Growing Up in New Zealand: A longitudinal study of New Zealand children and their families. Now We Are Eight.

The Now We Are Eight Report continues the series of “Now We Are” reports, adding child-centred descriptive information about the cohort children’s wellbeing and development in middle childhood, in the context of their families, whānau and wider environments. The eight year data collection wave was the first time the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort children completed their own questionnaire. Hence, for the first time in the study we hear the children’s voices directly, as well as what they think about their identity (including their ethnicity), their health and wellbeing, their relationships, how they see the world, and what is important to them. The interviews were conducted with the children in their homes between July 2017 and January 2019 when the children were mostly eight years old (mean age = 8.6 years).

This report highlights that children regularly experience change and flux in their own wellbeing status, as well as instability in the environments around them. The patterns of change over time are variable across population groups and the timing of exposure, as well as duration, often matters for shaping wellbeing in middle childhood.

The collection of information from the children and their families enabled us to better understand why we see differential wellbeing for children growing up in diverse families, with diverse identities, cultures and backgrounds.