Research Projects Using Growing Up Data

On these pages you can search for research projects using Growing Up in New Zealand data. We've tried to include all current and previous projects which use the data, but this list may not be exhaustive.

Year
Access Type
Primary Classification
Secondary Classification
Search Keywords

Mums and Dads of four year old children: evidence from the Growing Up in New Zealand study

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Measuring physical activity in children

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
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Life course determinants of sleeping and eating patterns, and their effect on health outcomes.

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
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Language development at age two: Role of home literacy environment in relation to home physical environment.

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
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The proposed research will assess how the interaction of the home literacy environment and the physical environment of home can affect cognitive development during the first two years of life.

Investigating the effects of screen time on preschool health and development: how much screen time is too much?

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    External
  • Primary Classification: 
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The aims of this project is to examine the temporal trends in the duration and type of screen usage at 2 years, 45 months (3.75 years) and 54 months (4.5 years) in the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort. We will also determine the associations between screen usage at 2 years of age a range of physical, behavioural, and social outcomes. Response to technology use items at 2 years will be treated as exposure variables.

Infectious disease hospitalisations in the first 5 years of life

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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NZ children have a high rate of hospitalisation due to infectious disease, and rates amongst Maori and Pacific children are higher than those for other NZ children. This project will identify hospitalisations for infection in the National Minimum Dataset of hospital admission data, and use the GUINZ datasets to identify risk factors for infection admission using unadjusted and multivariable analyses.

Infant feeding in New Zealand: Adherence to the national food and nutrition guidelines

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    External
  • Primary Classification: 
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The study will investigate adherence to the nutritional guidelines for New Zealand infants.

Health-promoting environments in licensed childcare services and associations with body size at 4 years old: analysis from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal cohort

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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This study explores the association between nutrition and physical activity environments (policy and practices) in Early Childhood Education settings with measures of overweight and obesity in 4 year olds. We hypothesise that there is a ‘protective’ effect of attending a health-promoting ECE service, which can be confirmed by lower BMI outcomes for children, when adjusting for family and home characteristics. This research provides important information for the government’s Childhood Obesity Plan, particularly informing health promotion strategies in early childhood education services.

How much does deprivation matter: A comparison of deprivation in NZ and outcomes from GUINZ cohort at age 4

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Previous research has used NZDep to demonstrate a deprivation-health gradient for many health outcomes in the GUiNZ datasets.

How do Dads see their role? Contemporary evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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This study utilizes results from the “Who are today’s dads?” questionnaire. Establishing the role of contemporary fathers in the lives of their children can inform policy that enables paternal involvement in optimising their children’s developmental trajectories

Host and microbiome contributions to skin infections

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Compared to other developed countries, New Zealand has one of the highest rates of serious skin infections; particularly among children. Childhood skin infection hospitalisation rates have doubled since 1990. The reasons for this and the mechanisms by which environmental exposures lead to increased rates of skin infection remain unknown.

Health effects of exposure to environmental hazards in children

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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This project aims to estimate the spatial and temporal distributions of New Zealand pre-school exposure to environmental hazards (e.g. air pollution, indoor and home neighbourhood environment, traffic-related impact, extreme climate conditions, chemical and biological exposures) for assessing the short- and long-term health effects, as well as their interactions with socioeconomic status, ethnicity, comorbidity, seasonality, infectious disease episodes and meteorological conditions.

Growing up in New Zealand: Ethnic variations in prenatal stress exposure and impacts on early childhood BMI

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Folic acid intake and developmental origins of health and disease

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Family pathways: Evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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The Growing up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study presents an opportunity to understand IR relevant outcomes for families over time.

Factors that prevent and contribute to development of obesity in early childhood

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Ethnic differences in birth outcomes in New Zealand: Role of discrimination

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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This research focuses on the ethnic identification of the children of Growing Up in New Zealand. Measuring ethnicity clearly and consistently is important in order to make sure that comparisons between groups and across time are clear.

Engagement of Pacific families with health services and information 2 years - 54 months

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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This paper addresses how Pacific families in NZ interact with health information and health services in the early childhood period (2 years – 54 months). We’ll look at such things as attitudes to health care, the way health care and information is delivered, and the impacts of factors like language, migration history, community support and cultural beliefs..

Engagement of Pacific families in NZ with health services and information in the perinatal period

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
  • Secondary Classification: 

This paper addresses how Pacific families in NZ interact with health information and health services from before the baby is born to when the baby is 9 months old. We will look at such things as attitudes to health care, the way health care and information is delivered, and the impacts of factors like language, migration history, community support and cultural beliefs.

Engagement of Asian families with health services and information 2 years - 54 months

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
  • Secondary Classification: 

This paper addresses how Asian families in NZ interact with health information and health services in the early childhood period (2 years – 54 months). We’ll look at such things as attitudes to health care, the way health care and information is delivered, and the impact of factors like language, migration history, community support and cultural beliefs.

Early vocabulary and grammatical development in Chinese GUiNZ Children

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
  • Secondary Classification: 

Engagement of Asian families in NZ with health services and information in the perinatal period

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
  • Secondary Classification: 

This paper addresses how Asian families in NZ interact with health information and health services from before the baby is born to when the baby is 9 months old. We’ll look at such things as attitudes to health care, the way health care and information is delivered, and the impact of factors like language, migration history, community support and cultural beliefs.

Early self-control: The development of early self-control indexes and an exploration of changes in self-control from birth to 4.5 years.

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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Applying a developmental perspective, we want to understand how the presence of varying risk factors in the first 2 years of life create vulnerability for problematic outcomes at 54 mos and, at the same time, what factors across multiple domains (child, mother, partner, social/community, ethnicity) are associated with resilience in children exposed to high vulnerability, such that they avoid problematic outcomes despite their high risk status. Using GUiNZ we can pioneer an understanding of high risk exposure over time in early development and resilience in young children prior to entry into public schooling, and extend that to diverse groups in contemporary New Zealand.

Early life adversity, epigenetics & childhood obesity

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
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Determinants of telomere length in a diverse child cohort

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
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Determinants of behavioural and cognitive functioning at age 4.5 years.

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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.

Breastfeeding indicators and misclassification of exclusive breastfeeding duration within a contemporary NZ cohort

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

  • Year: 
    2017
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
  • Secondary Classification: 

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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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What are the risk factors associated with recurrent accidental injury?

  • Year: 
    2016
  • Access Type: 
    Internal
  • Primary Classification: 
  • Secondary Classification: 

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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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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
  • Primary Classification: 
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Projects by the specified filters are not found

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