices from the family table to the policy table.

Study Progress

The two-year data collection wave is approaching completion. This has been the first time our interviewers have interacted with the children as part of the data collection, and reports back from the field and from the parents show that this has been a highlight of the two-year interviews.

The analysis of the wealth of antenatal data continues and work is progressing to make the antenatal data available for researchers to work with. It is expected that a workshop to introduce researchers to this resource will be held in the second half of 2012. Watch this space for more details.