Research Projects

Determinants of behavioural and cognitive functioning at age 4.5 years.

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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In a series of studies, we will explore the main determinants of cognitive functioning among 4.5 year-old NZ children. In this regard, cognition refers to language, motor and numerical ability, as well as working memory and inhibitory control.

Determinants of B4SC completeness

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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The B4 school check is a nationwide programme offering free health checks in 4 year olds and aims to identify and address any health, behavioural, social or developmental concerns that could affect a child’s ability to benefit from school. The B4 School check was implemented in 2008 and has not been evaluated. The study will determine the completeness and effectiveness of the B4 school check programme and identify factors associated with not having the B4 School Check and with having an incomplete B4 School Check.

Demographic differences in parental decision-making about early childhood education during the preschool years: Barriers and enablers to access.

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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This project aims to update our current understanding of the enablers and barriers to early childhood education (ECE) uptake, and the relationship between uptake and demographic factors such as socio-economic status, ethnicity and location (e.g. urban / rural), through to age 4.5, as well as patterns of difference in parental satisfaction with ECE providers.

Defining school readiness in Growing up in NZ: how ready are NZ children, NZ parents and NZ schools?

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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This study will use Growing Up in NZ data to create a school readiness measure for the Growing Up in NZ study that can be used both as an outcome from the preschool years (0-5) and a predictor of future outcomes for the child....

Dad’s the word: The importance of the father (and father-figures) in a child’s psychosocial, behavioural and cognitive development at ages 2 and 4.5 years.

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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The role of the father in promoting healthy child development is becoming increasingly highlighted among research psychologists. Both the presence and engagement of a father (or father-figure) with regard to child-rearing and play has been shown to influence the offspring’s behaviour, cognition and socioemotional outcomes.

Child health and development in the Asian cohort, birth to 2 years and the influence of parental beliefs

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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This paper looks at the health and development of Asian children growing up in NZ, birth- two years. Using a combined health and sociocognitive approach, we’ll use the Growing Up In NZ data to answer the following questions:How healthy are Asian children in NZ?, how do health beliefs of parents and families impact their health, is there a difference between children living in NZ-born and migrant Asian families?

Can the modified Stack-and-Topple task predict 4-year-old cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural outcomes?

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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The stack-and-topple (S&T) task has been used to measure the development of children’s engagement in social games. We, however, modified this task for the GUiNZ 2-year data collection wave to provide a fun, quick, and novel measure of six key outcome measures. In this manuscript we will test the relationship between children’s performance on S&T with conceptually similar outcome variables at 4 years. This will be the first evidence that our S&T task provides a valid measure of key outcomes in early childhood.

Beyond fetal programming: Exploring how cultural, environmental and biological factors shape child health at birth and infant growth trajectories

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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Breastfeeding indicators and misclassification of exclusive breastfeeding duration within a contemporary NZ cohort

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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Breastfeeding provides benefits for children, women, and the society. Currently NZ does not have available data on breastfeeding indicators that are generalizable to the national birth cohort. Additionally, studies have reported high levels of bias for exclusive breastfeeding duration estimated solely through retrospective maternal report, suggesting the need of accrual methods in order to minimize missclassification for the indicator.

Biological ageing and child health in the preschool years: Evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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Attitudes to child rearing and the caregiver role among Pacific families in NZ, antenatal to nine months

Year:
2017
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Internal
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Attitudes to child rearing and the caregiver role among Asian families in NZ, antenatal to nine months

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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NZ has a rapidly changing population, with childcare beliefs influenced by (among others) cultural factors, work and caregiver roles, shifting migration patterns and intercultural partnerships. This paper attempts to tease out some of these complexities and provide a snapshot of Asian families in New Zealand.

Associations between Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes colonisation and skin and soft tissue infection

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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NZ children suffer from very high rates of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI). This project aims to determine whether colonisation with Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes plays an important role in SSTI in NZ. The GUINZ cohort children had bacterial swabs taken 54 months of age. Rates of bacterial colonisation will be described.

Are New Zealand children meeting the Ministry of Health guidelines for sleep?

Year:
2017
Access Type:
External
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There is very limited information available on sleep in New Zealand children. We don’t know the number of children meeting (not meeting) these guidelines as they develop across the pre-school years, and the social and demographic factors associated with children obtaining recommended sleep durations (or not).

Analysis of early childhood development outcomes and the association of alcohol exposure during pregnancy

Year:
2017
Access Type:
External
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There is very limited information available on sleep in New Zealand children.

Ante- and postnatal determinants of childhood obesity

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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This project expands on ongoing work on the epidemiology of childhood obesity at age 4.5 years. IT will explore additional factors, such as antenatal exposure to antibiotics and other medications, which may be associated with childhood obesity.

1. Determinants of preschoolers’ access to dental care 2. Determinants of preschoolers’ oral health 3. An evaluation of current screening for oral health 4. Predictors of early childhood caries and dental extractions

Year:
2017
Access Type:
Internal
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Secondary Classification:

The first project will understand determinants of access to routinely available preschool dental care and identify predictors of children’s oral health across the preschool years. The second project will involve the linkage with oral health data and will consider how well the “lift the lip” assessments in the Before School Check predict oral health assessments and treatment by Dental Therapists and how well the parent of children’s oral health relate to oral health assessments and treatment by Dental Therapists.

