2004

Request for proposals issued by Government Agencies for contemporary study of New Zealand children and families.

2005

Multiple reports detailing study design submitted to Health Research Council, Policy Advisory Group and international scientific review panel.

2007

University of Auckland research team, led by Dr Susan Morton, awarded 18-month development contract.

2008

Contract for Growing Up in New Zealand awarded to University of Auckland.

Growing Up in New Zealand is officially launched.

2009

More than 6,000 pregnant women and their partners are recruited to take part in the study.

Face-to-face interviews take place with these mothers and their partners. This is known as the Antenatal Data Collection.

2010

Report released: Before We are Born. Key findings include:

• The cohort is incredibly diverse
• The population of the cohort reflects the population of the New Zealand population
• 90% of mother-father relationships were stable during pregnancy
• The average age of parents having children was increasing.

Data collection begins for nine-month stage.

2011

Ongoing data collection for the first two years of life, including interviews with the caregivers when the cohort children turned 16, 23 and 24 months of age.

• The interviews explored pregnancy, birth, the first weeks of development, and the child's eating habits. In addition, information on household characteristics and family transportation was collected.
• When children turned 24 months, weight and height were measured and their interactions through play and parent-child interaction were observed.

2012

Report released: Now We are Born. Key findings include:

• More than a quarter of cohort families had moved households since the antenatal interview.
• By nine months, more than half of infants had tried one or more of the following: sweets, chocolate, hot chips or potato chips.
• 54% of families were living in their own home, 39% in private rentals, 7% in public rentals.
• Families who had recently had a child, usually experienced a drop in income.

2013

• 31-month data collection on household internet access, household composition, use of early child education, breastfeeding, child health and language development.
• Data collection begins for 45 and 54-month stages. Face-to-face interviews with mother and children are implemented.
• MBIE awarded to Growing Up in New Zealand to study the diversity of individuals who are father figures to children in New Zealand. Findings are reported in the Who are today’s Dad’s? report.

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2014

Report released: Now We are Two: Describing our First 1000 Days. Key findings include:

• 86% of children had excellent or very good health at two
• 94% had received some of their 15-month immunisations by two years
• 92% were fully immunised
• 40% had experienced a chest infection and 47% an ear infection in the first nine months of life.
• On average, infants had made six visits to the GP in the previous year.

Report released: Vulnerability Report 1: Exploring the Definition of Vulnerability for Children in their First 1000 Days. Key findings include:

• Māori and Pacific children were more likely to be exposed to a greater number of risk factors for vulnerability than New Zealand European or Asian children.
• Exposure to multiple risk factors for vulnerability at any time increased the likelihood children would experience poor health outcomes in the first 1000 days.

Policy Brief released: Nutrition and physical activity during pregnancy: evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand. Key findings include:

• Only 3% of women met recommendations for daily servings of all four food groups
• Most women adjusted their diets to avoid alcohol and caffeinated foods
• One in six women did not take folic acid at all-around or during pregnancy
• Physical activity decreased during pregnancy.

Report released: Residential Mobility Report: Moving House in the First 1000 Days. Key findings include:

• Around half of the children had moved house at least once in their first two-years of life.
• More than a third had moved house twice or more.

2015

Policy Brief released: Keeping Our Children Injury-free – household safety evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand. Key findings include:

• Many private rentals fall short of being safe places to bring up a child
• 28% of privately-owned rentals did not have working smoke alarms
• 43% of privately-owned rentals failed to provide fully fenced or separated driveways
• 28% of privately-owned rentals did not offer a fenced play area for young children.

Policy Brief released: Measuring the Economic Environment – What Resources are Available to Children in their first 1000 Days? – released. Key findings include:

• More than half of New Zealand mothers experience some level of hardship between late pregnancy and when their children are nine-months
• Many parents have to cope with a drop in family income after having children.

Policy Brief released: Employment and parental leave around the time of birth: evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand. Key findings include:

• Most New Zealand parents were in the workforce during pregnancy/before their baby was born
• 80% took some leave when their baby was born
• Parents from the lowest socioeconomic groups usually took less leave than others
• Almost all fathers and many mothers had returned to work by the time their child was nine-months-old.

Report released: Vulnerability Report: Transitions in Exposure to Vulnerability in the First 1000 Days of Life. Key findings include:

• Only one in five families whose toddlers were considered most at risk accessed social support services (first 1000 days)
• The most common risk factors for vulnerability were families living in an area of high deprivation and a mother who experienced regular financial stress.

Policy Brief released: The intergenerational use of te reo Māori: evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand. Key findings:

• The use of te reo Māori is on the rise
• More parents are speaking to their infants in te reo
• The number of toddlers who understand te reo has increased.

SuPERU (Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit) analysed Growing Up in New Zealand data on alcohol and pregnancy. It found one in five mothers-to-be continued to consume alcohol.

Policy Brief released: Who is saying what about immunisation – evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand. Key findings include:

• Parents who received information during pregnancy that discouraged immunisation were twice as likely not to get children vaccinated on time.
• Receiving encouraging information, on the other hand, proved to have no effect on the timeliness of immunisations.
• More than half (56%) of pregnant women did not receive any information regarding child immunisation prior to birth.

