Developments Vol. 6, n°. 1 - Fall 2001 - January 2001

RESEARCH DEVELOPMENTS

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Cycle 3 Research

The NLSCY directed research program is in full swing once again. The next round of research papers was selected through a request for proposals that was held over the summer months. It generated a variety of high quality proposals and we are happy to announce that we were able to fund nine of them. Each of the papers will examine the first three cycles of data that are available in the NLSCY, which follow children from 1994 through to 1998.

Status of cycle 2 research papers

The following research papers from cycle 2 have been published, or are in press, and will be available through our web site or by contacting our publications office.

• A Follow-up Study of Child Hunger in Canada, W-01-1-2E (Lynn McIntyre, Gordon Walsh, & Sarah Connor).
• Marital Transitions and Children's Adjustment, W-00-1-3E (Thomas G. O'Connor and Jennifer M. Jenkins).
• Economic Resources and Children's Health and Success in School, W-01-1-
  4E (Lori Curtis, Shelley Phipps).
• Poverty and Well-being of Children in Canada and U.S.: Does it Matter how we Measure Poverty? (Lori Curtis, Shelley Phipps).
• Multi-level Effects on Behaviour Outcomes
  (Richard Tremblay, Bernard Boulerice, Holly Foster, Elisa Romano, John Hagan, Raymond Swisher).
• Food Insecurity in Canada in 1998-1999
  (Bruno Rainville, Satya Brink)
• A Contextual Approach to the Study of Childhood Injuries: Effects of Neighbourhood, Family and Child Characteristics on Childhood Injuries (H. Soubhi, P. Raina, D. Kohen, B. Forer, L. Olsen).
• Dating and Sexual Activities of Canadian Boys and Girls in Early Adolescence: Normative Patterns and Bio-PsychoSocial Risks for Early Onset of Heterosexuality W-01-1-7E (Jennifer Connolly, Ali Taradash, Trish Williams).
• Changes in Poverty Status and Developmental Behaviours: A Comparison of Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Children in Canada, W-00-1-1E (Morton Beiser, Feng Hou, Violet Kaspar, and Samuel Noh)

Recent Findings

The following charts are examples of how researchers use the longitudinal data of the NLSCY.

* For the children aged 0-15

Interesting Research Using NLSCY Data

Comparing developmental outcomes for children in care with those for other children in Canada.
Robert Flynn, Chantal Biro
Children and Society. (v12/n3, p228-33) June 1998.

Child hunger in Canada: Results of the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
L. McIntyre, Sarah Connor, J. Warren Canadian Medical Association Journal. (v163 /n8, p961-65) Oct 2000.

The Clustering of Severe Behavioural, Health and Educational Deficits in Canadian Children: Preliminary Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
T. J. Wade, D. J. Pevalin, A. Brannigan
Canadian Journal of Public Health. (v 90/n4, p253-9) July/Aug 1999.

Canadian Children in the 1990s: Select Findings of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
David Cheal, M. Dooley, M. Kelly, S. Landy, E. Lipman, L. McIntyre, D. Offord, D. Ross, K. Scott, K. Tam Canadian Social Trends. (v8/n44, p2) Spring 1997.

What Shapes Canadian Children? Growing up in Canada- National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
Kirby, Parrila
Canadian Journal of Education. (v23-02, p209-15) Spring 1998

Breast-Feeding and Asthma in Young Canadian Children, the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
Teresa To, Sharon Dell
Pediatric Research. (v47/n4 Part 2, p230A) April 2000

Economics and the Well-Being of Canadian Children.
Shelly Phipps.
Canadian Journal of Economics. (v32/no5, p1134-63) Nov.1999

Maternal Reports of Child Injuries in Canada: Trends and Age and Gender.
D.E. Kohen, H. Soubhi, P. Raina
Centre for Community Child Health Research, Department of Health Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver B.C. (injury@cw.bc.ca)

Temporal Trends in Overweight and Obesity in Canada, 1981-1996.
M. Tremblay, P. Katzmarzyk, D. J. Willms
College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. (mark.tremblay@usask.ca)

NLSCY is A Widely Used Model

Since its inception in 1994, the NLSCY has been used as a framework to generate data and research initiatives in a variety of domains. The following is a sample of projects from Canada and beyond that are using the NLSCY instruments to build on our understanding of child development.

Australian Survey

The government of Australia is planning a Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children (LSAC), to provide a comprehensive, national picture of Australian children and their families to help guide decision-making by policy makers. The survey is in the early planning stages and will commence collecting data at the end of 2003. NLSCY team members Allen Zeesman, Satya Brink, and Susan McKellar advised the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) in Australia on the launch of their new children's longitudinal survey. Key information was provided on potential difficulties and successful ideas for the design of sample and content. For further information on LSAC, please refer to their website: http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/aboutfacs/respub/research-lsac_nav.htm

South Eastman

A federal-provincial-community partnership in the South Eastman region of Manitoba and the province's francophone school board, is carrying out a pilot project to study the impact of non-parental care on the development of young children. South Eastman Regional Health Authority and Healthy Child Manitoba are working with the Applied Research Branch to study children born in 1997. The project will be linked with the Understanding the Early Years (UEY) initiative, and has drawn heavily from the instruments used in the NLSCY.

Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

As part of the Looking after Children initiatives, a study was conducted by the Ontario Children's Aid Society (OACAS) entitled, 'The Assessment and Action Record (AAR).' The purpose of this research was to examine children in care. The OACAS has incorporated many measures from the NLSCY. By placing the AAR within the broader framework of the NLSCY, OACAS has been able to view the outcome targets for children in care against those for children in the general population.

Survey on Immigrant Children

The New Canadian Children and Youth Study (NCCYS), a longitudinal study of immigrant and refugee children, builds upon the background provided by the NLSCY. In addition to contributing data which will enable comparisons between the health and functioning of newcomer and native born children, the NCCYS will also investigate the impact of the immigrant experience. It is initiated and coordinated by CERIS, the Toronto Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, More information is available from Farah Mawani, National Coordinator, NCCYS at farah_mawani@camh.net

Understanding the Early Years (UEY) is a national research initiative that involves teachers, parents, guardians, and community agencies, as well as Canada´s leading child development experts, in improving the well-being of children between the ages of 0-6.

UEY provides communities with information to enable them to make informed decisions about the best policies and most appropriate programs for families with young children.

The first five UEY communities, Fraser North, British Columbia, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and South-West Newfoundland, have completed Phase I of a five-year research initiative. Phase I involved the collection of data from the Early Development Instrument (EDI), the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), a neighbourhood observation survey, and a program survey.

The five UEY communities will release three major reports: the integrative research reports, the Community Mapping reports and the EDI reports.

Winnipeg and Prince Edward Island are scheduled to publicly release their research report in November, 2001 and the other three communities will follow. The reports, in English and French, will be available on CDs following the public releases.

These five communities and North York, the prototype UEY community, have now entered Phase II of the UEY initiative. Phase II focuses on knowledge transfer and knowledge dissemination of the child outcome results to the communities.

The UEY initiative now includes seven additional sites across the country. These sites include: Abbotsford, British Columbia, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, South Eastman, Manitoba, Mississauga, Ontario, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Montréal, Québec, and Hampton, New Brunswick. These communities are in Phase 1 and are now focussing on preparing the EDI reports and the Community Mapping reports for release early next summer.

North York recently released their research and Community Mapping reports, available at:http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/arb/nlscy-elnej/uey-cpe/uey.shtml.

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