Who are Today’s Dads

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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What are the risk factors associated with recurrent accidental injury?

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
Primary Classification:
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This project aims to: (1) determine the factors that are associated with (i) children being hospitalised with unintentional injury, and ....

Understanding the impact of childhood disability on families

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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This project will describe the behaviours of families and impacts upon families of having a child with a disability. The research will help to assess the effects on well-being, working situation and relationships for the parents of children with disability.

Timing of Maternal Stress Exposure and Early Childhood Obesity

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The study is investigating how prenatal and postnatal maternal stress impact development of early childhood obesity at age 5?

The role of media exposure ine arly childhood development

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The role of media exposure in early childhood development

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The role of maternal diet on the development of GDM and its influence on child outcomes

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The aim of this PhD is to explore the dietary management of GDM in New Zealand through three projects.

The relationship between early screen use and health and behavioural outcomes in pre-scholars

Year:
2016
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Internal
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The impact of social support for infant relational competencies: Disrupting negative life course trajectories

Year:
2016
Access Type:
External
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This project will investigate relationships between a mother’s emotional state and attitude towards her infant, and the development of relational trajectories, including language of her infant over the first two years of life.

The Effects of Neighbourhoods, Transport Deprivation and Access to Services on Maternal Stress and Children’s Socioemotional Behaviour

Year:
2016
Access Type:
External
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The Epidimiology of Otitis Media and the effect of early childhood ear infections on language, cognition and behaviour

Year:
2016
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Internal
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The association between Caesarean Section Delivery and Obesity in Childhood: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Year:
2016
Access Type:
External
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Relationship between partner sources of infant immunization information during pregnancy and infant immunization timelines

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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Disentangling the combined effects of 24-hour movement behaviours on childhood mental and physical wellbeing: compositional data analysis

Year:
2016
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Internal
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Secondary Classification:

Sleeping patterns at age 2 years and relationship with child behaviour and development at school entry age

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The aims of this project are to (i) describe the range of sleep patterns in contemporary New Zealand children at age 2 years and how these vary with child and family characteristics; and (ii) determine whether sleep patterns in the first two years of life are independently associated with behaviour and development at school entry age.

Primary care access and use across the preschool years

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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There is very little existing literature of factors associated with children’s primary care engagement during the preschool years, and findings will have direct relevance for targeting healthcare resources towards our more vulnerable families.

Preschool Nutrition and Physical Activity in Home and Early Childhood Education Environments

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The study will examine the nutrition and physical activity environments within the mesosystem of home and Early Childhood Education settings for a subsample of 1188 Growing Up in New Zealand children (those for which we have collected additional data from their main childcare provider in the Kai Time in ECE online survey).

Partner conflict during pregnancy: evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The study findings will address partner conflict antenatally and associations with partner conflict and violence across time.

Parent-child interaction and children’s language and literacy development in the pre-school years: a longitudinal study.

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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This study is divided into 3 parts: (1) determining parent-child learning interactions: associations with parent-child relationships and interactions across the preschool years....

Now we are four

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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This study provides a summary report of the GUiNZ cohort at 4.5 years of age. This report will highlight key descriptive statistics from each of the six research domains.

Mother-child interaction, eating and sleep routines

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
Primary Classification:
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The study is investigating whether children who have more routines around eating and sleep are also more self-regulated and have better quality parent-child interaction

Low incomes, material hardship and child and family outcomes in the GUiNZ cohort; an early analysis using the antenatal and nine-month interviews.

Year:
2016
Access Type:
External
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Language skills of the Cantonese and mandarin speaking children of the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort

Year:
2016
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Internal
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Life course determinants of asthma in NZ children

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The thesis will investigate whether environmental modification of genome function acts as a mediator of asthma risk and severity between population subgroups.

Incorporating measures of familial economic behaviour into household human capital production functions

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The main study objective is to measure the role of familial and whanau prosocial and cultural expectations in maternal and paternal altruistic actions related to child health and to develop a household production function of child health which delineates and values altruistic actions influencing child health.

If you are a terrible infant will you be a terrible pre-schooler? Children’s temperament and their behaviour over time in the Growing Up in NZ Study

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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This study will investigate the structure of temperament at age 4 and temperament development over time

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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Effect of BCG vaccination on respiratory illness in New Zealand children

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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The study findings will add to the literature on live vaccine effects on infant and childhood respiratory infections +/- atopic conditions.

Fertility trends, changing maternal characteristics and mother's support for early childhood education in six countries

Year:
2016
Access Type:
External
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Duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding and maternal demographic associations with breastfeeding duration

Year:
2016
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Internal
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Development and validation of a prediction model, using birth and infancy data

Year:
2016
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Internal
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CREBRF variant associated with body mass in Māori and Pacific children

Year:
2016
Access Type:
Internal
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Our aim is to find out whether this variant is present within the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort and if so whether it is associated with measures of growth and obesity.This will be of interest as it will explore the role of a genetic variant in early childhood growth in a cohort with a large proportion of Pacific children.

Why does the decline in immunisation coverage and timliness with increasing age vary by ethnicity and household deprivation?

Year:
2015
Access Type:
Internal
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