Director's report
This 2009-10 financial year was a significant one for Growing Up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). In December 2009, the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) hosted the 2nd LSAC Research Conference in Melbourne. The two-day conference attracted participants from across Australia, as well as from New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Papers were presented by leading researchers who explored a diverse range of topics related to child development, health and family wellbeing. The third wave of the survey was released in August 2009 and Wave 4 data collection commenced in March 2010. This means that longitudinal data are now available for Australian children aged 4 to 5 years and 8 to 9 years and their families and can now be used to look at the transition from early childhood to middle childhood.
With three waves of data currently available from LSAC, Australia joins countries around the world including Denmark, France, England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada that have large-scale nationally representative longitudinal studies of children and their families. As a result, the LSAC data is increasingly being used to compare Australian children and their families to those growing up in other countries. For example, the study has been used to compare how parental resources are associated with early child outcomes in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. It is also being used in a cross-national study of the relationship between use of non-parental child care and child outcomes being undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in collaboration with researchers from around the world.
Information from LSAC is making a vital contribution to the development of policies that relate to children and their families. It is being used by Australian, state and territory governments to inform the development of child and family policies and is being extensively analysed by academic researchers. It is also informing health professionals and those providing social services to help inform their practice.
For example, the data has been used to analyse the effects of growing up in a socioeconomically disadvantaged family on child wellbeing, including children’s school readiness. Other research has focused on the impact of different types of child care on children’s behaviour and development. LSAC data was used in recent studies of the family law system including the evaluation of the 2006 changes to the family law system undertaken by AIFS to provide information on the impact of shared care-time arrangements on children’s wellbeing following parental separation. Another important area of research that has national significance has focused on comparing Indigenous and non-Indigenous children to look at differences in cognitive and learning outcomes, health and in the use of health services. The LSAC data has also been used to answer questions of high importance to government health policy, including children’s weight, diet and activity levels, and the social determinants of health.
A strength of LSAC is the partnership between AIFS, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and leading researchers from universities and major research bodies across Australia.
As the study children grow up, LSAC will provide further valuable information about families and children in middle childhood and adolescence. The longitudinal nature of the dataset will also enable better understanding of the importance of early experiences on outcomes later in life. LSAC will therefore continue to be a valuable resource for the Australian government in supporting Australian families with children. Having access to high quality data that tracks children’s development over time is vital for developing government policies and programs to support the wellbeing of children and their families.
Professor Alan Hayes
Director
Australian Institute of Family Studies