The Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study started before the birth of the enrolled children and this makes the study unique and crucial when understanding the factors that have come into play with respect to their fathers.
The participating families make up a diverse cultural and socio-economic cohort that is well aligned to all contemporary New Zealand births.
The Who are today's dads study will detail the role of fathers in their children’s lives, and determine how current and future policy can be developed to enhance the role that modern fathers can play to contribute to their children’s early development.
The information collected from the children's dads will help us to understand how child-father relationships have changed over time and whether there are critical periods when paternal influence has the greatest positive effect on a child’s early developmental pathways and later health and wellbeing. In particular, we will be looking at the contribution fathers make to the resilience, health and wellbeing of their children.
