Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is a long-term research project following a large group of children and their families over the years as they grow and learn.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies hosts the 'Growing Up in Australia' website for the study.
Management of the study
The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) funds and manages the study on behalf of the Australian Government.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics collects and processes the data.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies is responsible for the design and content of the study, and the preparation of research and statistical reports.
A consortium of leading researchers from a diverse range of disciplines including early childhood, education, psychology, economics and paediatrics provides ongoing advice and technical expertise.
About the study
The aim of the research is to provide a comprehensive national picture of the current generation of Australian children as they grow up.
Around 10,000 children and their families were recruited for the study. There are two groups of children. When the study began in 2004, they were 3-19 months and 4-5 years old.
The study will help government to develop effective policies, based on evidence, on early childhood issues such as:
- health,
- parenting,
- family relationships,
- education,
- child care,
- family support, and
- separated families.
Growing Up In Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children 2009–10 Annual Report provides an overview of the mid-wave 3.5's preliminary findings when study children were aged 5–6 and 9–10 years old. The findings cover topics of schooling, health including puberty and use of technology.
Growing Up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children 2008-09 Annual Report presents an overview of the Wave 3 data collection and preliminary findings when the study children were aged 4–5 and 8–9 years old. The report also includes articles about breastfeeding and infants' time use, child and infant outcomes, and stress and psychological distress in mothers of infants.
Because it is a long-term research study, looking at the same children in their family and school environments, the study is especially useful in enabling researchers to identify key factors influencing children's physical and mental health, social adjustment, cognitive development and school achievement.
Data is collected by interviewers during visits to the families, who have all agreed to take part. The children's parents and child-care providers or teachers fill out questionnaires. As the children grow older, they take part too.
When the data is collected, it is called a wave. Waves are every two years. There were also between Waves questionnaires sent at Wave 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5.
LSAC research reports
The Department has also commissioned and published a number of research reports for its Social Policy Research Paper series based on data from the study.
Child care and early education in Australia
How well are Australian infants and children aged 4 to 5 years doing?
Parenting and families in Australia
Mothers and fathers with young children: paid employment, caring and wellbeing
The ABC's LIFE series, inspired by the study, follows 11 children and their families over time.
Information is provided by the children's families and child development experts, with reference to findings from the research study. The series explores the different developmental pathways of the 11 children and asks what it takes to give a child the best start in life.
Life at 1 was the first instalment in the series and looked at the children when they were about 12 months of age. It was first screened on the ABC in 2006, and explored stress and personality.
Life at 3 screened in 2008 and looked at the children at around three years of age, focussing on the issues of behaviour and childhood obesity.
The next instalment of the series, Life at 5, was shown in 2011. It looked at how children develop reliance, and the skills they need to cope with starting school.
The ABC's LIFE series website has more information, and videos of the programs.
More information
Further information can be obtained from the FaHCSIA LSAC project team lsac@fahcsia.gov.au or by telephone on (02) 6244 7726.
The main website for the study is the Growing Up in Australia website at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. It contains a wealth of detail including a data users information page and many publications which give a picture of what the research has told us so far.
You can also access FaHCSIA's Longitudinal Surveys Electronic (FLoSse) Research archive to browse or search for bibliographic details of research material using data from LSAC and FaHCSIA's other longitudinal surveys.