Research Project
Researchers: Bayer, Jordana , Hastings, Paul , Hemphill, Sheryl , Rubin, Kenneth , Sanson, Ann
Full description The Social Development Project aimed to provide further insight into the prevention of behavioural and emotional problems in children. The project tracked children's social and emotional development from 2 years of age, using parent questionnaires and observations in a university playroom. Parents of 2 year old children in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, were invited to participate in a longitudinal study through advertisements in inner-city and suburban Maternal and Child Health Centres, childcare centres, and news-papers. Interested parents were provided with more details on the study, and offered reimbursement of AUD $20 for each of two university visits at two and four years. Children and their primary care giving parent visited the University when they were 2 years old and twice when they were 4 years old. Questionnaires were mailed to parents prior to university visits and completed by the parent before or during the visit. Families were invited to continue involvement in this longitudinal study at child age seven years. This continued follow-up of the sample to seven years was designed to examine the influence of toddler and preschool variables (child internalising symptoms, parenting practices, family life-stress, parent anxiety-depression) in forecasting middle childhood internalising symptoms. Participants were 112 families (primary caregivers 110 mothers, two fathers) with toddlers (M = 2.2 years, range 2.0 to 2.5; 58 boys, 54 girls). Families spanned a range of cultural backgrounds, educational histories and levels of employment (Daniel, 1983). This sample compared reasonably well with metropolitan Melbourne census data on cultural background (Australian Bureau of Statistics: ABS, 2001: 66% Australian/English/Irish ancestry, eight per cent spoke Italian or Greek and two per cent Chinese at home). However, university-educated parents were over-represented (ABS, 2001: 10% bachelor degree, three per cent postgraduate degree). While this study was based on a convenience sample from the community, several families faced significant risks. Approximately 10% of parents in this sample reported having 'many stresses and problems' in their lives, including loss of employment, death of a loved one, long-term illness or disability, and drug or alcohol problems. Across the five years from child age two to seven, 83% of the original sample (93 families) was retained. Families who completed the questionnaire at seven years were representative of the baseline sample with respect to demographics (child sex, birth order, maternal age, marital status, education, employment, cultural background) and family functioning (toddler internalising symptoms, maternal parenting style, anxiety depression and family stress).
Data time period: 1996 to 2007