Preparations are under way for the largest longitudinal study of children ever conducted in this country. Colmar Brunton Social Research, in partnership with NCS Pearson, is in the midst of preparations for the first wave after being awarded the fieldwork contract until 2005.

‘Growing Up in Australia – A Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’ (LSAC) will entail biennial in-depth face-to-face interviews with 10,000 families in two cohorts. The first cohort will comprise children aged less than 12 months in 2004 (along with their families and carers); the second will comprise four year-olds, their families and carers.

The face-to-face fieldwork will be conducted every two years (at least until 2011), while a mail survey will be conducted in 2005 to keep in touch with families.

The study aims to examine the impact of Australia’s unique social and cultural environment on the next generation and will further understanding of early childhood development, inform social policy debate, and be used to identify opportunities for early intervention and prevention strategies in policy areas concerning children.

The Commonwealth Government's Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) has committed $20.2 million over nine years for the study, as part of the Government’s Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. Growing Up in Australia is being designed and implemented by a large consortium led by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The Project Director is Dr Ann Sanson, Acting Director of the Institute.

Colmar Brunton Social Research has been commissioned to manage the data collection and in turn has contracted NCS Pearson to conduct the fieldwork.

Jenny Rush, the LSAC project director at CBSR, reports that a pilot study with 100 families has just concluded. Preparations are now underway for a ‘dress rehearsal’ with 250 families in each cohort in August. The first wave of the study proper will take place in March 2004.

Debbie Randall, who recently joined CBSR’s Canberra office, is shadow project director on the project while, at NCS Pearson, Kylie Brosnan is project director and Glenn Maurer operations director.

‘It’s the first of its kind in Australia,’ says Jenny. ‘It’s very exciting to be involved.’

CBSR and NCS Pearson have assembled their most highly skilled interviewers for the project, which entails very long and demanding interviews. For example, babies have to be weighed and a language assessment conducted with the four year-olds in the first wave. The two companies will be recruiting some new indigenous and bilingual interviewers later in the year.

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