2016

The 54-month data collection is finalised, which gathered mother and child information that is significant for the pre-school period of life.

More than 4,000 biological fathers, adoptive fathers, stepfathers, foster parents, co-mums, grandparents and other family members who are “dads” to Growing Up in New Zealand children took part in the Who are Today’s Dads?  study

Who are Today’s Dads? report is released. Key findings include:

• More than 90% of dads were in paid work when their children were six
• Some participants reported long hours, little flexibility and multiple jobs.
• 75% of dads would like to modify some aspect of their work situation, whether to work fewer hours, work closer to home, or have more flexible timetables.
• 61% of employed dads believe that their work has a positive effect on their family life
• While 54% participants are coping with life very well, 43% reported sometimes feeling like they needed support but couldn’t get it from anyone.

2017

Report released: Now We are Four: Describing the Pre-School Years. Key findings include:

• The number of children living with a single parent increases as the children get older.
• A greater proportion of Māori children living in single-parent households compared to other ethnic groups
• One in five mothers experience symptoms of depression in pregnancy or after birth.
• By the age of four, 97 percent of children spend time away from their parent, such as in early childhood education or in organised home-based care.

Report released: Who are Today’s Dad’s? Key findings include:

• Most dads are in good to excellent health, though half reported one or more risk factor for cardiovascular disease
• Around half the dads felt they were coping very well with life and 40% said they experienced problems or stresses in their live

2018

Minister of Social Development, the Hon Carmel Sepuloni, restored $1.9 million of funding to Growing Up in New Zealand.

Report released: Transition to School. Key findings include:

• Most children were generally ready to start school and settled quickly
• Most mothers and children adapted to school in less than a month.
• Difficulties identified by mothers included: worry children wouldn’t like school, and being separated from the child.
• 90% of mothers were satisfied or very satisfied with their child’s school.

Research in collaboration with the Ministry of Health using Growing Up in New Zealand data looked at whether kiwi families were meeting national food and nutrition guidelines. Key findings include:

• 60% of infants were not eating fruit and vegetables twice or more daily at nine months
• More than half had tried foods high in sugar, salt and fat such as lollies, chips and chocolate.
• By nine months, 80% ate an iron-rich diet without sugar or salt added.

2019

Research in collaboration with the Ministry of Education study looked at Intentions and decisions about early childhood education. Key findings include:

• Mothers take an average 25 weeks parental leave after baby is born
• Parents start thinking about parental leave, early education and childcare before birth
• Parental intentions for childcare are not always reflected in their ultimate choices.

Growing Up in New Zealand receives $17.1 million from the Government’s Budget 19 to fund the next data collection wave.

2021

11-year stage data collection finished

Start of the 12-year data collection, one of the largest data collections of the study, looking at different aspects of health and wellbeing at the start of adolescence. This included including  data from the children, mother, mother’s partner and the child’s teacher.

Two reports were released looking at children’s experiences of Covid-19 restrictions, including lockdown in 2020: Life in Lockdown - Part 1: Health and Wellbeing  and Life in Lockdown - Part 2: Education.

Findings from these reports may help policymakers to identify additional resources and support that families may need during an emergency lockdown and ensure the emergency does not increase inequities.

2022

A new Research Director, Dr Sarah-Jane Paine is appointed to Growing Up in New Zealand.‍

Completed the data collection for the 12-year stage. Key findings included:

• Most young people reported high levels of trust, acceptance and communication with their parents. Often, young people who experienced weaker relationships with their parents were more likely to identify a supporting adult figure in their lives. 
• Most young people experienced largely positive relationships with their peers.
• 5% young people were diagnosed by a doctor with depression or anxiety. However, over 52% of young people experimented an increase in depression symptoms from 8 to 12 years old.
• Individuals who lived in the most socioeconomically deprived neighbourhoods had higher depression symptoms.  
• Being bullied was associated with higher depression and anxiety symptoms.
• Most young people reported positive school engagement, and their emotional school engagement has improved since early in the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020). Nonetheless, itis still lower that at age 8.
• Student-teacher relationships and students’ academic efficacy had strong positive associations with school engagement.
• Approximately one out of every fourteen young people experienced severe housing deprivation or homelessness, at least once between age 8 and 12.

2023

Published the Now We are 12 report.

Launched the Extreme Weather survey in August 2023, which gathered insights from rangatahi and caregivers in severely affected regions to assess the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle and Auckland Anniversary Day floods on wellbeing, housing, education, and access to services, informing future government planning.

Released the Uncivil Defence Guide in September 2023, which provided young people with practical advice on managing emotions during emergencies and preparing for future extreme weather events to support mental wellbeing and family readiness.

Launched the "6000’s Project" in September 2023, which creatively engaged study participants by collaborating with Vans to design custom sneakers that reflected young people's lifestyles, preferences, and hobbies based on collected data.

2024

On 19 September, The Government committed NZ$16.8 million over four years to extend the Growing Up in New Zealand study until February 2028. The funding will enable two new waves of data collection during participants' adolescence at ages 15 and 17.

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